Scott Pearce is an experienced bar examination tutor in Los Angeles. He provides bar examination tutorial and home study services for bar students throughout the country. Previously, Pearce lectured and tutored at Bar/Bri, BarPassers, and PMBR. For more information, visit Pearce’s Web site at http://passthebar.com.
I graduated from law school at USC in May, 1984, and sat for the July California Bar Exam. I’d always been an idiot savant at standardized tests and I figured the bar exam was no different. My study partner and I put in the time over that summer and we traveled to San Diego to take the exam. We wanted to stay out of the way of the’84 Olympics, which were taking place in LA at the same time. At the end of the third day of the exam, when the proctor called time, the thought that flashed through my mind as I put my pen down was, “If I didn’t pass this bar exam, I’ll never pass it.”
Back in 1984, the California Bar Examiners mailed out bar exam results the day before Thanksgiving. We all expected to get our results the Friday or Saturday after Turkey Day. My 26th birthday was a week before Thanksgiving. I still felt great about the exam, secure in my heart that I had passed. I thought to myself, “Too bad the results couldn’t arrive on the 19th. That would be a great birthday present.”
I was working for a boutique entertainment law firm as I awaited bar exam results. My office had a nicely framed view of the Hollywood Sign. The cold and rainy day before Thanksgiving, as the Examiners were mailing out the bar results, the boss took me aside. “Scott,” he said, “We have every confidence in you. We’re sure you passed the bar exam…but just remember, at this firm, we don’t tolerate failure.” Somehow this did not reinforce my good feelings about the test.
It was cold and wet on Thanksgiving. I didn’t feel like eating, however, I did find some solace in a shot glass, which I repeatedly filled and emptied during the evening. On Friday my phone started ringing early in the day – with bad news. It seemed everybody was failing the exam, except for my study partner. I was nervous and hungover, and disgusted with the cold, wet weather. When I checked the mail I found that the mailbox was wet and empty. No bar results! I got even more nervous and unsettled. I thought to myself, “Oh great, I’m going to kill myself accidentally by alcohol poisoning before I even know if I passed or not.”
Saturday arrived, and I wasn’t looking or feeling very good. Many of my other classmates got word that they had failed. I was standing at attention when the mail carrier showed up, and I came outside to let him hand me the large pile of mail that had arrived. I went through it as he drove off. No bar exam results! I thought to myself, “I’m going to have to go to work on Monday, call the State Bar when their office opens, and learn if I’m a new lawyer or newly unemployed!”
I don’t remember the rest of that Saturday or most of the following Sunday, but I caught a glimpse of my reflection in a mirror on Sunday evening and I looked like a cross between Keith Richards and Yasser Arafat. Monday was trash day, so I went out to the garage late Sunday night to take out the cans and make sure everything was in order. As I wheeled the trash to the curb, I noticed a neat pile of mail just inside the garage, on top of a little table adjacent to the door. Apparently the rainy weather had flooded the mailbox and the mail carrier had left the Friday mail on the table instead!
The envelope from the State Bar was there. I opened it and saw the computer-generated form letter. “The Committee of Bar Examiners is pleased…”
I don’t think I’ve ever been more relieved in my life. I phoned a couple of friends and went to bed. The next morning I woke up with a nasty cold – and a date to the swearing-in ceremony!
Copyright 2010 Scott Pearce and passthebar.com. Reprinted by permission.
