Coranth Gryphon
A Proto-Lawyer Quest to Survive the Bar Exam
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Coranth GryphonA Proto-Lawyer Quest to Survive the Bar Exam |
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The results are in, and according to both the California and Oregon State Bar Associations, I passed. Big sigh of releif.
So that's two Bars down, and no more to go. Well, there's still re-taking the MPRE, because the first time I took it was in November 2004, which is 27 months before the Oregon Bar Exam, and Oregon requires them to be taken within 24 months of each other. It didn't matter that I scored in the top 10% when I took the MPRE in 2004. They still want me to take it again before I can be admitted to practice in Oregon. Which brings up the question of why I took the Oregon Bar Exam, when I don't know for certain that I'll be moving to Oregon any time soon. It's called reciprocity.
Whoever had the idea of a three-day cumulative final exam, expecting people to memorize all of the common law, is insane. And apparently decided to share that insanity with every successive generation of law school grads. What makes the process especially insane is that in the actual professional practice of law, operating purely from memory (as we are expected to do on most of the bar exam) would constitute malpractice. Go figure. And on top of all that, we didn't get any results from California until November. Yes, that's almost four months of waiting. As if taking the exam didn't make us crazy enough.
But here's what's worse. Each state has its own bar. And most states don't recognize the results from most other states. So, if you move, you generally have to take the bar exam all over again in your new state. The exception is where a state may recognize the other state's license, and waive the exam requirements. But this generally only happens if the other state would do the same. It's called reciprocity. Now, California won't recognize attorneys (on waiver) from any other state. So, no other state is reciprocal with California either. Oregon and Washington, however, both recognize each others' attorneys, as well as several other states. So, having passed that bar exam in one of those two, there are good odds that wherever I end up long term, I'll either be already admitted (assuming I again pass the MPRE), or able to get a waiver based on reciprocity. So, one more short test, most likely in August. Hopefully no more bar exams after that.
More details later, once the Oregon Bar paperwork is finally done.