The Mother of All Marathons -- The Bar Exam!

I had these thoughts, having just returned form a luncheon "pep rally" for our law students taking the 2013 North Carolina Bar Exam: 

 I just returned from a lunch that our law school sponsors for the students taking the North Carolina Bar Examination, today and tomorrow. Today is local law – 12 essays with about 30 minutes to think through and plow through the question. Tomorrow is the Multi-State. As one of the students told me over lunch, “I like the Multi-State – the answer to each question is there for each question . . . somewhere!”

They all looked good. . . Calm, relaxed with – I believe – a sense of mission. It is the moment. It is the time when a law student finally brings it all together and takes the first steps of walking “out” of law school and “into” the world of “lawyering.”

I used to think that it was, somehow, unfair that the long and arduous three year law school process, all came down to a two day exam. What if one wasn’t feeling well on one (or both) of the two days of the bar exam? Or, as what happened here in North Carolina – what if there is a power failure that causes an hour break in the exam process?? . . Is this all fair after burning over $20,000 (in some cases much more!) in tuition?

Well, there’s got to be a barometer after you leave the cloistered environment of your law school. Where is that “bar” set??  . . . It’s got to be the exam itself.  A law student must realize that the ultimate goal of the law school experience is really not Law Review, Moot Court, Class President (all great resume value items!), but is  passing the bar examination. It is the “mother of all marathons” for law students.You can't ease up during the summer and not put in the time that's needed. Why did you go to law school anyway if you don't know that this -- not all your classes in your 1L, 2L, and 3L years -- is the prize!

Work hard in law school, but never forget (even if you are just now entering law school as a "newbie" 1L! ) that the bar exam is the ultimate exit for you – from law school – and entrance into your career as a lawyer.