The Bar Exam (a.k.a Intro. to Malpractice)

In law school they tell you this: "Never give legal advice off the cuff. Meet the client, get the facts, and ask questions. Then, hit the books (or if you are lucky enough make an associate hit the books while you bill for "research conferences"). Yes, you should NEVER EVER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES try to give legal advice or opinion off the top of your head. Even if you think you know it. You should check. One misremembered rule of law and you may have committed malpractice."

Then, the bar exam. The bar exam is designed for you to do exactly what you are not supposed to do as a lawyer, i.e., go hog ass wild with legal ramblings off the top of your head. Yes, they don't want you to rely on statutes, cases, rules and regulations. Why, that would be downright silly! Your bar exam is based on how well you can remember some laws and apply them to a witty fact pattern that made the test author giggle when he wrote it (oh, I know I feel so much better about taking an exam with a 40% failure rate when the test question incorporates characters from my favorite TV show).

But the bar exam really doesn't test you on how well you can research and figure out the law. Let's face it, that is what your first few years of practice is. I say first few years because after a while, you really aren't contained by the law anymore. Seasoned lawyers just kinda make the law up--the real law is for associates and law students, not veteran lawyers. Back to the bar exam. Why don't they test on the stuff what really matters? The important test is how well you can figure out what the law is, not how well you remember what the law is. Indeed, I think they should give you some questions and then lock you in a law library and give you 24 hours to answer the questions. Yes indeed, that is the real test of how you will work out as a lawyer. Asking you to remember things off the top of your head, and not rely on research....well, that is just plain malpractice.

As I said in my earlier blog, the only reason you take the bar exam is because lawyer before you took it and by gosh they are not going to deny you the experience. It is a rite of passage, but it is not useful in any way. It is downright annoying actually. Much like law school, the bar exam has nothing to do with how well you practice law or how good you will be as a lawyer. It is nothing more than psychological hazing.