Facing potential insolvency by 2026, the State Bar of California is exploring various cost-saving measures, including remote administration and the use of small vendor-owned test centers for its exams. As part of this process, the Bar issued a Request for Information back in January 2024 to find a vendor capable of developing multiple-choice questions equivalent to the current Multistate Bar Examination (MBE)—with Kaplan North America, LLC (Kaplan) being proposed as a potential new vendor for next year’s February 2025 exam. However, the Bar’s Board of Trustees subsequently pulled the proposal from discussion at a May 16, 2024, meeting following a warning letter from the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) to Kaplan, in which the NCBE set forth its position that the MBE materials licensed to Kaplan, which include hundreds of actual, retired MBE questions, should not be used to create new multiple-choice questions for any jurisdiction.
