UC Berkeley Law Students Are Worried The Medium Is The Mistake – Above the Law

Because
having
the
highest
score
requirement
to
pass
isn’t
enough
of
a
challenge,
the
California
bar
has
also
boasted
its
fair
share
of
tech
mishaps.

AI-generated
questions,

grading
screw-ups,
and

faulty
software
made
it
seem
like
test
takers
were
sleuthing
out
maximum
patience
rather
than
minimum
competency.
But
who
says
you
have
to
finish
law
school
before
a
test’s
technical
failures
makes
you
want
to
rip
your
hair
out?
UC
Berkeley’s
required
exam
software
has
its
fair
share
of
errors
and
students
are
pushing
back
against
being
forced
to
use
it.

Daily
Cal
has
coverage:

In
the
face
of
high-stakes
exams,
students
at
the
UC
Berkeley
School
of
Law
have
voiced
concerns
over
required
exam
software,
citing
serious
technical
issues,
privacy
risks
and
exam
complications
while
the
school
continues
to
use
Electric
Bluebook,
or
EBB.
…
Last
fall,
a
version
of
the
software
posed
issues
for
a
number
of
students,
including
crashes,
failed
submissions,
device
malfunctions
that
required
full
restarts
and
data
access
concerns
that
led
some
to
arrange
borrowing
a
new
device.

“We
received
over
150
anonymous
comments
last
semester
raising
technical
problems,
privacy
issues,
or
personal
concerns
relating
to
the
Electronic
Bluebook,”
said
Ben
Shipman,
the
co-president
of
the
Student
Association
of
Berkeley
Law,
in
an
email.
“This
semester
specifically,
we
received
57
non-anonymous
concerns
in
addition
to
more
concerns
raised
by
anonymous
submissions,
in-the-hall
interactions,
and
students
who
came
to
SABL’s
semesterly
Town
Hall
in
which
they
voiced
concerns
about
the
EBB.”

The
silver
lining
is
that
the
school
reached
out
to
the
developer
to
fix
the
errors.
Unfortunately,
there
are
still
privacy
concerns
even
if
the
exams
run
smoothy.
The
EBB
requires
admin
access
to
sensitive
data
on
the
student’s
computers
making
international
students
and
students
doing
pro-bono
work
hesitant
to
use
the
program.
Where
the
EBB
poses
too
difficult,
it
might
be
time
for
the
old
non-digital
version
to
step
up.

Berkeley
Law
Students
Raise
Concerns
Over
Exam
Software
Glitches,
Data
Access
[Daily
Cal]

---

Chris
Williams
became
a
social
media
manager
and
assistant
editor
for
Above
the
Law
in
June
2021.
Prior
to
joining
the
staff,
he
moonlighted
as
a
minor
Memelord™
in
the
Facebook
group Law
School
Memes
for
Edgy
T14s
.
 He
endured
Missouri
long
enough
to
graduate
from
Washington
University
in
St.
Louis
School
of
Law.
He
is
a
former
boat
builder
who
is
learning
to
swim
and
is
interested
in
rhetoric,
Spinozists
and
humor.
Getting
back
in
to
cycling
wouldn’t
hurt
either.
You
can
reach
him
by
email
at


[email protected]
and
by
Tweet/Bluesky
at @WritesForRent.