First of all, if you're someone who failed the bar: I don't "know" any more than anyone else does how one should deal with this. My opinions are only my opinions; they are subjective, and they're based on someone other than me (my then wife) going through this ordeal, so take them for what they're worth. Having said that, let me summarize some of the lessons I learned through watching someone go through this:
1. You're not necessarily stupid or incompetent. Although my wife failed the bar, she was well-connected to the legal community (partly through me) and it was amazing to see how many well-respected lawyers came out of the woodwork (after swearing us to secrecy) to give her moral support by disclosing that they themselves had failed the bar decades earlier. Among these closet failees was a law firm partner, a superstar Ivy League senior associate at a big firm, a veteran division chief at the county prosecutor's office, and a well-respected trial judge who once worked at the state attorney general's office. Maybe you're not as well-connected, so you won't have the benefit of hearing such good and successful lawyers tell you that they failed too. You should know that they exist.
2. It's not the end of the world. This is of course the very opposite of what I said in my earlier post, where I talked about the horrible emotional consequences and significant financial costs of failing the bar. Okay, yes, it is a horrible experience that no one wants to go through and there's no sense in masking that. But as Exwife and I talked about many many times, how does it really fit into the Big Picture? So the commencement of your career will be delayed by 6 months. In your legal career, whether it endures for 50 years or 25 years or even 10 years, is 6 months that big of a deal? No. Failing the bar exam is simply a pain in the ass that will end relatively soon in the major scheme of things. It is nothing more than that simple sentence I've written. It will not end your career. It will not prevent you from becoming an awesome lawyer or judge if that is what you are in fact destined to become.
3. Life goes on. You survived 3 years of law school, maybe without any real income or very low income. Organizing your finances and figuring out what to do for the next 6 months without a full-time legal job is probably not as hard as you think it is. About 2 of those months will be occupied by your studies for the next exam, leaving you with 4 solid months to do whatever it is you need to do, whether it be taking a vacation and relaxing, or working to save money. In many ways those extra months can serve as a blessing in disguise to many of us.
And 4. There are many reasons why people fail the bar exam that are not purely connected to their intellectual abillities. Look, there certainly are many people who solidly fail the bar exam for good reasons. This post is not intended to be a politically correct sanitation of that cold, hard fact. You might've failed simply because you just don't "get it". But no one can generalize and say that is true about every person who fails, especially because I now know people whose failures were not caused by those reasons. Some of the other reasons people fail:
A. You're not a good test-taker and your level of stress affected your exam scores. Although you have to overcome this weakness in order to pass, it has no bearing on your intelligence whatsoever.
B. You didn't study hard enough. This isn't a blame-free reason for failure, but it's worth restating that it is not a product of intelligence but rather of effort.
C. You didn't study effectively. The blame for this could lie with you for not seeking proper guidance, or it could lie with your bar prep course if you paid them to prepare you and they did a lousy job. I won't delve into the bar prep course debate here but your bar prep choices are worth putting a lot of thought into for your 2nd attempt.
Failing the bar was tough for my exwife. It sucked, for 6 months of her life, until she took the exam a 2nd time. She easily passed and got a job offer from an employer who had been waiting in the wings to pick her up upon passage within a matter of days. Those 6 months are now nothing more than a bad memory for her.
Afterthought on 4/21/06: Some people, probably a small minority, choose not to pursue a traditional legal career after the aggravation of failing a bar exam. Responding to a private email asking about this subject, I found some interesting books on Amazon.com that may be of interest to some of my readers: (1) What Can You Do With a Law Degree?: A Lawyer's Guide to Career Alternatives Inside, Outside & Around the Law; (2) Nonlegal Careers for Lawyers, 4th Edition; and (3) What Can I Do with a Law Degree?. Good luck to all, and if anyone happens to read these books please let me know and I will be glad to post your review or comments for everyone else to read.
I've flip-flopped on whether to include or remove a paragraph in this post I'd written some time ago containing my opinion on whether or not people who fail the bar multiple times should consider a career change. One reader pointed out to me that my advice could give even someone who hasn't failed the bar yet unnecessary jitters. As someone who hasn't failed the bar myself, I felt a bit presumptuous in offering such advice at all, so I decided to remove the paragraph completely. Then, more recently, I received the following comment from an anonymous reader. In reading it I found his or her words more credible than mine and that he/she better articulates at least one point of view on this issue. So, rather than reintroducing my paragraph, I've decided to simply highlight what the reader had to say about it:
I don't think it's at all terrifying to think about leaving the legal field! Some people certainly are better off pursuing other career options with their JD rather than sitting for the bar over and over again. Some people really disliked law school, and have been utterly miserable while repeatedly trying to pass the bar exam. Personally, I slogged through both law school and the bar exam, thinking there would be a light at the end of the tunnel.
Well, turns out I could just leave the tunnel.
Or put another way, for me it was a godsend to read your blog and realize that I didn't HAVE to re-sit for the bar exam. There are other jobs out there where I am valued for my accomplishments - even (gasp!) without a bar license.
In law school I felt that passing the bar was the ONLY way to success- not true! I am so much happier just walking away from the bar exam, and I'm sure there are other people who will find peace going that route as well. Please remember that passing the bar isn't for everyone, and for some people, realizing there is another career path with their JD (other than as a licensed attorney) puts them in a whole new positive direction. I felt inspired by your "candid advice" and I'm sure there are others who are too.
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