The Washington State Bar Exam

I had intended to write on this a few months ago but I never really rallied, but now the results come this Friday at noon.

The WA Bar is unlike the rest of the states which in general use the MultiState Bar Exam (MBE), an exam which is federal and, as one would want, objective.

This Bar covers 28 subjects but you are only potentially tested on 18; and some subjects are tested more than once so you are looking at maybe 12 subjects.  Contracts, property (including wills, estates and trusts); civil procedure, criminal law and torts are all givens.  Which makes sense because if you don't know how to draw up a contract or follow the rules of CivPro then yeah, No Bar license for you.

But you better know all of them.

The WA Bar, in my opinion, is not objective.  You write 18 essays, trying to hit every issue presented, and maybe you get a grader who thinks Yah that statement of the law is worth 1 point, but maybe you get a grader who says the same statement is worth half a point.  Six points out of ten is passing.  NO ONE makes a ten ever, on any essay ever.  Hope you nail your strong subjects (for me, Admin, Criminal, Con Law) and score a seven or even an eight to make up for the weaker five and a half you made on the Banking/Secured Transactions essay.

Two days of substantive essays, three sessions each day, nine essays per day.

After the very first session, we  got a short break to re-caffeinate and I overheard a guy taking to his friends.  "Dudes, that Torts essay was a total bitch!  I couldn't find crap to talk about!"  Said friends looked at each other, then to him, and said, Erm, that wasn't a torts essay - that was criminal law.
All three looked pale and the guy who analyzed it incorrectly looked like he was going to be physically ill.  I can see why - because not only did he blow that one essay, he blew the Bar.

He failed.  Right then, on that one essay, it was over.  He might as well have gone home.

Of course, I might have done the same thing at another point in the exam, I have no way of knowing.

The third day is Professional Responsibility.

The PR rules are somewhat involved but it boils down to  - don't bang your client, don't break the law, don't lie to the court.  The shades of gray (especially when it comes to attorney/client privilege or breaking existing law) center around what you SHALL do, and what you SHOULD do.

Shall is absolute, as in, Thou shalt not kill.  Should, on the other hand, is discretionary.

The very last PR essay involved an attorney who - shocker - was banging a client, mixing law firm funds with personal funds, then took said client to a Mariners game got drunk and punched out a fan of the opposing team.

I was so tired, and so kinda didn't care at that point, I ALMOST made a joke as I wrapped up the essay - Attorneys shall not assault or batter a baseball fan, unless said fan is for the Yankees, then the attorney should not assault and batter.

But I thought the better of it.

Bar results this Friday, noon PST.