Barrier to Enter the Legal Profession: How the Bar Exam Deprives the Public of Access to the Courts

Abstract

The purpose of this literature review is to examine the utility of the bar exam. The paper discusses the supervision of the legal profession. In doing so, the paper addresses the role of the judiciary, the American Bar Association and to a limited extent, the legislature. The paper also highlights biases in the legal profession among judges and attorneys and explains how these biases restrict access to the courts both for practitioners as well as to the general public.

Keywords: bar exam, diploma privilege, American Bar Association, law school, law degree, juris doctorate