Good lawyering is not about regurgitating knowledge

Last Sunday the State Bar of California published the results of the bar exam held in February. ("State Bar February pass rate is 26.8%, lower than last," Ma11, 2020). Only 26.8% of the candidates passed the February California bar exam. This is the lowest pass rate since 1951, when the bar started tracking the results. I was one of the people who took the February exam and I am not surprised by the low success rate. It is ridiculously hard to pass -- for the wrong reasons.

I am an attorney -- not in the U.S. but in The Netherlands. When I followed my wife to Los Angeles in 2018, I registered for the exam and bought an exorbitantly expensive online course to prepare myself. For three long months I watched videos and read manuals that taught me endless mnemonics and how to "approach" and successfully tackle a multiple choice question. My head is filled with lists of incomprehensible words and trained to dissect questions that I will never be asked again. My collection of flashcards in the end reached 800. But my daughter, who just took her AP Government exam, knows more about the Constitution than I do. She has actually read it; I haven't.

Studying for the bar exam is as interesting and useful as memorising the telephone directory.

The real problem of the exam is not the low pass rate or that it is excruciatingly boring to prepare for, but that it does not equip one in anyway for the legal profession. I have been an attorney for over 25 years, and there is very little law I can recite from memory. There is no need to. That used to be what law books were for. Now everything can be found online, usually in a matter of seconds. People do not use telephone directories anymore.

Good lawyering is not about regurgitating knowledge, but about understanding the principles behind the law and being able to creative apply it in the interest of the client.

To my great surprise I found my name on the pass list on Sunday. I have no idea how I managed. Maybe it was the mnemonics, probably just luck. All I know is that I pity the client that hires me as an attorney. Would you pick a restaurant just because the cook has memorised her cook books? 

-- Michiel Pestman

Prakken d'Oliveira