To those of you getting ready to take the bar exam this week, here's some reassurance for you: even if you fail, life goes on. Consider this list of famous failures, people who didn't pass the bar exam but went on to tremendous success anyway.
And here's another boldface name who failed the bar: Elizabeth Wurtzel, the bestselling and critically acclaimed author, who graduated from Yale Law School last year and sat for the New York bar in July 2008 (and maybe in February 2009 too). In an interview with the New York Observer, Wurtzel shrugged off her bar failure.
In a more recent interview with Bitter Lawyer, Wurtzel once again breezed past that fact. From Gawker:
Wurtzel granted an interview recently to Bitter Lawyer, talking about how much she loves the law and how awesome it is being a lawyer and working at David Boies's law firm. Except she's not a lawyer! At least not in New York, where it seems to be unlawful to claim to be a lawyer if you haven't passed the bar exam. Which she hasn't.
In the Gawker post, John Cook parses Wurtzel's Bitter Lawyer interview against the backdrop of New York rules and statutes regulating the legal profession. Cook suggests that Wurtzel describing herself as a lawyer violates New York Judiciary Law § 478, "Practicing or appearing as attorney-at-law without being admitted and registered."
We forwarded the Gawker link to a pair of legal ethics experts, Professor Steven Lubet of Northwestern and Professor Stephen Gillers of NYU, and asked them to assess the situation.
Read what they had to say at http://abovethelaw.com/2009/07/elizabeth_wurtzel_not_a_lawyer.php
The word "bitch" is a gender based slur and detrimental to females- no matter the sex of the speaker. I am sorry to see it front and center on the photograph for this post. Could have done without the graphics.
Posted by: Margaret Drew | July 29, 2009 at 05:35 PM
Yeah, I had some trepidation about posting the article complete with the graphic, which depicts the cover of a magazine that is readily available at all kinds of check-out counters in all kinds of stores, including organic food co-ops! I hate the word, though I love the idea of reclaiming it, much as we have reclaimed words like "dyke" and "queer" in the face of their use as slurs against us. So, six of one, I guess. In any case, thanks for your comment, and I hope you'll keep engaging. Best, CG
Posted by: Carolyn Grose | July 30, 2009 at 01:37 PM