It worked for Abe Lincoln and John Marshall. Bobby Jones, the great golfer (and a brilliant intellect and fine writer to boot), took the bar on a lark after his first year at Emory law (after earning an engineering degree at Georgia Tech and a Masters in Eng. Lit. at Harvard--how's that for a CV?), and when he passed, he decided, why waste my time back in that paper chase? So he went out and started his practice. By the way, he earned all these degrees at the height of his career, not after it had wound down.
Nothing new, here. Some additional information: RULES FOR 'LAW READERS' BY STATE (Among the state that allow them) California: Students who register for the four-year law school alternative must have completed at least two years of college or prove the intellectual equivalent. Law readers must pass a "baby bar" exam after the first year of study in a law office or judge's chambers. There are currently no more than 25 law readers in the state. Maine: The bar allows students to apprentice in law offices instead of attending their third year of law school. However, it's been at least 15 years since anyone applied to the bar under that provision, according to the Maine Board of Bar Examiners. Mississippi: Law office students who registered in the state before July 1, 1979, may take the Mississippi bar. The last person to do so passed in 1998. New York: Law readers must have completed at least one year of law school and be in good standing. They must study law for at least four years. In the last five years, only 20 law readers have passed the New York bar out of 99 attempts. Vermont: Lets students take the bar after four years of office study. The state requires law readers to have completed at least three quarters of an undergraduate degree. There are currently about 50 registered law readers in the state. In the last five years, there have been 53 law reader attempts at the Vermont bar, and 24 have passed, or about 45 percent. Virginia: Law readers must have a bachelor's degree, and they can't be paid for work at the law firm that's training them. The program is three years long, and only 12 people succeeded out of the 54 law-reader attempts at the bar exam in the last five years -- a pass rate of 22 percent. There are currently about 19 registered law readers. Washington: Participants in the four-year program must have an undergraduate degree. Washington is the only state where law clerks outperform law school graduates on the bar. Since the program was revamped in 1984, 94 law readers have passed the bar out of 110 attempts. That's an 85 percent pass rate, compared to an overall pass rate of 72. There are currently about 50 law readers. Wyoming: The bar requires three years of law study, at least one of which must be in a law school. The last time anyone was admitted to the Wyoming bar without a law degree was in 1975. In California, the United Farm Workers Union (UFW) has leveraged, to its advantage, the ability of one to read for the bar exam. I see it as a valid way for one to become an attorney, and I hope California never abandons it.
Hey, DesElms! Where'd you get that neat stuff? I looked everywhere (I thought) for the Washington State stats and came up empty.
As an aside, we hear a great deal about how hard the New York and California bars are, but which bars are considered the easiest to pass? Tom Nixon
Surely, New Mexico must be at the top of the list--they'll take anyone. I have very good reasons for this suspicion. Now that was just uncalled for!
Thank the AP reporter. Another version of the very AP story to which Jimmy linked us included the state-by-state info (that I put in dark blue) in a sidebar to said article. Now I forget where I saw it, though. Actually, I had stupidly closed the browser window it was in before I posted it... or I would have cited the source. And it's not quite as accurate in a couple places as I wish it were, I now realize. [shrug] Oh, well. Fortunately, your target has, I believe, a good sense of humor.
Ha. Ha. Very funny. (Hunh!) Actually, the truth is, New Mexico is tied with Montana for having the highest pass rates over the years so it really IS the easiest Bar exam. But it's interesting; like Montana, we have NO reciprocity or admission on motion. Our exam is easier than eveyone else's (except, I suppose, Wisconsin's diploma privilege) but EVERYONE has to take it! New York has a notoriously difficult exam but offers reciprocity. Texas' exam is considered hard but THEY have admission on motion. California has almost the worst of both worlds; their exam is rightly reputed to be very difficult but they offer an attorney's exam BUT the pass rate on the attorney's exam is usually lower than the pass rate on the general Bar exam for graduates of ABA schools. Washington State has an all-essay exam, no MBE or MPRE, very tough, yet Wash. gives reciprocity, allows foreign lawyers to examine, has a law clerk program, has a generous emeritus rule... Then there's Louisiana...if you want to pass the Louisiana Bar exam, it would help a LOT if your J.D. came from a Louisiana school and you took all of the "alternate" Civil Law courses. Otherwise, you have a mountain to climb! The hardest Bar exam in the world is the one YOU are taking!
I'll never forget it. That was one room full of the tension of several hundred poor souls. They put us all in the convention center in Tucson near the downtown; I think about 700 sat, not a smile on anyone's face but for the malevolent ones of the examiners. I've never felt nerves like that in my life but for right before a boxing match when I realized I just might get pulverized in front of several hundred people, or worse, end up in a permanent state of slack-jawed drooling if all went poorly. But that, of course, just lasted a couple excruciating hours leading up to the match. Once the bell rung, you were too busy too think about being scared. One of my friends who sat for the bar had an interesting experience. There was an announcement a few minutes before the first day of the exam was to begin over the loudspeaker: someone had left their car running in the parking lot, doors locked, keys in it. As this was late July in Tucson and the temperature was about 110, that was an engine ready to be fried within an hour. When the description and license number was read, my friend nearby stood up with a look of shock on his face--of course, it was his car--; in his extremely agitated mindset, he had left his car in that state. It was the only thing that brought a smile to any test-taker's face that day. Some kind soul among the examiners took care of things for him and got security to get the door open, shut his car down, and deliver his keys to him at the first break. We all wondered if he'd pass considering his state-of-mind, but somehow, some way, he pulled it off.
