Retake the Bar exam? Part 2
Because I’m an analytical dork, I’ll break down a rough cost-benefit analysis as well. As for cost factors, it’ll cost at least $800 to take it again, $250 for the refiling fee, about $100 for the laptop registration, and $450 for the hotel because it’s just far away enough that it would make it difficult to catch a train or pretty long drive in the morning. Plus the nature of the test being over 2 days doesn’t make it feasible to fight traffic in the morning. However if I did rent a car and drive, I could feasibly lower the costs to about $600, so the low estimate is there. When I do pass this puppy, I’ll have to fork over several hundred, or maybe $400 a year in annual dues to a be a member of the bar, and will likely have to fork over tuition for continuing legal educational classes all for the privilege of keeping my license current that I will most likely not use for at least a few more years. On the benefit side however, there is $0 benefit in that I do not have a legal job lined up right now, and none even in sight.
Even if I were to take it again, get licensed, and go and jump into the job market, my expected attorney salary based on my class rank and work experience would probably force me to take about a 50% pay cut from my current job, and would most likely put me in a much more shaky position as far as job security and benefits. After that, I don’t know what kind of advancement opportunities would be there for me, at least before the economy tanked, you could expect to work public interest for a few years and maybe go into practice by yourself, or maybe make a lateral jump to a firm or an agency. Now none of that seems certain. On the other hand if I stay in my current position, I would have the much higher salary, much more opportunities for advancement, to gain an expertise in a subject matter area, and to get some of these student loans paid over time.
All of the benefits at this point in time are non-monetary. first and foremost is the satisfaction of moving on from this point, a sort of legal purgatory between being a JD and a licensed JD. Also given the fact that I missed it by such a slim margins the first time, I’m confident that I could’ve passed had I lucked out on a more lenient grader on one essay out of 12, a luckier draw of questions, or guessing the right answer on 5 more multiple choice tests. There is also that foolish pride in me to say that I completed law school, in my mind taking and passing the bar was the very last thing to do in getting a law degree, although now I’m not as convinced that is the case anymore. I also have the prospect of my son coming into the world, maybe on my stubborn principle, I refuse to let studying for the bar take any more time away from him, especially not the 2-3 months of intensive preparation that the bar exam requires, especially in his young developmental years.
So what I am faced with is a choice that appears to be very expensive in both monetary ($800 up front, and $400+ every year after) and non-monetary (2-3 months of life, stress, not being with Hana and Jr. and overall unpleasantness) to achieve purely non-monetary benefits such as the relief of not having to take it again for a few years, foolish pride in saying that I’m licensed, and considering this economy, the theoretical benefit that the JD and license will help me some dream job out there.