Kim Kardashian's Bid to Become a Lawyer Faces Long Odds
The reality star has said she plans to take the bar exam in 2022 without attending law school, but few who go that route pass the test.
April 10, 2019 at 02:30 PM
3 minute read
Kim Kardashian revealed in a new Vogue interview that she's planning to become a lawyer—minus the three years of cold calls, study groups and final exams.
Instead of law school, Kardashian says she has begun a four-year course of legal study with an unnamed San Francisco law firm. The State Bar of California allows people to bypass law school if they study under a lawyer or judge, a system that is commonly referred to as apprenticeship but is not widely used.
If true, Kardashian will have to beat tough odds on the California bar exam, which has proven a challenge for many takers who spent years in law school and have Juris Doctors. Just 41 percent of those who took the July California bar exam passed, with the vast majority having attended law school. That rate was under 3 percent for the small number of people who sat for exam under California's “four-year qualification” provision, according to state bar statistics.
It remains to be seen how serious Kardashian is about her plans for a legal career, however. Her husband, rapper Kanye West, sowed confusion last September when he told the television show “Extra” that Kardashian was in law school. Her representatives later clarified that she is not a law student, but “is so entrenched in the legal system with her activism that it is like going to law school.“
The reality television star is, of course, the daughter of the late Robert Kardashian, who was among the team of lawyers who represented O.J. Simpson in his 1995 murder trial. More recently, Kim Kardashian has been involved in criminal justice reform efforts, helping to successfully push President Donald Trump to grant clemency to Alice Marie Johnson—a 63-year-old grandmother who had been in an Alabama prison since 1996 for a nonviolent drug conviction. According to the Vogue article, Kardashian has been visiting prisons, lobbying governors and attending criminal justice reform meetings at the White House for months while advocating for the recently passed First Step Act, under which an estimated 4,000 federal prisoners will be released.
The Vogue article says Kardashian began her legal studies last summer. She must log 18 hours of supervised study per week, and next summer will have to take the First Year Law Students' Examination, better known as the “baby bar.” If she passes—like nearly a third of those who took the baby bar last July—she will be able to continue her studies.
“First year of law school, you have to cover three subjects: criminal law, torts, and contracts,” Kardashian told Vogue. “To me, torts is the most confusing, contracts the most boring, and crim law I can do in my sleep. Took my first test, I got a 100. Super easy for me. The reading is what really gets me. It's so time-consuming. The concepts I grasp in two seconds.”
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View All'Basic Arithmetic': Court Rules in Favor of LA Charter School Denied Funding by California Education Department
'It's Like They Lynched You:' Law Professor's Discrimination Claim Reaches High Court
7 minute readUvalde Shooting 'Fresh in Everyone's Mind:' Lone Dissenting Judge Disagrees with School's Disciplinary Decision Over Pellet Gun
Trending Stories
- 1Bucking Industry Trend, Sidley Austin Elects Biggest Class of Partners in Firm History
- 2US Judge Throws Out Sale of Infowars to The Onion. But That's Not the End of the Road for Sandy Hook Families
- 3‘Really Deflating’: Judges React to Biden Threat to Veto New Judgeships Bill
- 43 Incidents Lead to Charges Against the Alexander Brothers; Cousin Remains at Large
- 5Sidley Austin Elects Biggest Combined Class of Partners and Counsel in Firm History
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250