The coronavirus just delayed the country's No. 1 bar exam, and that could be a huge setback for law students seeking jobs at smaller New York firms

Associated Press

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks during a news conference against a backdrop of medical supplies at the Jacob Javits Center that will house a temporary hospital in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, Tuesday, March 24, 2020.

• The New York State bar examination has been called off for July. The New York legal market is the largest in the United States by attorney population, with more than 180,000 lawyers in 2019.
• The New York court of appeals said late on Friday that the state bar's July 28-29 exam dates were cancelled and would be rescheduled for the fall of 2020, with the reschedule dates and locations currently unknown.
• The cancellation of the July New York bar is likely to disproportionately affect law students who are not entering Big Law, according to legal experts.
• "They aren't going to be able to make a living unless firms hire them as interns or clerks before they take the bar or pass the bar," said David Eisen, a partner at Wilson Elser, when informed about the cancellation by Business Insider on Saturday.
• More than 2,000 law students have signed a letter to the National Conference of Bar Examiners, the producer of bar exams in many states, arguing in favor of diploma privilege.
• Click here for more BI Prime stories.

The path to becoming a lawyer in United States is being upended by the coronavirus, and the country's largest bar examination - the New York State bar - has officially been canceled for July.

A new test date yet to be determined, but the previously scheduled July 28-29 dates are off, according to a statement issued late on Friday by the New York State court of appeals.

"The Bar Examination will be rescheduled for dates in the fall, to be determined," it said.

The New York legal market is the largest in the United States by attorney population, with more than 180,000 lawyers in 2019, according to the most recent available data from the American Bar Association. The second-largest state is California, with 170,000 attorneys.

It's not yet clear how other states will handle their bar exam schedule, in light of the coronavirus, but attorneys contacted by Business Insider reacted to this cancellation with a sense of dismay, saying that it will disrupt thousands of law students who are preparing for the exam.

The development means that law students who wish to practice in New York upon graduation this year will need to adapt to yet another change-of-plan in an already uncertain employment climate. Law firms are already deliberating moves like staff cuts and reducing partner pay as the coronavirus pauses work and sends billings plunging, Business Insider has reported. They'd also been weighing delayed start dates for summer associate classes, or virtual alternatives to in-office work if necessary.

The cancellation of the July New York bar is bound to disproportionately affect law students who are not entering Big Law, according to legal experts.

"They aren't going to be able to make a living unless firms hire them as interns or clerks before they take the bar or pass the bar," said David Eisen, a partner at Wilson Elser, when informed about the bar cancellation by Business Insider on Saturday.

"Are firms going to be busy enough to hire people in light of the downturn in work caused by the pandemic? If you're No. 3 at Harvard, I don't think it makes any difference. If you're in the bottom half of your class at a top 100 law school, I think it would be significant."

Some small law firms are already cancelling summer associate classes

In that sense, the cancellation underscores what is becoming a growing divide between the haves and have nots on law school campuses nationwide, as the coronavirus has led to the canceling of summer associate classes at small and mid-sized law firms, but not many large firms yet, according to internal school correspondence seen by Business Insider and discussions with law students receiving them.

At the same time, students who come from means can find comfortable work-from-home set-ups, with home offices and grocery delivery, while those who are less well off may be living in group housing and questioning the debt load they took on to attend law school.

That story was told by one of five students Business Insider spoke with on Saturday who declined to speak publicly to preserve his future employment prospects.

This person, who attends one of the top 15 law schools, said he put his savings into his tuition bill and now felt he was disadvantaged when studying because of his living situation - with no backyard, a shared living space - and learning online while distractions abound. He said he was paying for an in-person education that he wasn't receiving, and felt that the conditions favored the wealthy.

Harvard Law lists its total budget for students for a single 9-month academic year at $102,800, with a $68,150 tuition, plus room and board and other fees. Other schools, though, are not as expensive. Depaul College of Law, for instance, estimates its cost of attendance for full-time students to be $72,261, with a $48,670 tuition, plus living expenses and other fees.

Stan Chess, the former president of Barbri, the bar exam prep company, told Business Insider that the delay in exam was a nightmare scenario for many students and acknowledged that it "clearly exacerbates" an already existent problem of class divide within law schools.

Big law firms tend to hire law students without a law degree as law clerks. They keep them on for the time it takes them to pass the bar and are lenient in giving them two chances, Chess said. The New York bar is typically offered twice a year - in February and July.

Smaller firms, however, will likely require students to pass the bar before they hire.

But he said that depending on how long coronavirus lasts and how it affects law firms' business, it could have a more case-by-case impact on law students, depending on whether even big firms have enough work to bring associates on at all.

"A big firm whose business declines might let go of a law school grad who did pass the bar exam. There is no real clear-cut situation. It's student-by-student, state-by-state, and firm-by-firm," he said.

The New York bar exam, which is often hosted at sites including the Javits Center, a huge convention in Manhattan, typically sees more than 10,000 test takers every summer.

Now, the administrators of the exam may find other locations where students can take the exam in the fall, Chess said, as the Javits Center is now expected to be used as a field hospital for coronavirus patients.

A spokesperson with the New York State court of appeals did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment about the delayed exam.

Some law students are pushing for diploma privilege in New York

Another alternative, Chess said, would be for law schools to adopt what's known as "diploma privilege," where everyone who graduates law school is automatically admitted to the bar. However, he said that he personally wouldn't do it that way, because it could put the public at risk by authorizing individuals to practice law who may not have otherwise received a J.D. if they had taken the bar.

Alex Clavering, a Fulbright Scholar at Columbia Law School, is one student pushing for diploma privilege in New York.

He and more than 2,000 other students signed a letter to the National Conference of Bar Examiners, the producer of bar exams in many states, arguing in favor of diploma privilege.

"The running joke of the bar exam is that you prepare for 10 to 12 weeks and you forget 80% of it in a month," Clavering told Business Insider.

Taking into account loan payment obligations, as well as the challenging job market and the potential health hazard of congregating students for exams, New York should admit graduates without taking the bar exam, he said.

"Right now this is a crazy moment - and this is the response that's needed."

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