# Do any lawyers know someone who became a lawyer through reading the law? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 18, 2019, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-lawyers-know-someone-who-became-a-lawyer-through-reading-the-law/831334 "2019-03-18T21:26:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2019, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-lawyers-know-someone-who-became-a-lawyer-through-reading-the-law/831334/1 "2019-03-18T21:26:14Z")
California, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington still allow people to take the bar exam and become lawyers without going to law school. I was wondering if any lawyers(or anyone else) knew someone who became a lawyer through reading the law. How are they regarded in the legal profession among those who went to law school? Are they looked down upon? ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2019, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-lawyers-know-someone-who-became-a-lawyer-through-reading-the-law/831334/2 "2019-03-18T21:33:13Z")
It’s rare, but not unheard of in Washington. I don’t think they’re looked down upon by my segment of the bar (P.I. lawyers, criminal defense lawyers, etc) I expect it might be hard to get a job at one the big ugly firms. Personally, I think they’re probably getting a better practical education then we got in law school. (And I assume great variation among those who went through this process, so it may be hard to generalize) Once your a practicing lawyer, I’m not sure it would even come up very much. People learn your reputation as a lawyer, and don’t often look up where you went to law school (or if you did) ---
**Author:** ![Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tired_and_Cranky)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2019, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-lawyers-know-someone-who-became-a-lawyer-through-reading-the-law/831334/3 "2019-03-18T21:45:13Z")
I know two people who went to unaccredited law schools in California, which isn’t quite the same thing. The first was never in the running for any prestigious or high-paying jobs but she has worked steadily in the public sector doing litigation on behalf of children. She is very well-respected and successful. It’s not a snobby area of law so anyone who tried to hold her credentials against her would look like a pretentious boor. The other just recently passed the bar exam and is still looking for a job so the figurative jury is still out on how the profession will regard him. A number of people who pass the bar never wind up practicing. He could be one of them. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2019, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-lawyers-know-someone-who-became-a-lawyer-through-reading-the-law/831334/4 "2019-03-18T21:49:54Z")
I know several practicing attorneys who read law in Vermont. One of them (non-practicing now) was in the state legislature. ---
**Author:** ![Royal\_Nonesutch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecb155/32.png) [@Royal\_Nonesutch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Royal_Nonesutch)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2019, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-lawyers-know-someone-who-became-a-lawyer-through-reading-the-law/831334/5 "2019-03-18T22:02:21Z")
I had a friend, (more of a “Friend-of-a-friend”, but I got to know him pretty well) who badly busted his leg one summer working installing power lines and was bedridden for several months, who just to keep his head occupied (this would have been back before the internet in the late 1980’s) studied his dad’s old law journals and when he was healed up he somehow got permission to take the Oklahoma State Bar Exam, purely just for the S&G’s, and somehow ended up passing it, although he wasn’t at all serious about it. He was a nice enough guy, but didn’t seem particularly intellectual, and damn sure liked to smoke the Mean Green like no tomorrow… ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2019, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-lawyers-know-someone-who-became-a-lawyer-through-reading-the-law/831334/6 "2019-03-18T22:13:30Z")
There’s the story of [Shon Hopwood](Shon Hopwood) who had **TWO** SCOTUS certs while he was in prison for bank robbery. He did eventually go to law school and is currently a professor of law at Georgetown. ---
**Author:** ![llcoolbj77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/eb9ed0/32.png) [@llcoolbj77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/llcoolbj77)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-lawyers-know-someone-who-became-a-lawyer-through-reading-the-law/831334/7 "2019-03-19T15:18:32Z")
Yes. ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-lawyers-know-someone-who-became-a-lawyer-through-reading-the-law/831334/8 "2019-03-19T17:26:36Z")
Somehow I screwed up the link Try [Shon Hopwood](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shon_Hopwood) ---
