Another bar exam is in the books. As far as we can tell, this one didn’t involve any mass catastrophes or — obviously given that it was July, human popsicles — though it did bring us some dehydration. But that didn’t make it any less unpleasant and unnecessary.
It’s a test of minimum competency that doesn’t test minimum competency. It’s a tool of public protection that doesn’t protect the public. And it’s a measure lawyering skill that doesn’t really test skills. We use a closed-book test to certify people for a profession where answering clients from memory is malpractice. Imagine replacing the drivers’ test with a demolition derby and you have the bar exam.
The exam is the product of the National Conference of Bar Examiners, a “non”-profit with roughly $138 million in assets. Whenever any jurisdiction flirts with licensing reform, the NCBE issues hysterical and, frankly, offensive doom and gloom about the chaos of minting lawyers without having taken the group’s exam.
Yet, the NCBE’s fearless leader, Judy Gundersen is a lawyer who has never taken the test she insists everyone must pass lest civil society collapse into the Director’s Cut of The Purge. As a University of Wisconsin Law graduate, Gundersen was licensed in Wisconsin by virtue of diploma privilege.
And lo the sun did not become black as sackcloth.
So over on the bar exam Reddit, they’ve got an idea that they would like to get trending:
Seems fair. Remember, the test is not — supposedly — an obstacle to be cleared, but a test of the bare minimum competency. It is also a one-shot exam that purports to guarantee that someone passing muster is qualified to practice law in perpetuity. If the NCBE really constructs its super scientific perfect test to accomplish those goals, she should have no trouble passing with flying colors!
She won’t, of course. But this is the time, while the bar exam is still fresh in everyone’s minds, to remind everyone that the NCBE’s test isn’t about minimum competency. It’s about making the NCBE a bunch of money to put applicants through a hazing ritual for no public benefit. If this hashtag does even a little to elevate that message, so be it.
Also, perusing the big bar exam memes, I’m definitely going to need someone to tell me what’s going on here…
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.
#Hashtag #Bar #Examinees #MakeJudyTakeTheBar
