The first thing I read after it sunk in

Assuming it truly has sunk in, of course....

After I weeded through the ads for bar review courses when I googled "fail bar exam", I came across this helpful blog: The Uncivil Litigator. There is some really good advice on there and I am somewhat comforted by the number of folks who have failed the bar exam. My favorite tidbit of consolation is this: "Failing the bar exam is simply a pain in the ass that will end relatively soon in the major scheme of things."

I have heard it likened to cancer---that even the healthiest, most active people get it, while the pack-a-day smokers live to 90. So, I decided to call up my friend who just beat cancer. Her response, "Well, sorta-except you can't DIE from failing the bar exam and you don't have to go through chemotherapy to get over it." Put that way, she's right. I am not going to die from failing the bar exam (unless, well, I drink myself into an unconcious stupor, get electrocuted from studying on my laptop in the tub, or get a horrible infection from index-card induced paper cuts). And, no, I don't have to go through chemo (and my friend is a champ to have gone through it and beat cancer, a true inspiration), but I just might have to spend weeks in detox to reverse the effects of the coffee, beer, wine and bad food ingested while studying for the bar (or waiting for results and the subsequent numbing/celebrating of said results). But, it is not chemo, and for that, I am grateful.

I admit I am frightened by the prospect of being one of those who takes it multiple times to no avail. But, the silver lining is that people do pass the bar eventually, be it after 2 tries, 5 tries, 13 tries, or 47 tries. The key is to not give up.

Here are others who have failed a bar exam:
Hilary Clinton (Failed DC exam, passed Arkansas)
Kathleen Sullivan (former dean of Stanford Law who had argues cases before the Supreme
Court)
John F. Kennedy, Jr. (fainlly passed on 3rd attempt, with special accomodations)


And others including Antonio Villaraigosa, Pat Robertson, Abraham Lincoln, Ed Koch and Greg Mathis (TV judges---hey, there's a career I haven't thought of---hmm, there's Divorce Court, People's Court, Judge Judy....how about Who's My Daddy? court or Deportation (*ahem* removal) Court?)