I'm heartbroken for this generation of law grads worried about the bar exams. The exams are worthless and arbitrary. Studying for it was all encompassing for like two months. For folks who took interesting classes in law school,
like human rights and privacy and clinics, they'll be learning these topics for the first time and never use them again. Commercial paper, huh?! The exam is hard and overwhelming and required 8 hours of full concentration study a day. at least for me. I'm not a
good test taker and it required memorization only. As a lawyer, I memorize nothing. I can't even remember the SOL for some of the torts I use daily. I look that up and have it laminated on my desk. When I argue in court, it's not from memory. It's from the heart and from
having done the work empathizing with my client and living inside the argument. It's storytelling. Not memorization. When I studied for the bar, I was so concerned about distractions, my entire life was rigid a set menu (butter beans and kimchi), exercise routine
bedtime, uniform. I turned off my g-chat for those months and barely checked my email. All travel was on hold.
Taking the bar requires complete devotion. I can't imagine studying for this with the fear it could be cancelled or not knowing the exact testtaking location
Taking the bar requires complete devotion. I can't imagine studying for this with the fear it could be cancelled or not knowing the exact testtaking location
or medium or if you'll get a deadly disease during it. The fact of the pandemic alone would have been one variable too many for me. Not to mention the uncertainty of cancellation and risk of taking it live.
I get that some lawyers see it as an important hazing ritual. I'm proud of passing it too. And a part of me would resent the new attorneys who won't have had to go through the hell of the bar. But you know, life isn't fair. My grandpas had to fight in WW2. I didn't.
Let's not pretend new law grads have faced no sacrifice. They're entering the legal profession now -- in the middle of a pandemic. They didn't get their last semester in the classroom. Their internships were remote or cancelled, their job offers retracted or reduced.
Lawyers who've already taken and passed the bar are already in a place of privilege over these newcomers. We're already lawyers. We already have all the power we need -- to hire or fire newer lawyers, to teach them and kick their asses in the courtroom.
The least we could do is show them compassion right now. Because they're coming into this profession in a moment of trauma. The trauma they bring (in my eyes, an asset) will provide greater value and empathy in their work than any memory test. Thank you to @alittleleader
for being so powerful in educating us all about the hell new lawyers are facing. We need you all to get through this and join us!!!! And let's ditch the bar exam permanently.
