Posted on 10/01/2010 10:40:08 PM PDT by Qbert
It took Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, five attempts to pass the Alaska Bar Exam, a piece of her biography that has gone unreported until now, when she faces a long-shot write-in bid for another term in her Senate seat.
Murkowski, who graduated in 1985 from Willamette University's College of Law in Oregon, wasn't admitted to the Alaska Bar until November 1987.
She flunked the exam in July 1985, February 1986, July 1986 and again in February 1987. She passed on her fifth try in July 1987. Murkowski said that although her failures on the exam aren't something she talks about regularly, she's never hidden them. It's an example of how she "stayed in there," Murkowski said, "and I did not quit."
[Snip]
Miller - the other lawyer in the race - is a 1995 graduate of Yale's law school. He took the Alaska Bar Exam once, passing it in July 1995. He was admitted to practice law in Alaska in November 1995. Generally, about two-thirds of people taking the exam passed it in the years Murkowski failed it. In July 1985 and February 1986, 69 percent passed; 62 percent passed in July 1986, and 74 percent in February 1987.
The year she passed it, 63 percent of exam-takers aced it.
(Excerpt) Read more at kansascity.com ...
She is a goof ball for sure, but to make fun of someone for taking a test multiple times just seems like a liberal thing to do. Remember when they tried to say Sarah was stupid for taking seven years to finish a four year degree. Everyone stuck up for her. I think there is plenty of things to “find dirt” on Murkowski, but taking the bar five times should not be one of them. I understand that exam is every difficult.
Why are we even having wasting to waste our time with the likes of Lisa Mircowsky, Charlie Crisp and Karl Rove?
What a huge distraction this all has been. This is what RINOs do.
They attack real Republicans, and make us spend our time and money fighting back, meanwhile the Democrats slip by unscathed.
McCain and his daughter are still out attacking GOP candidates.
The whole lot of them are a disgrace.
You don’t seriously think those two things are equivalent do you? LOL
bam bam failed the bar exam and never got a license?
who knew?
having taken and passed, I can only say that it is a horrible experience and that a lot of people quit after the 1st try. I personally believe that if Murkowski took it that many times until she passed, it is a plus and a false criticism. Most lawyers would probably not be opposed to me speaking for them and venturing to say they would agree.
es. If roughly 2/3rds of the candidates passed the test each time she took it, and it took her five times to pass, in what percentage of the population does that place her?
There are numerous reasons other than failure for that. For thousands of college students it is taking time to make some money that stretches the full course time out.
The anti Miller ads are out in force here in Alaska, and they all have one thing in common, they are spelling out Murkies name so people will remember how to spell it.
She will lose, she will lose like a flaming piece of alien space poo coming in from extreme high orbital speeds.
All I can say is this, the liberal refuge cities such as Anchorage deserve her, they are not the REAL Alaska, just because they all live in this little hive in the city limits doesn’t mean they represent the rest of Alaska.
We wish you all the power in your efforts to get your seat back Lisa, you make excellent bar room talk and it joins conservative comrades wherever we go. We see you, we hear you but we don’t believe you.
“having taken and passed, I can only say that it is a horrible experience and that a lot of people quit after the 1st try. I personally believe that if Murkowski took it that many times until she passed, it is a plus and a false criticism. Most lawyers would probably not be opposed to me speaking for them and venturing to say they would agree.”
First, congratulations on passing. The exam varies from state and state and pass/fail rates vary also. When I took it (and passed), it was a three-day ordeal. The first day was pure multiple choice questions and was standard throughout the nation. The second and third days involved essay questions analyzing hypothetical situations and this is where each state exam varies. If memory serves, if you passed the multiple-choice questions but failed in the essay questions, you could retake the exam only for the essay questions.
Do I give a pass for four fails before the fifth success? No. One failure is understandable. Some idiots think they can goof off the couple of months between graduation from law school and the exam and skate by on their recollection of classes. It is stupid but not really an indication of competence. If they fail, they sign up for the intensive bar review course which specifically prepares you for the exam.
Failing a second time may or may not be a signal of competence. Only the multiple-choice questions really test “book learning”. The essay questions test whether you are competent to understand and logically analyze how the law applies to real world situations. Sometimes you can just flub up and totally whiff on the real issues involved by analyzing what is really a side issue instead of the main one the examiners are judging. Then, too, like competitors in the Olympics, a bad cold or some other upset can obscure your competence.
But failing four times isn’t a sign of persistence so much as a sign you really don’t have the aptitude for legal analysis and you either got serious and developed it before the fifth time, or you lucked out on questions and a sympathetic exam grader. (BTW, if memory serves, JFK Jr took only three times to pass the New York Bar.)
I believe Hillary & Michelle also flunked the bar the first time.
This is America.
Family connections are far more important than talent and merit.
The exam is difficult but not fail five times difficult.
She evidently took the same bar review prep course as JFK, Jr. did.
Flunking once is common, more a sign of hubris or laziness than incompetence. Flunking twice can be explained by bad luck. Flunking four times is a warning. The pass/failure rate for Alaska’s exam (and the essay questions change year to year by the way) indicates it is no big deal to pass.
Perfect cabinet member for zero’s administration. Failure
I had to take the National Board Exam, the Clinical Competency Test, The Federal License Board Exam, The Mississippi State Board Exam, the Tennessee Board Exam, after I took my finals from the final semester in veterinary school. These tests were all in a period of one month. All these tests were for a license to practice veterinary medicine so if I were to make an error, a lawyer that failed taking their board exam several times could sue me for everything I own.
We should care less about attorneys and more about CPA's.
I hear that exam is worse than the Bar.
Ergo the desire to destroy Mr. Hoffman in NY-23 and Michelle Bachmann. They are both CPA's.
We need more people in Washington that understand the finality of the Accounting Equation we are broke as nation, not the mental reprogramming and lack of moral focus that occurs in law school.
Wow, three strikes and you’re out here...
Exactly.
Sounds like she finally passed because she learned some test-taking strategies, not because she learned more about the law. I'll give her points for persistence (obviously, since she's currently engaged in a Quixotesque write-in campaign). This is hardly evidence that she might be a better Senator than the Republican candidate who is a Yale Law School graduate and was awarded a Bronze Star.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.