"In The Washington Post, NYU adjunct professor Max Raskin advances the entirely defensible claim that the bar exam is a cartel instrument designed to keep prices high, outsiders out, and the whole profession wrapped in the same warm, self-satisfied delusion that making future securities lawyers memorize the Rules of Evidence has ever, even once, identified who will be a competent lawyer."
"Unfortunately, an essay on the futility of the bar exam and the desperate need for states to develop alternatives to a generalist memory test for a profession of specialists probably doesn't grab the attention of the Washington Post and certainly not the attention of the public at large. But with one of the most - and inexplicably so - famous people in the world grafted onto the polemic, it stands a chance of reaching a broader audience."
The bar exam operates as a cartel tool that keeps legal services expensive, shuts outsiders out, and relies on memorization rather than predictive measures of competence. Memorizing rules like the Rules of Evidence has not identified who will be a competent lawyer. Framing reform arguments around Kim Kardashian undermines the cause because celebrity association invites perceptions of privilege and shortcutting. Kardashian lacks a law degree and already supports criminal-justice work that would benefit more from funding for practicing lawyers than from her obtaining a license. Effective reform requires states to develop alternatives to a generalist memory test for a specialist profession.
Read at Above the Law
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