1,015 Complete N.C. Bar Exam
Article Date: Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Written By: Russell Rawlings
A record 1,015 applicants completed the July 2006 North Carolina Bar Exam, according to reports from the N.C. Board of Law Examiners. Displaced from their traditional testing site – the Raleigh Convention and Civic Center – applicants took the exam at the RBC Center on Tuesday and Wednesday, July 25-26.
Another record of sorts was posted when approximately half of the applicants used laptop computers to take the exam. That’s a far cry from the 42 applicants who were the first to use laptops in North Carolina in February 2004.
Last July there were 912 applicants taking the exam, approximately one-third of whom used laptops.
Exam grading will begin Aug. 13. The board hopes to complete grading by Aug. 26 and to post the names of successful applicants who are eligible for licensure on the NCBLE Web site on Aug. 30. The release date will be confirmed when grading has finished, and applicants are reminded not to call the NCBLE office to get results.
The spacious RBC is better-suited for N.C. State basketball and Stanley Cup championship games involving the Carolina Hurricanes, but NCBLE officials made do with what is now the only facility in Raleigh large enough to handle more than 1,000 applicants.
NCBLE Executive Director Fred Parker expressed gratitude for the excellent support provided by the RBC Center staff.
"The building is intended to house spectators at sporting events and large concerts, so its structure poses some challenges," said Durham attorney Susan Freya Olive, former chair of the Board of Law Examiners who currently sits on the board.
“The arena was full of laptop-takers. We also were able to use a smaller room on the arena level for computer users. Hand-writers took the exam on tables spread out around the main concourse – the area in which spectators normally would wander around and buy food before going down to their seats.”