Today, I received an anonymous comment from someone, saying:
“Is there anything I can do without passing the bar but having graduated from law school? I’m going to fail and am not sure what to do next…”
How awful it must be to feel this way – I can only hope this person is vastly under-estimating his or her ability, but the fact remains that about 50% of applicants will begin to fail the California Bar Examination in about 16 hours – not a very comforting thought for anyone…
If you don’t pass, you can always take it again – or take it in another state. Every single other state has a higher pass-rate (and presumably an easier test) compared to California. Or be glad that you’re not going to be a lawyer for the rest of your life – you should know by now that it’s not the greatest thing in the world.
For those of you about to take the Bar, remember: just make shit up!
I just dropped a friend off at the bar exam and went to work – I started googling “bar exam” and stumbled upon this blog – just thought I’d post the following:
I was confident I would fail the night before the bar exam as well. I was lucky and felt great after the first day – I was given con law, torts, and contracts [no cross-overs despite what BarBri says]; however, I worry about my friends going in to this exame who will have bad first days – it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. For all of you taking the exam, here are a few things I think we forget about just prior to the bar exam:
(1) You can bomb the first day and still pass.
(2) You can bomb the whole thing and still pass (think about it – it takes about a 65 overall to pass (a “D”), and, the bar graders are paid $3 per test – so after three years of law school its easy to mistakenly that what you think is crap is going to fail.) My point is – I don’t care if a meteor hits the test center – FINISH!!!
(3) Nobody (and I mean nobody) looks down on a lawyer who took it twice – (I won’t lie – some people will give you hell for 3 attempts, but you know what, who needs to know…)
(4) Take pride and comfort in knowing that the profession you’ve chosen places this obstacle in you way – would you rather they just let any old person into the club??? Didn’t think so…
(5) Oh, and one more thing – I think Yogi said, “I’d rather be lucky than good…” (even if you’re stupid, didn’t study, get sick, car breaks down, clock doesn’t work, forget your ear plugs, sit next to somebody who picks their nose, farts, and chews gum like a jackhammer…..) sometimes the clouds part… and you just pass… you just pass.