March 17, 2021 at 8:17 PM Shares31 The pandemic brought all the problems with the bar exam and state licensing into focus. Issues that had bubbled among a small clique of legal observers for years exploded in a white hot flame of disaster over the last year. The over-reliance on limited administrations exacerbated health and technology problems, the disconnect between the test and any conception of minimum competency frustrated efforts to promote open book options to cut back on technical obstacles (like those that arbitrarily flagged one-third of applicants as cheaters in California), and the out-of-control power of state regulators went on full display as they threatened to refuse licenses to critics.