AUDIO: LAWYERS ARE GETTING DUMBER
Last August, tens of thousands of potential lawyers took their states’ bar exams. The results, according to the National Conference of Bar Examiners, were so glaringly bad that staffers raced to tell their boss, Erica Moeser. In Idaho, bar pass rates dropped 15 percentage points, from 80 percent to 65 percent. In Delaware, Iowa, Minnesota, Oregon, Tennessee, and Texas, scores dropped 9 percentage points or more. By the time all the states published their numbers, it was clear that the July exam had been a disaster everywhere. Scores on the multiple-choice part of the test registered their largest single-year drop in the four-decade history of the test. Moeser sent a letter to law school deans. She told them, “The group that sat in July 2014 was less able than the group that sat in July 2013.” She blamed the law schools for ill-preparing their students. In response, the law schools did what good lawyers do: blamed the test. A group of 79 deans, mostly from bottom-tier schools, sent a letter asking for an investigation to determine “the integrity and fairness of the July 2014 exam.” This year’s results will start coming out in September. Lawyers and those who hope to join their ranks will soon know if last year was an aberration or a symptom of a worsening problem.
* All the lawyers end up in Congress anyway, so it doesn’t really matter.
* On the bright side, maybe if lawyers get dumber, they won’t be as good at screwing people over.
* They want to investigate the fairness of the exam? So, if it proves you don’t know the material, that’s unfair?
* Now the exam-takers are suing for pain and suffering.
* Tens of thousands of lawyers? Now there’s a scary thought.
* Well, at least we know they weren’t cheating.
* They’re not as good at the law but that’s okay. Society is becoming more lawless anyway.
* I guess we’ll just have to get by with fewer lawyers then.
* This is a real blessing. We’ve been needing some new material for the lawyer jokes.
CLIP: Our classic “Chase, Sirens and Connem” parody spot.
