On March 1, 2015 the New York Court of Appeals is supposed to make an announcement regarding whether New York will become the fifteenth jurisdiction to adopt the Uniform Bar Exam (UBE). This decision has the potential to change the course of my career. As of now, the New York Court of Appeals has decided not to use the UBE for the July 2015 bar, however I am only in my second year at New York Law School, which means I could be one of the first classes to take the UBE. This does not please me.
I have read the Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals, Jonathan Lippman’s, Uniform Bar Exam: A template for New York? and I disagree with his reasoning. He says law students are “saddled with student loans, facing poor hiring prospects” and I think, “If I’m facing poor hiring prospects now when I’m only competing against those students who take the New York or the multi-state bar, how poor are my prospects going to be when I’m competing against the entire nation? I’m not the only one worrying about this. A week ago, James Mullen, a California attorney and bar analyst for BarExamStats.com, wrote a piece for the website on the effect of the UBE on the New York job market and the results are frightening. Mullen states that not only will there be an increased competition among first year associates, but also among second through fourth year associates. This tells me, for the next 5 years I am going to be fighting an uphill battle just to find a job, any job for that matter.
Mullen reasons that on average, states that have adopted the UBE have a 13% higher pass rate than that of the New York bar. That means 13%, or what he estimates to be around 1,300 new attorneys, each year will be fighting tooth and nail for the same job the other 10,000 individuals who sat for the bar in New York will be looking for. The odds seem to be against you finding a job.
He also worries about the idea of an outsourced associate. This is the idea that attorneys who are admitted to practice in New York under the UBE, but who currently reside in lower-cost states will be hired to work for a New York firm, but continue living in their lower-cost states. Rather than having to pay an attorney who lives and works in New York $160,000 per year salary, they can pay an attorney in a lower-cost state about half of that. Adopting the UBE could cause a surge in newly admitted attorneys to New York, but also push jobs out. More people and less jobs is not a good combination.
Moreover, I agree with the Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York, getting 30 out of 50 multiple choice questions correct does not render you competent enough to represent a client under New York law. New York has a complex legal system that often differs from many other states. Over the last year and a half I’ve been in school, numerous professors have said, “Remember this is only the law in New York,” or “This is where New York differs from most states”. I cannot help feel that this one-size-fits-all bar exam does not really fit New York; especially not the students who are already in the process of completing law school. I know a lot of people at my school came to New York because they wanted to practice in New York and, therefore, they needed to learn the laws of New York. That is what we have been taught, the laws of New York. To throw us off this course now, would not only be unfair, but put us at a disadvantage. Our professors will not have the ability to change our courses overnight and we will have lost out on one or two years’ worth of proper preparation for the UBE and which could be reflected in our scores.
Finally, adopting the UBE is like trying to put a Band-Aid on a gushing carotid artery, it is not the root of the problem. The real problem is rising tuition costs. It is not necessarily that New York doesn’t have job openings, it’s the astronomical cost of going to law school forces students away from the public sector, which desperately needs competent attorneys.
I appreciate having the opportunity to share my opinion on this subject matter. The Uniform Bar Exam will have a major effect, not only on my law school career, but those of my classmates, future law students and on the legal field as a whole. I welcome any comments and/or questions!