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Mississippi Bar Exam Cut to 2 Days By Rebecca E. Neely Per a request from the state’s Board of Bar Admissions, the Mississippi Supreme Court recently approved changing the duration of the state’s bar exam from three days to two. The change effectively cuts the exam time by nearly five hours, reducing it from 18 hours to 13 and a half.
City of Jackson attorney Pieter Teeuwissen and chairman of the Board of Bar Admissions was quoted as saying in the August 29th clarionledger.com article, ‘’Bar exam in Miss. reduced from 3 days to 2’’: ‘’As a practical matter, only four jurisdictions, including Mississippi, currently conduct a threeday bar examination.’’ Ann Bowden-Hollis, Gulfport lawyer and vice chairwoman of the Board of Bar Admissions explained in the clarionledger. com article what she saw as benefits to the change. No subject areas have been removed from the test, but rather have been streamlined. In essence, the test, in her opinion, accomplishes its intended purpose; in her words: ‘’The goal here is to appropriately test prospective attorneys.’’ As well, some people taking the test will be able to save on certain expenses, such as hotel stays. However, the Supreme Court ruling to change the test’s duration was 7-2, with Justices Michael Randolph and David Chandler dissenting.
on Mississippi law would be in the best interests of both prospective attorneys and the citizens of this state, prior to admission to practice law in this state.’’ He is referring to the changed exam; as it stands now, just three hours of Mississippi law is required. Chandler was quoted as saying: ‘’While it is a laudable goal to reduce an unnecessarily lengthy testing period, this court first should determine, with specificity, what we are attempting to measure before deciding how to measure it and what length the test should be.’’ According to information at the State of Mississippi Judiciary’s website, an official statement on the length and scope of the bar exam scheduled for February of 2012 will be posted on September 1st by the Board of Bar Admissions. In addition, students from both the University of Mississippi School of Law and Mississippi College School of Law will have the opportunity to ask questions of members of the Board at a scheduled meeting.
In his opinion, Randolph wrote, in part, per the clarionledger. com article: ‘’...I would opine that eight hours of examination
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