**Author:** ![Dereknocue67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6de8d8/32.png) [@Dereknocue67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dereknocue67)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2019, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-lawyers-know-someone-who-became-a-lawyer-through-reading-the-law/831334/9 "2019-03-20T08:34:44Z")
I once heard that you should never read the law. You have to study it. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2019, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-lawyers-know-someone-who-became-a-lawyer-through-reading-the-law/831334/10 "2019-03-20T09:58:18Z")
> [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](#): > > I know two people who went to unaccredited law schools in California, which isn’t quite the same thing. The first was never in the running for any prestigious or high-paying jobs but she has worked steadily in the public sector doing litigation on behalf of children. She is very well-respected and successful. It’s not a snobby area of law so anyone who tried to hold her credentials against her would look like a pretentious boor. > > The other just recently passed the bar exam and is still looking for a job so the figurative jury is still out on how the profession will regard him. A number of people who pass the bar never wind up practicing. He could be one of them. I know / have met one person who qualified in Aus, then married and moved to California. Having already done it once, he seemed to find doing it the second time by himself not much different. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2025, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-lawyers-know-someone-who-became-a-lawyer-through-reading-the-law/831334/11 "2025-07-22T13:48:10Z")
Bumped. > [@mikecurtis](#): > > There’s the story of [Shon Hopwood](Shon Hopwood) who had **TWO** SCOTUS certs while he was in prison for bank robbery. > He did eventually go to law school and is currently a professor of law at Georgetown. I’m sorry to bring you this update: > **[Prominent Georgetown Law Professor Convicted In Domestic Violence Case -...](https://abovethelaw.com/2025/07/prominent-georgetown-law-professor-convicted-in-domestic-violence-case/?utm_campaign=Above%20the%20Law%20Daily&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9A3P1hSY_BlB2mXlPXYSMMICg5ZaLWlhEMXgaqCbC_i6c3RPBWp1IryEmzkJdfabxu5XfPdW6hTu0M76id7eHL3sczbg&_hsmi=372383715&utm_content=372383715&utm_source=hs_email)** > > The former jailhouse lawyer may be spending time behind bars once again. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2025, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-lawyers-know-someone-who-became-a-lawyer-through-reading-the-law/831334/12 "2025-07-22T22:23:34Z")
[Jerry Giesler](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Giesler), who was considered the go-to lawyer for celebrities in trouble in the 1920s-1950s, was admitted to the California bar in 1910 without having gone to law school. He apprenticed with a famous lawyer (Earl Rogers) and studied law books until he felt he was ready to take the bar exam, which at that time was oral, consisting of going before a panel of lawyers and being quizzed on the law. According to the story he told in his autobiography, by the time the panel got to him it was late in the day, and all they did was ask him what law books he had read. He passed. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2025, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-lawyers-know-someone-who-became-a-lawyer-through-reading-the-law/831334/13 "2025-07-22T22:37:18Z")
Didn’t Kim Kardashian pass the bar without going to law school? Of course, with her paternal legal pedigree and great tracts of land, she probably has access to decent coaching. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2025, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-lawyers-know-someone-who-became-a-lawyer-through-reading-the-law/831334/14 "2025-07-22T22:57:44Z")
She has done years of studying but hasn’t taken the test yet. It was probably a lot of work and there’s no call for your gross snide remarks > **[Kim Kardashian completes legal studies—without attending law school](https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/kim-kardashian-completes-legal-studieswithout-attending-law-school)** > > Media personality and reality TV star Kim Kardashian has finished a legal apprenticeship program that offers an alternate path to becoming a lawyer in California. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2025, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-lawyers-know-someone-who-became-a-lawyer-through-reading-the-law/831334/15 "2025-07-23T04:58:50Z")
Golfing great, [Bobby Jones](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Jones_(golfer)), founder of Augusta National didn’t complete law school at Emory University. After 3 semesters he took and passed the Georgia bar exam and joined his father’s law firm. He already had an engineering degree from Georgia Tech and a degree in English Literature from Harvard.