# I got my bar clearance letter today! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 19, 2013, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-bar-clearance-letter-today/661319 "2013-06-19T01:23:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2013, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-bar-clearance-letter-today/661319/21 "2013-06-19T17:04:34Z")
There’s no way for a law school to know whether a given candidate will be admitted to the bar. Plus, law schools don’t have the same investigative powers the bar does, so they may not have known about his military or criminal record. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2013, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-bar-clearance-letter-today/661319/22 "2013-06-19T17:06:58Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > I know, but don’t law schools not waste time with applicants who can’t be allowed to become lawyers? Or does it only matter that the check clears? The Bar rolls are filled with those who should not be allowed to become lawyers. Also your licensing and your degree are two different things. Lots of people never practice (or even apply to undertake the necessary training/actions to be allowed to) after graduating ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2013, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-bar-clearance-letter-today/661319/23 "2013-06-19T18:14:21Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > It’s not a big deal, but it sort of is. Basically, it means I don’t have to appear at a character and fitness hearing before they’ll let me take the bar exam. How many drinks do you have to know how to mix in order to pass it? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2013, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-bar-clearance-letter-today/661319/24 "2013-06-19T18:40:49Z")
Not sure, but it’s at least five to pass Evidence. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2013, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-bar-clearance-letter-today/661319/25 "2013-06-20T22:24:55Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Wow! Ethical enough to be a lawyer, huh? That’s really saying something! 😉 > > I knew one guy in law school who the faculty unsuccessfully tried to blackball at this step. I’ve long thought this pre-admission ethics stupid, since post-admission enforcement is such a joke. I’ve long advocated giving everyone a ticket into the game, but then lowering the hammer on the incompetent and unethical who have been admitted. I don’t understand. You mean this student paid his tuition and kept up with the coursework through the entire law school curriculum, and then at the end of it all his professors refused him character references? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2013, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-bar-clearance-letter-today/661319/26 "2013-06-20T23:35:08Z")
You don’t get references from professors. You get them from ordinary people who know you and prior employers. Other than reviewing your transcript, bar associations don’t care what your professors think except to the extent that you are guilty of academic misconduct (which would be reported by the school’s administration.) ---
**Author:** ![Gleena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b3f665/32.png) [@Gleena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gleena)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-bar-clearance-letter-today/661319/27 "2013-06-21T00:12:47Z")
Yeay, congratulations! I’m fascinated by the differences between what’s required to get a practicing certificate here (in Australia) and what’s required to pass the bar in the US. Very different. I’m glad I don’t have to take a massive exam, just more coursework and some practical legal training. I wish they still did articling years, but they don’t anymore. I’ll fill you in on the differences in two years. 😉 Presuming I just passed jurisprudence and conveyancing… ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-bar-clearance-letter-today/661319/28 "2013-06-21T00:16:23Z")
The exams really aren’t that “massive” (except to the extent that you have to pass them to be admitted.) There’s one day of multistate (ie., cross-jurisdictional) stuff, and one day of your-state stuff. I took scholarship exams to get into various UK public schools when I was 12 that were 3-4 days. ---
**Author:** ![deltasigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e5b9ba/32.png) [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-bar-clearance-letter-today/661319/29 "2013-06-21T00:22:30Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > The exams really aren’t that “massive” (except to the extent that you have to pass them to be admitted.) There’s one day of multistate (ie., cross-jurisdictional) stuff, and one day of your-state stuff. > > I took scholarship exams to get into various UK public schools when I was 12 that were 3-4 days. Hehehe. Tell me that after you’ve spent a several hundred hours preparing and you’re intestinal tract has been finely tuned to produce architectural quality bricks. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-bar-clearance-letter-today/661319/30 "2013-06-21T00:29:03Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > The exams really aren’t that “massive” (except to the extent that you have to pass them to be admitted.) There’s one day of multistate (ie., cross-jurisdictional) stuff, and one day of your-state stuff. You’re lucky. Mine was three days (not counting a separate multi-state ethics exam we had to take as part of the applications process–but it was no big deal). Multi-state multiple choice for a day, multi-state essay for half a day, and state essays for a day and a half. Several of us planned to go out drinking once we finished, but almost none of us actually did. Total brain drain, to the point that I (being no stranger to hoisting a glass on pretty much any excuse in those days) went straight home and fell into bed for about 14 hours. Many of my co-applicants did the same. I found it to be an unimaginable ordeal. So glad I passed on the first attempt…really not sure I would have been willing to go through that Hell again. