It’s been more than a year since COVID-19 changed our daily lives. For many of us, hours-long daily commutes into the office and public transportation are a thing of the past. So are afterwork happy hours, in-person court hearings and face-to-face networking. The bar exam has also radically changed during the past year, and more changes are coming. That’s our lead story this month, as the National Conference of Bar Examiners prepares to roll out a vastly different exam in 2025. Those changes go beyond just the technological shift to online exams that implement facial recognition technology, but to the creation of an exam that better evaluates the legal knowledge and skills lawyers need to succeed.

Next, Merrick Garland is now leading the U.S. Department of Justice after the Senate, in a bipartisan vote, approved his nomination for attorney general. Garland has a monumental task before him in rebuilding morale among career staff at DOJ, but the team supporting his mission is largely in place. We take a look at the lawyers who have been appointed, nominated or confirmed to various leadership positions, and the experience they bring to the job. Key names include Stanford’s Pamela Karlan, civil rights attorney Vanita Gupta, and John Carlin, formerly of Morrison & Foerster.