Legislation.com, DOJ Grievance Filed Towards California Bar for Denying Lodging:

4 disabled regulation college graduates filed a joint grievance with the U.S. Division of Justice in opposition to the State Bar of California for allegedly violating the People with Disabilities Act by failing to supply lodging for the California bar examination—and that company has already begun reviewing its insurance policies.

The 4 complainants—listed as Clarena Arbelaez, JR, Rosa Rico and RC—allege that the California bar engaged in “systemic disability-based discrimination and failure to accommodate check takers with disabilities, in violation of Title II of the People with Disabilities Act (ADA) and 42 U.S.C. § 12189,” in keeping with the grievance.

“The State Bar has created a two-tier system the place disabled check takers should spend distinctive assets simply to use for testing lodging” after which the state bar usually denies lodging, reminiscent of prolonged time, a personal room, speech recognition software program or permission to face and stretch, in keeping with a Might 18 press launch, which states that Claudia Heart, authorized director for the Incapacity Rights Training and Protection Fund, and Jinny Kim, managing legal professional at Incapacity Rights Advocates, are representing the complainants. …

“The State Bar has not been served with the U.S. Division of Justice grievance, that we perceive was filed on Might 18, on behalf of 4 present and former State Bar candidates, nor has the State Bar been requested by the DOJ to reply to the grievance,” Rick Coca, senior program analyst with the Workplace of Strategic Communications & Stakeholder Engagement of The State Bar of California, instructed Legislation.com in an electronic mail Tuesday, including, “We’re reviewing the particular allegations within the grievance and can reply to the DOJ as applicable if and when we’re requested to take action.”

Nonetheless, the California State Bar “has voluntarily undertaken a complete evaluation and analysis of its testing lodging course of with the objective of streamlining that course of and limiting many candidates’ want to supply new supporting documentation by as an alternative counting on proof of previous testing lodging on high-stakes exams,” Coca mentioned.

The state bar has proposed a brand new set of testing lodging guidelines that can quickly be circulated for a 45-day public remark interval, he added.

ABA Journal, Incapacity Rights Advocates Problem California’s Bar Examination Lodging Course of

https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2023/06/four-disabled-law-school-graduates-file-doj-complaint-against-california-state-bar-for-violating-ada.html