News from the State Bar

CLA will be submitting formal comments to the Legislature on the proposed fee increase, pursuant to directions from the CLA Board given in closed session at its meeting on June 21, 2019.  We are in the process of evaluating the impact of the LAO report on these comments.

A new analysis was released on June 26, 2019 by the Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO). It is available here.

The legislation itself, SB 176, is available here.

Your comments would be appreciated. Send them to solo@calawyers.org.

The bill is set to be heard by the Assembly Judiciary Committee on July 9, 2019.

State Bar of California Launches Groundbreaking All-Attorney Survey Analyzing the State of California Law Practice

Today the State Bar opens online registration for an unprecedented survey of all active California attorneys, the California Attorney Practice Analysis (CAPA). Attorneys who sign up online between now and July 19 to participate in the August study will receive one hour of MCLE credit when they complete the survey.

“This expansive study is unprecedented, and we hope that California attorneys use this opportunity to give us their views about the present and future of the profession,” said Alan Steinbrecher, who chairs the working group overseeing the project and is also Vice Chair of the State Bar Board of Trustees. “This analysis will help us definitively assess the relevance and content of the California Bar Exam. The practice of law, especially in a state as diverse and dynamic as California, is in a state of tremendous change. This fresh look at what entry-level attorneys need to know will help us ensure we are keeping up with that change.”

The project will collect detailed, empirical data about how attorneys use their knowledge and skills to perform routine tasks in their legal practices. CAPA will set the foundation for revisiting the California Bar Exam content and format.

Participants will be assigned at random to one of three participant groups to complete:

• A California-specific survey, which requires approximately 45 to 60 minutes to complete;
• A national survey fielded by the National Conference of Bar Examiners, of similar subject matter and length; or
• An Experience Sampling study, a method that involves brief responses to short, simple questions about current tasks, twice a day, for one business week. More information about ESM.

Attorneys can sign up at calbar.ca.gov/CAPA.

Numerous California attorneys have already contributed to the study, via the CAPA Working Group, as well as expert panels who helped formulate the knowledge domains on which the survey is based, on focus groups, in beta tests of the survey, and in a social media video campaign to promote the study, under the hashtag #LawPractice2020.

CAPA is funded by a grant from the AccessLex Institute. Castle Worldwide was selected as the vendor to conduct the study.

More information
Fact Sheet: Attorney Practice Analysis for the California Bar Exam