Social media star and entrepreneur, Kim Kardashian West, hopes to follow in the footsteps of Abraham Lincoln and the relatively few others who skip law school and become a lawyer by “reading the law.”
Kardashian West announced in a recent interview that, rather than joining with the majority of aspiring attorneys in the classroom, she has begun a four-year course of legal study with #cut50, a San Francisco law firm that focuses on criminal reform advocacy. This announcement inspired chatter all over the world, but especially among law students across the nation. The day the interview came out, Kardashian West’s name was a trending topic on social media, and many began to look into just how feasible her goal is.
The State Bar of California allows people to bypass law school if they study under a lawyer or judge, a system that is commonly referred to as an “apprenticeship.” but is not widely used. California is one of only four states—among Virginia, Vermont, and Washington – that allow aspiring lawyers to take the bar exam without going to law school.
Many in the legal industry are questioning Kardashian’s cavalier attitude toward her new goal. “First year of law school, you have to cover three subjects: Criminal Law, Torts, and Contracts,” Kardashian told Vogue. “To me, Torts is the most confusing, Contracts [is] the most boring, and Crim[inal] Law, I can do in my sleep. Took my first test, I got a 100. Super easy for me. The reading is what really gets me. It’s so time-consuming. The concepts I grasp in two seconds.” Though successful in many aspects of her life, Kardashian faces difficult odds against her.
Each state that allows apprenticeships has different rules. In Virginia, for example, a legal apprentice cannot be paid by the supervising attorney. In Washington, they must be paid by the attorney. The mentoring attorney must meet a minimum level of experience in all states, ranging from three years in Vermont to 10 years in Virginia and Washington.
Aspiring attorneys in California who opt for this route must log at least 18 hours of supervised study per week, and after one year, must take the First Year Law Student’s Examination, before continuing on in their apprenticeship. Just 41 percent of those who took the July 2018 California bar exam passed, with the vast majority having attended law school. Though the extra year is meant to facilitate more opportunities for education, of the 41 percent who passed the July 2018 bar, under 3 percent sat for the exam under California’s “four-year qualification provision”, according to state bar statistics.
Though the apprenticeship route presents formidable obstacles that don’t always seem like “the easy way,” it does present some great advantages. For one, the most obvious benefit is arguable the ability to avoid the high cost of a traditional legal education and skirt the burden of large student loans. Another benefit to learning law in the community, rather than going away to school, is that the hands-on experience allows for practical day-to-day applications of the black letter law, all while gaining valuable face-time with practicing attorneys.
Before jumping ship and going with the apprenticeship options, the probable downsides are considerable as well. Potential employers and clients might be reluctant to hire anyone who didn’t go to law school, simply because it is so unusual. Kardashian West’s celebrity and career interests spare her from considering this through the lens of a typical new lawyer, looking to land a job. In the end, aspiring lawyers should take into consideration the unique benefits and disadvantages the apprenticeship option provides before looking to Kardashian West as a model for the (not-so) new way to become a lawyer.
