A group of California bar exam candidates has taken legal action following what they describe as a catastrophic failure of the test’s online platform. The lawsuit, filed Thursday in federal court, targets Meazure Learning, the company responsible for administering the exam, accusing it of disregarding warnings about potential technical problems and ultimately delivering a broken system.
The class-action suit seeks damages but does not name the State Bar of California as a defendant. “The exam was a disaster,” the complaint states, citing widespread server crashes, connectivity failures, and software malfunctions that left test-takers stranded mid-exam. Approximately 4,600 candidates were scheduled to sit for the two-day test, though it’s unclear how many were directly affected by the disruptions.
Meazure Learning, a Birmingham, Alabama-based company formed through a 2020 merger of ProctorU and Yardstick, touts itself as a leader in remote proctoring, boasting a network of 1,500 test centers across 115 countries. However, its rollout of California’s hybrid bar exam—offered both remotely and in person—has been marred by dysfunction. The state bar awarded Meazure a $4.1 million contract last September to handle the February and July exams.
In a move that further frustrated test-takers, the bar exam’s planned retake, originally set for March 3-4, has been pushed to March 18-19. This delay stems from a separate debacle—an online leak of an essay question, forcing a revision of the retake’s content. The state bar has vowed to track down those responsible for the leak and warned that anyone involved could lose their moral character determination, a key requirement for bar admission.
The turmoil has drawn widespread criticism, with law school deans urging the California Supreme Court to step in. While the state bar has promised to assess “remediation plans,” including potential score adjustments, the chaos surrounding the exam has cast doubt on the effectiveness of its new system.
In an attempt to mitigate the fallout, the state bar has offered full refunds to those who withdrew before the test and pledged that anyone who fails the February exam can retake it in July at no additional cost. However, for many aspiring attorneys, the damage—both financial and emotional—has already been done.
