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When, Oh When, Is The D.C. Bar Swearing-In?

Don't say Above the Law never did anything for you!

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Losing the 2016 presidential election (although not the popular vote) might be Hillary Clinton’s biggest failure, but not her only failure. The overachieving Yale Law grad has held many titles in her life and career — First Lady, Senator from New York, Secretary of State, Democratic presidential nominee — but not the title of “D.C. bar exam passer.” So if you failed the bar exam (or fear you’ll fail next month), don’t despair; as Hillary Clinton and many other famous bar-exam failers have shown, you can have a remarkable career in public life despite not passing the bar.

But let’s say you, unlike Clinton, passed the D.C. bar. Congratulations! It took a while to get the results, but they eventually arrived. (We wrote about the case of the missing bar results on May 5, and they came out within a week, on May 12.)

Now all you need is to get sworn in, and you can start practicing law and making a living — and servicing those student loans. Right?

Not so fast. As we learned over the past few weeks from many upset sources, the D.C. Bar has yet to schedule a swearing-in for folks who passed the February 2017 bar exam:

  • “I took and passed the D.C. bar in February. As you know, we didn’t get results until May 12. Now, we are stuck in another waiting game with the Committee on Admissions. We haven’t heard a thing about our swearin- in, and somehow they say they (through NCBE) haven’t finished our background checks. The deadline to apply for the exam and submit the background check info was December 2016. Again, the complete lack of communication is ridiculous, and people are waiting… very frustrating for folks trying to get started practicing.”
  • “The D.C. Bar, after significantly delaying the release of results, is now significantly delaying the swearing-in of those that passed…. This has serious financial implications for those that passed.”
  • “The D.C. bar admissions committee is unable to set or determine a date that newly admitted attorneys will be sworn in. In addition, email [sent to them] bounces back, and many times when you call you are indefinitely put on hold. Those of us who passed the exam received a letter that stated in sum that enclosed we would find information regarding the swearing in ceremony — and then no enclosure was included. When I called to inquire, they said it was purposely not included in the letter and a date was not set. But on top of this, they had no idea when it would be set or even the month that the ceremony typically took place. I’ve called [repeatedly] and they literally dance around the topic until you finally give up and hang up. I’ve heard 10 different responses from ‘anytime between July and October’ to ‘you’ll find out next week’ to ‘when we know you’ll know.’ It’s a joke, and someone needs to push them to get their office in check and to (like other states) set a date for us to be sworn in.”

Someone like… Above the Law? Earlier this week, we sent a media inquiry to the D.C. Bar, asking about the failure to schedule a swearing-in. Not long after, we saw this on Top Law Schools:

Poster #1: Got my swearing-in letter today! Looks like the ceremony will be Friday, July 7.

Poster #2: Yes, at 10:00 AM.

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We have confirmed this information with our own sources. In addition, we understand that August 7 is an alternative swearing-in date for those who cannot make July 7.

We also reached out to the D.C. Bar spokesperson, but we have yet to hear back. If and when we do, we will update this story.

As longtime Above the Law readers might recall, we solved a similar situation back in 2014. So don’t say ATL never did anything for you!

UPDATE (4:30 p.m.): Here’s the official statement of the D.C. Bar:

Once examinees pass the bar examination, other necessary qualifications—character and fitness to practice law, legal education, and passage of a professional responsibility test—must be established. The Office of Admissions reviews exhaustive reports regarding applicants’ character and fitness, law school certifications, and other documents. Of the 230 applicants who passed the February bar examination, approximately 80 have been certified for admission to practice law in the District of Columbia and scheduled to take the oath of admission in July. An almost equal number of applications have been reviewed and found to be missing documents or to have issues requiring further investigation; these applicants are notified so that their applications can be completed. Unfortunately, the Office cannot provide a swearing-in date to an applicant until the applicant has met all of the requirements, including character and fitness to represent the public in the District of Columbia.

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In other words, the July swearing-in applies to the 80 candidates certified for admission, not to all 230 bar exam passers. Congratulations to all 230 on passing the bar, and congrats to the 80 on your upcoming admission!

Earlier:

DBL square headshotDavid Lat is the founder and managing editor of Above the Law and the author of Supreme Ambitions: A Novel. He previously worked as a federal prosecutor in Newark, New Jersey; a litigation associate at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz; and a law clerk to Judge Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. You can connect with David on Twitter (@DavidLat), LinkedIn, and Facebook, and you can reach him by email at dlat@abovethelaw.com.

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