Adjunct Law Prof highlighted another good piece about the idea of having a national bar exam rather than each state having their own.
Quote:
Advocates of a uniform bar exam say that the advantages would benefit both attorneys who would be able to more easily between jurisdictions as well as consumers who could see their legal bills drop.
Just today, I was having lunch with someone who asked me about the bar, and I said I thought it would be cool if we had a national bar exam. “Yeah,” he said, “But isn’t the law different for every state?”
To which I replied, “Not really. The law is similar in a lot of places; however, each state may have a particular nuance on an issue that other states won’t have.” (Locality Rule v. Same or Similar within Profession for med mal standard of care, for example.) “I mean, if I go from California to Washington I would have to become familiar with Washington law but that’s why other lawyers and legal scholars write treatises to get you up to speed. Plus, you can always hire law clerks to help bring you up to speed too.”
And really, without written treatises or additional staff to research the differences for you, you can always do it yourself with Westlaw.
