[gnicholas]

> Very few people in California pass the bar without law school via the apprenticeship track. Most years, zero people pass that way.

I would bet that the readiness/ability of the people who attempt the apprenticeship track is much lower than those who attend CA law schools. This may be the reason that so few people succeed via this route — not because it's harder.

[throwup238]

I'm not a lawyer but my understanding is that it is quite a bit harder. Laws schools teach their students to pass the bar exam, but an apprenticeship will focus on whatever the lawyer is working on out of economic necessity. A few thousand hours of tedious corporate or estate law paperwork is a far cry from the general education you'd get at a law school from dozens of lawyers and legal scholars. So to pass the bar exam, you have to self study everything that law schools teach plus practice several thousand hours under a real lawyer. Even not having academic LexisNexis et al subscriptions is a huge disadvantage.

Most people who take the apprenticeship track are pretty exceptional because they have to convince a practicing lawyer to essentially hire them with zero experience. The lawyer-apprentice relationship is very hands on, not like an intern or even a paralegal.

[gnicholas]

Most of law school (especially at top schools) is not the "black letter law" that is tested on the bar exam. Law students typically take a bar prep course from Barbri or one of its competitors.

Regional law schools tend to be more focused on black letter law, partly because their students tend to be less capable of cramming all the black letter law in the 2 months before the bar exam.

But it would not be difficult at all for someone who had apprenticed for a lawyer for multiple years to take a Barbri class and pass the bar.

[ken47]

You would only take this route if you lacked the means to pay law school tuition, or maybe if your parents were reputable attorneys who are willing to apprentice you.

[gnicholas]

I wish this were more popular. It could work for lawyers in a particular niche (entertainment law, insurance law) where the value of working for a couple years clearly outweighs the benefit of taking regular law school classes.

The main issue is the prestige factor. People will assume that you couldn't get into a decent law school if you went that route. Perhaps some students with sterling undergraduate credentials could try to break through and get jobs based on their undergrad connections.

[donw]

Or disreputable attorneys with a winning attitude.