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-bar-clearance-letter-today/661319/31 "2013-06-21T00:30:58Z")
> [@deltasigma](#): > > Hehehe. Tell me that after you’ve spent a several hundred hours preparing and you’re intestinal tract has been finely tuned to produce architectural quality bricks. 😃 I’m not taking them lightly - although I might be if it’s necessary to train myself to shit bricks.! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Gleena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b3f665/32.png) [@Gleena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gleena)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-bar-clearance-letter-today/661319/32 "2013-06-21T02:26:02Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > The exams really aren’t that “massive” (except to the extent that you have to pass them to be admitted.) There’s one day of multistate (ie., cross-jurisdictional) stuff, and one day of your-state stuff. > > I took scholarship exams to get into various UK public schools when I was 12 that were 3-4 days. So did my kid (here in AU) and he’s taking more like that to get into university. But no ‘final’ exam at all to practice vs any amount of stress making exams seems massive to me when I stress my exams enough every semester. ---
**Author:** ![llcoolbj77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/eb9ed0/32.png) [@llcoolbj77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/llcoolbj77)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-bar-clearance-letter-today/661319/33 "2013-06-21T02:49:31Z")
I thought the most interesting thing about the character and fitness exam was the credit check. I guess they think if you are shit with your own money, you’ll be shit with a client’s. I suppose there is a certain truth to that. One of our local practitioners is serving three years in federal prison for basically being a moron about money. Congrats, though! And good luck with 3L. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-bar-clearance-letter-today/661319/34 "2013-06-21T03:26:10Z")
Congratulations, **RNATB**! ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-bar-clearance-letter-today/661319/35 "2013-06-21T13:31:15Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > So glad I passed on the first attempt…really not sure I would have been willing to go through that Hell again. It’s funny. I occasionally have the (I imagine somewhat common) fantasy of awakening in my fourteen-year-old-self’s body, back in 197umm, but with my current memories intact. Somehow reliving the bar never intrudes into my otherwise pleasant diversion. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-bar-clearance-letter-today/661319/36 "2013-06-21T13:58:09Z")
I have that dream too. I hope to get so blacked-out drunk immediately after the bar exam that I don’t remember any of it. > [@llcoolbj77](#): > > I thought the most interesting thing about the character and fitness exam was the credit check. Not sure what it’s like where you are, but at least once a semester a professor pulls out a copy of the _Florida Bar News_ and shows us the disciplinary section, which invariably has at least one page of people disbarred for client trust fund irregularities. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-bar-clearance-letter-today/661319/37 "2013-06-21T14:22:14Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > I don’t understand. You mean this student paid his tuition and kept up with the coursework through the entire law school curriculum, and then at the end of it all his professors refused him character references? To say this guy was unusual and difficult would not be inaccurate. He really got into it with some members of the faculty, and in response they took some actions I thought crossed some lines. Heck, who’d a thunk being a jerk disqualified you from being a lawyer?! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-bar-clearance-letter-today/661319/38 "2013-06-21T15:07:25Z")
Congrats! I’m not sure if I get some sort of clearance letter in Illinois. I’ve already filled out all the paperwork for the IL dept of bar admissions. Every once in awhile I get an email for something they want clarified. Probably won’t take the bar exam in the next year, probably more like a year and halfd, but I get to have fun this summer studying for the patent bar. :-p ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-bar-clearance-letter-today/661319/39 "2013-06-21T15:11:08Z")
I seriously had no idea you weren’t already a full-fledged practicing lawyer, based on your posting history. Congrats and good luck! 🙂 You are a smart person and are going to make a great lawyer. ---
**Author:** ![llcoolbj77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/eb9ed0/32.png) [@llcoolbj77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/llcoolbj77)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-bar-clearance-letter-today/661319/40 "2013-06-21T15:51:40Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I have that dream too. I hope to get so blacked-out drunk immediately after the bar exam that I don’t remember any of it. > > Not sure what it’s like where you are, but at least once a semester a professor pulls out a copy of the _Florida Bar News_ and shows us the disciplinary section, which invariably has at least one page of people disbarred for client trust fund irregularities. I know that now. I was pretty naive going into law school, though. And all of my work experience had been at a K Street firm doing patent work. So I didn’t really see much of the typical lawyer experience. Now I see it first hand. I’ve had quite a few colleagues get in some hot water. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-bar-clearance-letter-today/661319.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-bar-clearance-letter-today/661319.md?page=3)