Appellate Specialization news

The California State Bar's Department of Legal Specialization reports the following:

• Certified Specialist Program Fee on Annual Fee Statements for 2018 -- The Certified Specialist Program Annual Fee of $360 will appear on your electronic fee statement, and will be due by February 1, 2018. Fees received after February 1 will be subject to a $75 late fee penalty.  Dual specialists will still receive a 50% reduction in the fee for the second specialty. As a reminder, the program is entirely self-funding and all fees support the testing, review, and public protection functions for consumers.  Thank you for the steps you are taking to promote excellence in practice and to protect the public.
• MCLE Compliance Group 2 to report 36 hours of legal specialist education compliance by February 1, 2018 -- If your last name began with H-M at the time of your admission to the Bar, February 1, 2018 is the deadline to file the one-page attestation form confirming that you completed 36 hours of legal specialist approved education or an equivalent over the last three years.  
• Record Number of Applicants Took the Legal Specialist Examination -- A record 941 applicants took the Legal Specialist Examination in October 2017.  Many arrived in full Dodgers regalia, ready to cheer on the Dodgers in the first game of the World Series later that day. The following is the total number of applicants in each area of law: Appellate-54; Bankruptcy-29; Criminal-66; Estate Planning, Trust and Probate-201; Franchise and Distribution-6; Family-262; Immigration and Nationality-58; Legal Malpractice-27; Taxation-39; and Workers’ Compensation-199.
• Grading is in full swing now, and the California Board of Legal Specialization would like to thank all of the volunteer graders for their investment of time and care in grading.  Final results will be mailed out by March 15, 2018 via U.S. Mail to the address in each applicant’s My State Bar Profile.  Some applicants may change their address during the mailing period for the results.  Results are only sent to the applicants. 
• One big change this time was the large increase in applicants, a total of 788, using a computer to type their essay answers.
• Another big change was the increase in the number of private preparatory courses available to help applicants prepare for the examination. There were preparatory courses for eight of the thirteen examinations. 
• The next examination is scheduled for October 22, 2019 and registration will open in January 2019