Law.com, DOJ Complaint Filed Against California Bar for Denying Accommodations:

Four disabled law school graduates filed a joint complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice against the State Bar of California for allegedly violating the Americans with Disabilities Act by failing to provide accommodations for the California bar exam—and that agency has already begun reviewing its policies.

The four complainants … allege that the California bar engaged in “systemic disability-based discrimination and failure to accommodate test takers with disabilities, in violation of Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and 42 U.S.C. § 12189,” according to the complaint.

“The State Bar has created a two-tier system where disabled test takers must spend exceptional resources just to apply for testing accommodations” and then the state bar often denies accommodations, such as extended time, a private room, speech recognition software or permission to stand and stretch, according to a May 18 press release, which states that Claudia Center, legal director for the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, and Jinny Kim, managing attorney at Disability Rights Advocates, are representing the complainants. …

“The State Bar has not been served with the U.S. Department of Justice complaint, that we understand was filed on May 18, on behalf of four current and former State Bar applicants, nor has the State Bar been asked by the DOJ to respond to the complaint,” Rick Coca, senior program analyst with the Office of Strategic Communications & Stakeholder Engagement of The State Bar of California, told Law.com in an email Tuesday, adding, “We are reviewing the specific allegations in the complaint and will respond to the DOJ as appropriate if and when we are asked to do so.”

However, the California State Bar “has voluntarily undertaken a comprehensive review and evaluation of its testing accommodations process with the goal of streamlining that process and limiting many applicants’ need to provide new supporting documentation by instead relying on proof of past testing accommodations on high-stakes exams,” Coca said.

The state bar has proposed a new set of testing accommodations rules that will soon be circulated for a 45-day public comment period, he added.

ABA Journal, Disability Rights Advocates Challenge California's Bar Exam Accommodation Process