I readily concede that I know only a tiny bit about what it takes to become an attorney in California if you've graduated from an unaccredited law school. I know that you've got to pass the "baby bar" at some point after your first year -- and then, ultimately, the actual bar exam -- but that's about it.
Today, however, I learned that you apparently have to pass the baby bar within the first 18 months or so of completing your first year of law school. If you do, then you're good to go, and you get credit for all the classes you took in the interim before passing (e.g., your second and third year classes). But if you don't, you only get credit for your first year of classes.
I can somewhat see why that might be the rule. After all, if it took you twenty times to pass the baby bar, maybe we want you to take a few more classes before taking your shot at the actual bar exam.
That said, I'm not really sure that the underlying reasoning applies in situations like the one the Ninth Circuit addresses today.
Douglas Pell attends an unaccredited law school in California, and wants to be a lawyer. He takes the baby bar and passes on his first attempt -- great job. But he didn't take that exam until three years after his first year of law school. He says that his wife's liver transplant and other medical things got in the way.
Which is perhaps eminently plausible. Mr. Pell is 81 years old.
But the State Bar says, tough, you only get credit for your first year, so those 39 credits you earned after the first year don't count. Retake them.
Mr. Pell sues in federal court, loses, and the Ninth Circuit affirms. I've got no complaint with Judge Ikuta's opinion, which seems doctrinally correct. Technically, the State Bar doesn't admit -- or refuse to admit -- anyone to the Bar. Legally, it only makes "recommendations" to the California Supreme Court. Mr. Pell never filed a petition with the California Supreme Court seeking the relief he currently requests. That's fatal to his lawsuit.
Fair enough.
Though I still feel bad for Mr. Pell. He's in his 80s. It's not like he's got infinitely long to retake all those classes. Plus, he passed on his first attempt. No small feat. Seems like the guy's got it fairly together. Even though -- perhaps for understandable reasons -- he couldn't get it together to take his shot at the baby bar within the first 18 months.
Were he to file a petition with the California Supreme Court, and were I on it, I'd probably look fairly sympathetically the thing.
If an 81 year old can finish law school, pass the baby bar, and then pass the actual bar exam, I'm generally more than happy to have the guy as a lawyer. More power to ya.
Good luck, Mr. Pell.
