Once you get into law school...
Assuming a student doesn't get kicked out of law school after her first year, there are still a lot of steps to take before she becomes licensed in North Carolina.
First, she needs to finish out her second and third year of law school and graduate.
She also needs to fill out a grueling bar application that requires her to list practically every detail of her life, including parents, prior husbands, divorce details, judgments, debts, job details and employment history, school history, credit history, criminal history (includes traffic tickets and any other hiccup) and residences since the age of 18. She must have a total of twelve personal references-- no ex-employers or family members. Four of those must fill out and get notarized a "Certificate of Good Character." Part of the application process requires that she sit for an interview with Bar-commissioned attorneys who are supposed to discuss the application with her and look for, and justify any perceived discrepancies.
That application must be complete no less that 5 1/2 months prior to taking the July bar exam, which turns out, is a terrible time for students to be worrying about a bar application.
Then she must take the bar exam, which is a 2-day, 12 hour test. This will cost her several hundred dollars ($600 + late charge, if any) plus another $100 for software if she takes the exam on a laptop.
It costs almost three thousand dollars to take the standard state-specific bar review course (which is the first day of the exam). For the MBE portion (the second day), classes run from anywhere between $400 and $1000.
Assuming she passes (it's about 1 1/2 months before she finds out whether she passes) she must get sworn in. She must look for a job and get hired somewhere, or, she must go through another set of hurdles to establish a firm for herself, which includes a 7-step process to become a Professional Limited Liability company, buying insurance, establishing bank accounts that satisfy the State bar, and all that other regular stuff that businesses have to do.
Labels: bar review, licensure
