Bar exam questions?

Question

I read somewhere that you dont need to go to law school to take the bar in Virginia and a couple other states, Is that true?
Also if I went to Virginia, took the Bar, and passed, could I take the bar in another state to practice law? Or would Virginia be the only state I could practice in?

Answer 1

Most states require that you graduate from an ABA-approved law school. And each state has separate admissions requirements, so admission to one state bar applies only for that state.

California is one of the few that allows people to go to either correspondence law school or the older apprenticeship/clerkship route. But California also has one of the toughest bar exams in the country, and one of the lowest overall passage rates.

Once you are admitted to practice, then whether another state will allow you to transfer or not is a separate issue. Many states have the general policy that they will be reciprocal with any other state, if that state is reciprocal with them. Those states often allow an attorney to be admitted, without having to take the bar exam again, if they've been in practice for some number of years (3-6 being average).

Some states allow a simplified version of their bar exam for attorney's licensed elsewhere, granting partial credit based on the prior admission. Some grant no credit, and you just have to take their bar exam in its entirety.

Virginia allows admission by motion for those who been admitted to practice for at least 5 of the past 7 years. Virginia requires the candidate to have graduated from an ABA-approved lawschool, for either the exam or admission by motion (see FAQ).

The requirements for other states would be listed on either the state bar website, or the judicial branch website for that state. The rules for being admitted without taking the bar again are normally under headings like "Reciprocity" or "Admission by Motion/Waiver".

Good luck.

Answer 2

Each state has it's own bar. A vast majority of state's require a degree from an ABA accredited law school. Passing the bar in a different state will not waive that requirement.

Others have mentioned CA and it's funny rules, but there is another way to get around going to law school. Some states will allow "law readers" to take the bar. They are basically people who work in a law firm for long enough to get the required knowledge. Not many states do this, and honestly, the article i read about it may have been about how it was the last time the state was allowing it.

But if you want to be a lawyer, go to law school.

Answer 3

California is the only state I know of where you can take the Bar exam without ever having gone to law school. Or having atttended a non-accredited law school; even a correspondence or online one. (I have reviewed the curriculum of one online law school. It is ridiculously inadequate. The point of law school is to get you into Socratic argument and to learn about how slight differences in facts or law change the outcome of a case.)

Some states allow a degree from a foreign (especially Common-Law (Anglo-American type) law school or certain unacredited law schools. Many or most states allow graduates of any law school who have an LLM from an approved (accredited US law school) to take the bar exam. The trick is to get admitted for such a program.

Answer 4

regulation college purely teaches you a thanks to imagine like a criminal professional. faculties usually do not prepare a good purchase of the regulation of the state in which they sit. you'll in ordinary words ought to take the bar contained in the state that you intend to coach. Your college may actually help you locate out a thanks to do this contained in the state you intend on sitting for the bar in.