Starting in February, law graduates taking the California Bar Exam will pay 26% more to sit for the test.

The State Bar of California’s Board of Trustees just approved a slate of admission fee increases that is expected to generate an additional $7.9 million annually for the organization, which is facing a multimillion-dollar budget shortfall.

The cost of the exam will go from $796 to $1,000 for law graduates, while their moral character determination fee — which covers the bar’s review of an applicant’s past conduct — will increase 32% to $725.

Attorneys already licensed in another jurisdiction will now pay 50% more to take the bar exam, with the price rising from $1,197 to $1,800. Additionally, they must pay a moral character determination fee of $850, which is a 54% increase.

Bar leaders said those increases are necessary to cover the rising costs of its attorney admissions work and said that the organization has not raised admission fees since 2016. The bar’s admissions fund was projected to run a nearly $8 million deficit in 2024 without the adopted fee increases.

“When you go year after year without adjusting fees, you’re going to have to pay the piper,” said State Bar Trustee Mark Toney.

The Board of Trustees delayed enacting several proposed fee increases for California-accredited law schools, after those schools raised concerns over the financial impact. The State Bar had proposed raising the annual fee for those schools from $2,170 to $22,900 — a 955% increase.

The State Bar in August reduced the number of testing sites for the February 2024 Bar Exam, eliminating locations in San Diego, Sacramento and Oakland while retaining sites in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Ontario. That reduction is expected to save $550,000.

Bar leaders said they are still developing plans for the July 2024 exam, which may include further modifying testing sites and conducting a portion of the exam remotely. The Board is expected to finalize those plans in January.

You can read more about this issue here.

 

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