Following up on my previous post, 17-Year Old Is Youngest Ever To Pass California Bar Exam, Begins Work As Deputy DA: The Hill Op-Ed: Why California Should Not Be Admitting Teenagers to Law Practice, by Steven Lubet (Northwestern):
Oliver Wendell Holmes, the great Supreme Court justice and legal scholar, sagely observed that “the life of the law has not been logic; it has been experience.” Unfortunately, the California Committee of Bar Examiners does not seem to have gotten the message.
Twice in the past two years, the bar examiners announced that 17-year-old applicants had passed the bar examination, to be sworn in as lawyers upon reaching 18. It is an accomplishment to pass the notoriously difficult California bar exam “at any age,” said Leah Wilson, executive director of the state bar, “and to do so at 17 is truly exceptional.”
The two youngsters absolutely deserve congratulations on their achievements, which were reported in the national press, but this is not something to be celebrated.
I don’t doubt the brainpower and studiousness of the teenagers, a brother and sister, born a year apart, who began their law studies while still in middle school. Nonetheless, it is simply impossible for even the most book-smart 18-year-old to have acquired the life experience necessary for the competent practice of law.
As all attorneys learn early in their careers, law practice involves far more than knowing legal principles and understanding their application. Law practice is above all a discipline of human interactions, requiring judgment, communication, responsibility and prudence while anticipating the potential consequences of every decision a lawyer makes. …
At ages 13 and 14, the two siblings enrolled at the entirely online Northwestern California University School of Law. The school’s website says it is “accredited by the State Bar of California,” which is accurate but misleading. It is not accredited by the American Bar Association and its graduates are ineligible for law licenses in nearly every other state. …
Given their academic chops, the siblings surely could have attended one of California’s many top law schools if they had waited a few years to apply. That would have led to a more valuable diploma, a superior education and a network of classmates and fellow alumni who could open doors and provide mutual support for the rest of their lives. Instead, they sacrificed vastly expanded career opportunities for a few years head start.
Not every law school graduate passes the California bar exam; its 2024 failure rate was 44 percent. The precocious siblings, purposely left unnamed, cannot be faulted for their remarkable initiative — teenagers, by their nature, often strive to grow up too soon — but that does not absolve the reckless adults who enabled them.
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