No Bar Exam Required to Practice Law?

On, Wisconsin! On, Wisconsin!
Grand old Badger state!
We, thy loyal sons and daughters
Hail thee good and great.
On, Wisconsin! On, Wisconsin!
Champion of the right.
"Forward," our motto - God
Will give thee might!

I thought it was the Dakotas or maybe just one of 'em that didn't require Bar passage, so long as you went to Law School in the state, the idea being that they'd offer that sort of an incentive to get lawyers to work there.

PS Re Franklin Pierce -- there isn't as much of a lawyer shortage in NH, so I predict it will fail, as I suspect most firms will be awfully skittish about hiring people who didn't pass the Bar exam. Might also spark a lawsuit.

Interesting. I'm currently taking a break from studying for the NY Bar, and I'll admit, it would be nice to become licensed without having to take it. Of the many subjects that are tested, I won't need to remember much of it after the exam, since I'm going into a particular field of law.

That a person could go $100,000 into debt after three years of intensive study and NOT be able to practice what they studied for just because they didn't pass ONE test seems unfair. I've known VERY intelligent students (TA's even) who did not pass the bar, for whatever reason (maybe they choked the days of the exam, or they just don't "test" well).

Personally, I'm scared sh*tless. I already have a job waiting for me in September, and many other plans, but all that goes out the window if I don't pass this one test. Uh... I'm going to get back to studying now. Writing this just got me depressed.

Justan: congratulations on graduating from law school. No doubt you'll do just fine on the bar exam. And just remember, you can still get a good job if you fail the exam, and fail it again, and fail it again -- if you're John F. Kennedy, Jr., that is.

Good luck on the Bar, Justan.

The Mayor of LA graduated from Law School and to date, still hasn't be able to pass the bar Exam.