An Awesome Thread -- Do Not Give Up!

Mother of Four Passes the Bar Exam

Evelyn Uba came to the US with a dream. Her road was not easy. Her father died shortly after she arrived, and she became a mother and went back to school. She worked for years, and ended up needing to take the Bar 10 times.

But she did not give up!

And she realized her dream.

This is a link to a video that her daughter posted of her celebration and her advice, "I tell people you cannot give up, and I had to follow my advice!" (I am paraphrasing to some degree, but that's what she says at one point.)

If Evelyn can do it, so can you. It may not be easy, but it can be done if you have the will to make it happen.

a reply to: ketsuko


Ummm...dayam...ten freaking times...

After the third I’d have definitely been a member of the bar...

Or is that pub...?





Three sheets...





YouSir

a reply to: YouSir

Persistence pays off.

Think about the law school she went to in order to make a schedule that fit around her life and ability to pay. Then consider how long the schooling stretched out.

What do you want to bet taking the Bar was in and of itself like being back in law school all over again when all was said and done?

So, she wound up coming to this country and it turned her into a professional deceiver, a well paid deceiver. Why didn't she get an honest job instead of one where lies are so fluent.

originally posted by: YouSir
Ummm...dayam...ten freaking times...

LOL ... that's some bad advertising if you ask me.

a reply to: ketsuko
Like ants can move rubber-tree plants

a reply to: ketsuko
I'm impressed that she didn't give up after 3 or 4 tries. I can't imagine raising 4 kids, working, going to school, studying every spare minute, and getting set back repeatedly only to get up and try again. She wanted it bad enough that she didn't allow herself or others to tell her she couldn't do it. Good on her.

I dunno. How would you feel about a pilot who flunked his license exam nine times and got it on the tenth? How about a doctor who took ten times to get a physician's license? I admire the persistence, but this story does not inspire confidence in me.

a reply to: ketsuko

Just what the world needs , another lawyer.


Congratulations to her for achieving her set goal , persistence wins the day.

a reply to: ketsuko

Why did she fail it TEN times? I know the bar is infamously difficult to pass and often takes several tries...is ten tries the norm?

I guess I’m saying that maybe the law isn’t the career for her?

OR, maybe there were extra difficulties that didn’t have anything to do with her aptitude, knowledge, and talent. In that case- I applaud her!

originally posted by: schuyler
I dunno. How would you feel about a pilot who flunked his license exam nine times and got it on the tenth? How about a doctor who took ten times to get a physician's license? I admire the persistence, but this story does not inspire confidence in me.

This is what I was trying to say. You said it better, which frightens me. 😕

a reply to: KansasGirl

My thought is that it had to do with several things (I hope).

1. She had to find a school within her means so likely not top flight. Plus it had to be one she could attend around her schedule as working mother. This likely stretched out her course load into years beyond what the average would be.

2. Given how long her course load to complete the degree likely took, by the time she took the Bar the first time, it may have been almost foreign to her in some ways. So taking the Bar was like a massive refresher that she had to hit multiple times just to make sure she loaded up on all that knowledge all over again.

How top shelf does she have to be in order to do minor attorney work anyhow?

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: KansasGirl

My thought is that it had to do with several things (I hope).

1. She had to find a school within her means so likely not top flight. Plus it had to be one she could attend around her schedule as working mother. This likely stretched out her course load into years beyond what the average would be.

2. Given how long her course load to complete the degree likely took, by the time she took the Bar the first time, it may have been almost foreign to her in some ways. So taking the Bar was like a massive refresher that she had to hit multiple times just to make sure she loaded up on all that knowledge all over again.

How top shelf does she have to be in order to do minor attorney work anyhow?

I think you pretty much hit the nail on the head with your assessment of her situation.

Obviously she didn't graduate top of her class at an Ivy League school and isn't going to be clerking for a Supreme Court Justice but hell, even JFK Jr. took several attempts to finally pass the NY Bar Exam.

I think the most prescient point you touched on though was that this woman had to stretch out her time in law school by an additional several years. As we see just in Congress, laws get changed with great frequency as added on pork to otherwise benign bills that get signed into law. And that's just at the federal level. The same thing happens in state legislatures and just as frequently. So something this woman learned in her first year or 2 of law school could very well be obsolete by the time she started taking the Bar in her state. It's actually an unfair comparison to compare.her situation with that of getting an airline pilots license. Avionics and aerodynamics dont change a whole lot over short periods of time. At least nowhere near the frequency that matters of law can and do change.

One things for sure, if I ever went to court and my lawyer had failed the bar TEN TIMES I would just stock up on cigarrettes to trade because I know I would be going to jail.

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: KansasGirl

How top shelf does she have to be in order to do minor attorney work anyhow?

Are there two or more levels to the bar exam? Is she only going to do "minor attorney work" anyhow? If you pass a driver's license test, you can drive on the freeways at 80 mph. I don't think anyone is suggesting every lawyer graduate from Harvard Law. The Bar Exam is supposed to certify a MINIMUM LEVEL of competence.