Only one third of law students take BarBri?

The most recent Ambivalent Question asked: “Which bar review course will you (or did you) take?” After two weeks of voting, the final results were:

• Impeach Bush: 36.4%
• Bar/Bri: 34.8%
• Bar/Bri *and* PMBR: 19.7%
• PMBR: 3.0%
• BarPlus: 1.5%
• Other: 1.5%
• None; who needs 'em?: 1.5%
• Micro Mash Bar Review: 1.5%
• MyBarPrep: 0%
• The Study Group Personal Bar Review: 0%

Total votes: 66.

I can make little of this. At my school (GW), my impression is very much that everyone takes BarBri, but perhaps that's just because they've got our school brainwashed that it's necessary. I've heard faculty simply assume that we'll all take BarBri, and it's in the school's interest that we do if they think it will increase our bar passage rates, so that definitely contributes to more people signing up. Still, I have to think this little poll is not very accurate. Shock.

The bar exam is such a very stupid thing. As I've said before, I agree w/Professor Solove that the damn things should be abolished:

It prevents mobility among lawyers, making it cumbersome and time consuming to move to different states. It does not test on actual law used in legal practice, but on esoteric legal rules, many of which are obsolete, and most of which are of absolutely no value to a practicing attorney or to anyone for that matter. In short, the Bar Exam is an unproductive waste of time.

That first problem—the exam as a barrier to mobility—is a huge one for me and the most important reason to get rid of the whole charade. But rather than repeat what Professor Solove and the comments to his posts have said, I propose the following three changes to how people become lawyers in this country:

First, the only even slightly credible reason people offer for having a bar exam is as a barrier to entry to ensure some minimum level of competence in the legal profession. I agree this is a lame reason, but most people in the legal profession have been brainwashed to believe it's horribly important. Therefore, rather than abolish the bar exam, we should simply abolish all but one iteration of it. By this I mean that, rather than each state having its own exam, the ABA should offer one bar exam that qualifies those who pass to practice law anywhere in the country. The Multistate Bar Exam is already in place; tweak that however you like, but please, just make one test count for all 50 states.

Second, put BarBri out of freaking business by making the last semester of law school into a bar review course. Many people already agree that the 3rd year of law school is largely a waste; make it meaningful by making sure it prepares students for entry into their profession.

Third, convince the rest of the states to join Wisconsin in allowing graduates of state law schools automatic admission to the bar in that state.

That's it. Very simple. What do you think?

Another suggestion that would leave the current abominable system in place but eliminate the biggest problem for me would be for states to allow people to take their bar exams whenever they want. Why must every bar exam be given during the same 2-3 days each year? That's stupid and unnecessary. If I want to take an exam, I should be able to schedule it with a state bar examiner a few weeks in advance at the most, show up, and take it. If they want to keep it simple, they can offer the exam only on thursdays and fridays, or they could offer it only once a month if they want to be jerks about it, but this twice/year business (and the fact that all states do it in the same weeks as each other) creates a ridiculous and completely unnecessary barrier to mobility.

Please! Stop the madness!

Other interesting bits about the bar exam:

• Someone named Ryan Walters owns abolishthebarexam.com. I wonder if this is him.
• Professor Solove's first post about abolishing the bar exam.
• Solove's followup post.
• Another followup and summary on de novo.
• A Girl Walks Into a Bar (Exam)...: Last year's popular blog about preparing for the bar exam, including some “potentially useful posts.”
• Jeremy Blachman on studying for the bar exam and especially on paying for Bar/Bri: “But unless a firm is paying, it's kind of expensive - I believe the going rate is $2400 if you sign up the morning you arrive at law school, $2600 if you wait until lunchtime, $3000 plus your left leg as collateral if you wait a week, $4000 if they don't like you, and $500,000 anytime after the first day of classes.”

Posted 01:02 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack | ambivalent questions bar exam