We're number seven! We're number seven!
A new study by a Pepperdine law professor ranked the state Bar exams from hardest to easiest, by measuring pass rates and controlling for the takers' LSAT scores. As of 2010-11, the hardest was California's (unsurprisingly), followed by Arkansas' (WTF?). Oregon's was the seventh-hardest. (Alaska, Delaware, and DC were not included in the study for insufficient data.) So take that for what it's worth.
The most obvious emotional implication to people who have taken these exams is that we get to feel smug about having passed particularly hard ones. The larger social context is that state Bar organizations are increasingly seeking to tighten admission requirements, in response to proliferating unemployment among new attorneys. So we can expect a lot of Bar exams to continue to get harder across the board. (This also implies that the profession will get older, over time, as fewer new lawyers can join the older ones already admitted under easier terms. Not sure if that's a good thing.)
The easiest Bar exam, apparently, was South Dakota's. So you can feel free to sass any South Dakota lawyers you run into.
The most obvious emotional implication to people who have taken these exams is that we get to feel smug about having passed particularly hard ones. The larger social context is that state Bar organizations are increasingly seeking to tighten admission requirements, in response to proliferating unemployment among new attorneys. So we can expect a lot of Bar exams to continue to get harder across the board. (This also implies that the profession will get older, over time, as fewer new lawyers can join the older ones already admitted under easier terms. Not sure if that's a good thing.)
The easiest Bar exam, apparently, was South Dakota's. So you can feel free to sass any South Dakota lawyers you run into.