News Releases

State Bar issues statement on Sander ruling

Contact: Laura Ernde

415-538-2283

barcomm@calbar.ca.gov

SAN FRANCISCO, April 12, 2016 — The State Bar of California issued the following statement today on a San Francisco Superior Court ruling denying its motion to dismiss a lawsuit seeking access to bar applicant information:

“The ruling on the motion does not mean that Professor Richard Sander is entitled to the applicant information he seeks. Although the court did not read Business and Professions Code section 6060.25 as a per se bar to disclosure of the information, we are confident that the State Bar will prevail at trial, where the court will balance the need for public disclosure against applicant privacy and other countervailing interests. The bar believes that on balance, the privacy rights of bar applicants will prevail.”

UCLA economist and law professor Richard Sander’s lawsuit, filed in 2008, originated from a request for access to information from the State Bar’s admissions database, including applicants’ bar exam scores, law school attended, grade point averages and race or ethnicity. The State Bar opposed the release of the data, asserting it would violate promises it made to law students regarding privacy and limited use of the records.

In 2013, the Supreme Court ruled that: “Under the common law right of public access, there is a sufficient public interest in the information contained in the admissions database such that the State Bar is required to provide access to it if the information can be provided in a form that protects the privacy of applicants and if no countervailing interest outweighs the public’s interest in disclosure.”

Due to legislation that went into effect last year prohibiting disclosure of “any identifying information submitted by an applicant,” the State Bar had requested an end to the case. San Francisco Superior Court Judge Mary E. Wiss denied the motion. A trial is scheduled for July 11.