Sixty-Five-Year-Old Man Takes Bar Exam

A week after completing the Uniform Bar Exam, I am working on what for me is the last step of persuading the state that I know enough to be granted a license to be a lawyer. The UBE tests general concepts of law, not those applicable in any specific jurisdiction. Several states that use the UBE require applicants to complete a state specific component, and North Carolina is in that group. Its component is a series of six one-hour videos, with each video divided into two thirty-minute segments. The subjects are Criminal Law, Estate Planning & Administration, Family Law, Real Estate, Torts, and Workers’ Compensation. As you can see in the below screen capture, I have successfully completed the first two sections.

I’ve been taking copious notes and frequently referring to statutes, so it takes about 4 hours to complete a one-hour video. At the end of each, the applicant must answer three questions correctly. Miss just one, and I would have to repeat the entire hour and and then try three different questions. One cannot rewind or fast forward to a location on the video. I hope to complete this process within the next week.

I noted that this is my last step because I intentionally avoided concentrating on North Carolina law during my preparation for the UBE. I did not want to take a chance on confusing a general rule of law with a possibly conflicting one for North Carolina.

Two lessons down, four to go.