Congratulations to all of our bar takers on getting through the grueling gauntlet of two days of test taking!  Along with those in Maryland, Missouri, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, and the Virgin Islands, you will forever be able to say that I was one of the first to take the NextGen Bar.   Guinea pigs, we salute you!!

We’ve come a long way from the first bar examination administered orally in Delaware County in 1783.  And you have the American Bar Association to thank for the near extinction of diploma privilege for law school graduates.  (Keep fighting the good fight Wisconsin…) Just be glad you didn’t go to one of the law schools in Japan that literally had zero students pass that country’s test one year.  I also take back what I said earlier about Washington because things didn’t go as planned…  Exam currently rescheduled for September 1-2.

However things turn out for you in life, whether you pass or not, is impossible to say, so enjoy as much time as you’re able to for yourself before turning to the next thing whatever it may be, you’ve earned it!!!  And don’t be strangers here at the library even though you’ve graduated, we can still be a valuable resource for you as you head out into the wider world of law.  Best of luck.