June 4 -- Refresh. Refresh. Refresh. The first graduating class of Concord Law School sat at their computers last month, awaiting their bar exam results -- which were supposed to be posted online at 6 p.m. Instant messages and e-mail flew back and forth, just as they have for four years among this unique, tight-knit group of would-be lawyers.

REFRESH. REFRESH.

Four hours later, the first 10 graduates of an Internet-based law school were still waiting to find out whether they had passed the test they need to practice law. A glitch at the California State Bar’s Web site was preventing the results from being available.

Among the 10: A stay-at-home dad. An earthquake engineer. A mother of two who 10 years prior sold off her independent movie studio to raise her kids. A small-town surgeon. And a former AT&T systems analyst. As they waited, they fired messages back and forth, hoping one of them would manage to get the results and pass them among the group.

After four years on trial as the first class of the newfangled online law school, what’s four more hours?

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Concord is not perfect: To begin with, the school isn’t accredited by the American Bar Association. The ABA has no provision for approving schools that offer their entire curriculum online, a spokesperson said. That might hurt some graduates’ careers, as some jobs require applicants to hold a degree from an ABA-accredited law school, and some states insist on the ABA seal of approval before graduates can take the bar exam.

Concord is accredited by the California Bureau of Private Post-Secondary and Vocational Education, which is only recognized by the California State Bar. So while interested students can earn a law degree from virtually anywhere, they can initially practice law only in California.

A few states, such as New Hampshire, have reciprocity agreements with California — meaning those who pass the California bar are automatically entitled to sit for the Vermont exam. Jascob, who lives in New Hampshire, said he might take that route so that he can practice law in his neighboring state.

And of course, not all Concord graduates passed the bar exam on their first try, though 6 out of 10 compares favorably with percentages at other law schools. Overall, 50.2 percent of first-time takers passed the California test, which was administered in February.

Dozens of newly minted lawyers around the country may soon find out they are not lawyers after all.
The National Conference of Bar Examiners, which produces the 200-question multistate portion of the bar exam taken in almost every state, last week warned bar officials in 48 states that the scores of all 20,204 law students who took the test in February are being recalculated because of a clerical mistake.

"Students are scared about taking the bar exam anyway, so it's terrible to be thrown into doubt," said Alan Michaels, associate dean at Moritz College of Law at Ohio State University.

"The scoring error was detected and every jurisdiction is affected," said Erica Moeser, president of the national conference. "The error is being corrected" as quickly as possible and states are being notified, she said. The problem was discovered at the beginning of May....

If Ohio is any sign, few would-be lawyers will be prevented from taking the oath. A total of 551 students took the bar exam in February and 294 passed.

Last week, the Ohio Supreme Court notified 28 applicants that their status may change due to the error. By last Thursday, it was determined that 27 of those 28 passed, according to information released by Ohio Supreme Court Clerk Marcia Mengel.