By: Megan Hill, IU McKinney
Most practicing attorneys attended law school and earned a J.D. However, a small group of attorneys passed their state’s bar exam after studying law through an apprenticeship program. California, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington allow students who have completed a law apprenticeship program to sit for their state’s bar.
There are advantages to law apprenticeships. Apprenticeships allow students to study law and sit for the bar without incurring law school debt. Law apprenticeship programs could be particularly beneficial to those who experience significant obstacles to attending law school, including cost and location. People already working in a law office in a non-attorney role have utilized these programs to develop an in-office legal education plan with a mentoring attorney without having to relocate for law school. Because of these advantages, law apprenticeships could be part of the solution to alleviate the shortage of attorneys in rural areas.
There are also disadvantages to law school apprenticeships, notably, the bar passage rates. In all four states with true apprenticeship programs, the bar passage rate is lower among those who studied law in an apprenticeship rather than in law school. However, the difference in bar passage rate varies by state. Recent bar passage rates for participants in California’s Law Office Study Program were not available.
- Vermont: In 2021, 50% of those who took the bar after studying through Vermont’s Law Office Study Program passed. The passage rate for those who graduated from an ABA accredited law school was 56%. From 2017 to 2019, 54% of those who sat for the Vermont Bar after studying through the Law Office Study Program passed. The bar passage rate for law school graduates during the same time frame was 64%. There are currently 46 people enrolled in the Law Office Study Program. The program typically has about 10-15 new participants annually, though not all complete the program.
- Virginia: From 2001 to 2019, the bar passage rate for those who studied in the Law Reader Program was 19% while the overall passage rate was 68%. During this same time frame, 22,817 people passed the Virginia Bar; 32 of them studied through the Law Reader Program.
- Washington: 30.8% of bar takers who studied law though the Law Clerk Program passed the July 2021 bar; the passage rate for those with a J.D. from an ABA accredited law school was 80.3%. However, the disparity is less extreme when only considering first-time takers, 57.1% of Law Clerks passed the July 2021 bar on their first attempt, while 83.7% of graduates from ABA accredited schools passed.
New York and Maine offer programs in which participants must complete some law school at ABA accredited institutions but may complete their legal studies with an apprenticeship. New York requires students to complete at least the first-year law school courses, and the combination of time in law school and time studying through an apprenticeship must total four years. Maine requires that a student complete at least 2/3 of the academic requirements for graduation from an ABA accredited law school and at least a year of study in a law office. In New York, 20% those sitting for the 2021 bar who utilized the Law Office Study Program passed. 75% of test takers from ABA accredited law schools passed, and the overall passage rate was 60%. Bar passage rates of participants in Maine’s legal apprenticeship program were unavailable.
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