Without being an apprentice or going to an accredited law school, if I were to study really hard and pass the Bar exam, is there anything that would prevent me from practicing law?
Depends on the state. In most states, no.
In TX you can no longer just “read” for the Bar – you have to go to an accredited law school (I am almost certain of this).
Also, of course, the various states have various ethical-type requirments of bar membership (no convictions for tax evasion, etc.), but I’m not sure if being able to pass this as a matter of course wasn’t implied in the OP.
Sorry, but all states require some form of legal education before you can become an attorney. Here’s a related thread:
What’s the fastest legal way to get a law license?
Passing the exam is part of it (as is a law degree, almost always), but you also might have to go through a character/personal background inquiry. Typically, this inquiry will only disqualify you if you have had some serious crimes/ethical lapses, or if they find out you lied about something on your bar application.
I’m pretty certain that every state’s bar association has some type of character and fitness committee. Generally speaking, you have to fill out a questionaire prepared by the character and fitness committee in the state in which you plan to practice. Each state bar’s C & F committee will differ on the number and types of questions that you’ll be asked. I know that the questionaire here in Kentucky is something like 5-6 pages long, but I have a friend from North Carolina who said (I know, I know, hearsay) that her state’s questionaire is something like 20 pages long. I’m not totally sure how closely C & F committees scrutinize your answers. I guess I’ll find out in May.
Also, to become a lawyer you must achieve a certain score on the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam (MPRE). The scores required by different state bars vary. Here in Kentucky you must score a 75 (out of roughly 150 total points), but some states require a 70 while others require up to 85. I’mm almost certain that the average is 75, though. The MPRE is a really tricky test, but at least you can miss a lot of questions and still become a lawyer. The friends I run around with who have taken it have almost all scored over 100.
Just a nit-picky note here: you’re not actually a lawyer until you’re sworn in by the licensing court or organization of your state. You have to have all the other stuff (law school degree, passed bar exam, passed MPRE, passed background check, etc.), but you’re not actually an attorney until you’re sworn in.
There can be some lag: I had everything “completed” for my admission by December 1999 (it took me awhile to track down all the information for the background check), but couldn’t be scheduled for swearing-in until May 2000. Of course, New York is one of the few states that still absolutely, positively requires swearing in live, in person, in front of a judge – I understand many other states allow you to do so by affidavit or in front of a clerk, so for those states there’s probably no lag.
I second everything that’s been said so far. However, not every state requires the MPRE – Maryland doesn’t, for instance. In Wisconsin, if you graduate from an in-state school you don’t have to take the Bar. (Although you do still have to pass the character vetting process and get sworn in somehow.) As mentioned in the other thread, Virginia, California, and a few other states still allow you to skip law school if you apprentice in a law office, but this is quite rare. (And also will take longer than the usual three years in law school.) And if you have a law degree from another country (where law is often an undergraduate degree), some states might let you waive in without additional education. (But mostly you need to get an L.L.M. in the U.S., which is usually a two-year program.)
–Cliffy, Esq. (as of last Monday)
Texas requires at least 85, as I discovered last year when I took the MPRE and passed with an 86. heheh. I guess that means that I’m just ethical enough to be employable. My view of the MPRE: it’s not like you get bonus points for passing it by a wide margin. I’m just glad it’s behind me.
As to the “swearing in” question- in CA, you don’t even need to be sworn by a judge. You can be sworn by any officer of the court, an active or retired judge, or even by a notary public.
Yes, you can actually be sworn in at Kinko’s!