An influential California legislator is pressuring the State Bar of California to ditch its new multiple-choice questions after a February bar exam debacle and revert to the traditional test format in July.

“Given the catastrophe of the February bar, I think that going back to the methods that have been used for the last 50 years — until we can adequately test what new methods may be employed — is the appropriate way to go,” Sen. Tom Umberg (D-Orange), chair of the state Senate Judiciary Committee, told The Times.

Umberg, a former prosecutor, likened having a nonlawyer using artificial intelligence to draft questions for a bar exam “to nonphysicians designing questions with the help of AI to decide who’s qualified to be a surgeon.”

As chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Umberg wields considerable clout over the State Bar. He recently pushed Senate Bill 40, a new law that requires the state Senate to confirm future appointments of the State Bar’s executive director and general counsel. After the February exam debacle, Umberg filed legislation to launch an independent review of the exam by the California State Auditor, to find out what went so “spectacularly wrong.”

Read more here: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-05-06/california-state-ba…