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SAN FRANCISCO, Aug 18, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Personal and academic information about applicants for the California bar examination is collected by the State Bar under assurances of confidentiality and limited use and therefore cannot be released to a UCLA researcher seeking the data, the State Bar argues in papers filed with the Supreme Court today.

In its response to a writ filed earlier this month by UCLA law professor Richard Sander and others, the bar argues that:

-- Sander does not have a right to see or use personal and private information of bar exam applicants without their consent.

-- Applicants provided information to the State Bar with an assurance that it would be kept confidential and used only by the bar to assure the exam's testing validity.

-- There is no merit to Sander's argument that personal data provided by bar applicants is a "court document" that is like other public records. The right of access to court proceedings under case law applies only to transcripts, documents and other official records related to lawsuits filed in the courts.

-- There is no merit to Sander's argument that Proposition 59, the November 2004 public records initiative, has changed this. In fact, courts have ruled that there has been no expansion of the types of court documents that must be made available.

-- Sander is not simply seeking a copy of an existing bar record. Disclosure would require the State Bar to work with him to create data that is useful for his research purposes, but not that of the State Bar.

"Applicants for the California bar exam provide a great deal of personal information to the State Bar under the clear understanding that their information will be kept confidential and only used for bar purposes," said President Jeff Bleich. "The members of the bar's Board of Governors often disagree, but the board was unanimous in concluding that to disclose this information would violate a bar applicant's right to privacy. We made a promise to exam-takers when they applied for admission that we would not disclose any private information that might make their confidential academic record and bar exam results publicly known without their consent. We must keep that promise."

Sander, joined by the California First Amendment Coalition and civil rights activist Joe Hicks, went directly to the Supreme Court Aug. 7 to petition that it direct the bar to hand over the records. They asked that the data be redacted to protect the privacy of test takers.

Sander theorizes that placing unqualified minority students in elite law schools results in lower bar pass rates than if they attended schools where their admissions credentials match those of their classmates. Calling the outcome the "mismatch effect," he suggests that preferential admissions policies may actually harm, rather than help, students of color.