Talk:Lawyer

Page contents not supported in other languages.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Former featured article candidateLawyer is a former featured article candidate. Please view the links under Article milestones below to see why the nomination failed. For older candidates, please check the archive.
Article milestones
DateProcessResult
June 28, 2006Featured article candidateNot promoted
March 20, 2007Good article nomineeNot listed
Current status: Former featured article candidate

Another questionable assertion[edit]

Someone has added this questionable assertion: "In other states, the bar examination can be very challenging, such as in California where only 42.3% of applicants passed the examination administered in February 2011."

There are two problems here. First of all, the source cited only directly supports the second assertion in that sentence, not the first, which means the first assertion is original research in violation of WP:NOR.

Second, having actually read most of the literature on the comparative sociology of the legal profession (in order to write more than three-fourths of this article over the years), I can say that the foregoing assertion makes no sense. Many countries have bar exams with far lower pass rates, especially Japan. They consider bar exams with passage rates above 50% to be far too lenient and too likely to result in the admission of immature, incompetent, or insufficiently knowledgeable legal professionals. Under WP:NPOV, Wikipedia has to maintain a neutral point of view, which means we take a global perspective, not one which is clearly provincial. Any objections before I pull that out? --Coolcaesar (talk) 19:39, 1 November 2016 (UTC)Reply[reply]

It is also worth noting that a bar exam is only "challenging" relative to the population taking it, and their level of preparedness. If you gave a bar exam to an unsuspecting convention of dentists, almost none would pass, even if they were quite intelligent. A 43% passage rate among a group that has spent months in bar prep and years in law school seems quite low. bd2412 T 20:24, 1 November 2016 (UTC)Reply[reply]
I agree with Coolcaesar. Yank that sentence out. I also agree with BD2412. There are lots of variables. For what it's worth (not much, probably), my theory is that the main component of success on a bar examination in the United States is having taken a good bar review course immediately prior to taking the exam. Famspear (talk) 21:04, 1 November 2016 (UTC)Reply[reply]
Hearing no objections, I'm taking it out. --Coolcaesar (talk) 13:28, 2 November 2016 (UTC)Reply[reply]
PS: I have heard the same thing for years, though, about the difficulty of the California exam. Anybody here have a theory on that? Is it really that much more difficult than the exams in other states? If so, is it mainly because a relatively lower percentage of California applicants take a review course, as compared to applicants in other states? Is it because the quality of some law schools in California is lower on average? I have no idea. Famspear (talk) 21:09, 1 November 2016 (UTC)Reply[reply]
I passed easily on the first try (as did over 90% of the graduates from my school that year), but I know a few people who have failed the exam (as many as 12 times). The two main reasons for the low bar passage rates are (1) we have unaccredited or state-accredited law schools and (2) with its three-hour-long performance tests, California has historically treated its three-day-long exam as a grueling endurance exercise as much as a knowledge test. (Remember, it's three consecutive days.) That is, a lawyer must be able to deliver decent work product under deadline no matter how exhausted and overworked, just as a neurosurgeon cannot walk away from his or her patient, even though neurosurgery procedures often take many hours. Which is why many California lawyers, myself included, are highly skeptical about the state bar's planned transition to a two-day exam. --Coolcaesar (talk) 22:41, 1 November 2016 (UTC)Reply[reply]

The Texas bar exam is also three days (although the third day is just a half a day, if I recall correctly), and the sittings (if I recall) are three to four hours at a stretch.

Texas does not have its own "state" accreditation of law schools. To be allowed to sit for the Texas exam, you must either graduate from an ABA-accredited school or already be licensed in some other jurisdiction (as far as I know). The exam is given in February and July of each year. The pass rates for the February 2016 exam for first-time takers who graduated from Texas schools ranged from a low of 41.38% (Texas Southern University) to a high of 83.33% (University of Houston, where I graduated). The pass rate for examinees already licensed in another jurisdiction was 83.89%. The pass rate for examinees who had graduated from out-of-state law schools who were not already licensed in some other state was 49.68%. The July 2016 results are scheduled to be released this week.

I passed the Texas bar exam on the first try, but I took the exam only two months after graduation, and right after taking a well-known bar review course.

When I took the Uniform Certified Public Accountant Examination -- in the old days, before Moses, I think -- it was brutal. The CPA exam was always different, because it was not expected that you would pass the entire exam on the first try. Three days: a 19 and a half hour test. No electronic calculators of any kind. This was six sessions over the three day period, with three of the sessions (Auditing, Theory and Law) being 3 and half hours each and two of the sessions being 4 and a half hours each. The two 4 and half hour sessions counted together as one nine-hour "part" (called "Practice"), and the three other sessions each counted as separate parts of only 3 and a half hours each. So, you got four grades, one for each part. I passed the three shorter sessions on the first try without having taken a review course, but I studied almost every night for over four months to get ready. Ah, the good old days! (Not!)

Today, the CPA exam is different: it's shorter, it's administered by computer, and electronic calculators are allowed. Kids today have it easy! Hrrummmmph! Famspear (talk) 04:23, 2 November 2016 (UTC)Reply[reply]

PS: In looking at the rest of the statistics for the February 2016 Texas bar exam, I note that the pass rate was 65.17% for the first time takers and 47.98% for the "repeaters." And, the over all pass rate for that exam for all takers was only 56.25%. I didn't realize that the Texas bar exam pass rate was that low. I don't think it was that low when I took the exam in the 1980s. Famspear (talk) 04:40, 2 November 2016 (UTC)Reply[reply]

External links modified[edit]

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 7 external links on Lawyer. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}} (last update: 18 January 2022).

  • If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
  • If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.

Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 17:08, 12 May 2017 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Add heading: Famous lawyers[edit]

Overview about famous lawyers, followed by terminology and responsibilities XavierM.1978 (talk) 14:33, 13 January 2019 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Revised Layout[edit]

Hello all, I have some suggestions and questions for the layoff of this article. I was just wondering why "History" was so far low in the article? From all the articles I have been seeing on wikipedia, it seems the "History" section is towards the front. Therefore, my revised layout goes: 1. History 2. Terminology 3. Education 4. Responsibilities 5. Career Structure 6. Professional Ass. and regulation 7. Compensation 8. Title 9. Prejudices against lawyers. If anyone disagrees with me, I would love to hear some input or any other suggestions/ advice. Thank you for your time. Jmmonty16 (talk) 23:57, 2 May 2019 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Merge from Advocate[edit]

Merge Advocate to this article because they're same profession. Capankajsmilyo(Talk | Infobox assistance) 09:00, 22 May 2019 (UTC)Reply[reply]

No, they're not, at least not in all jurisdictions. Nikkimaria (talk) 00:30, 23 May 2019 (UTC)Reply[reply]
Concur. In many jurisdictions, the advocate is one of several distinct legal professions (or jurists). --Coolcaesar (talk) 20:29, 2 January 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion[edit]

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion:

Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 22:25, 15 March 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Lawyer&oldid=1144848056"