Required Courses for the Virginia State Bar
A state bar exam is the exam that all prospective lawyers must take in order to become admitted attorneys in that state. The requirements for sitting for the exam vary widely by state and range from graduating to an American Bar Association-accredited school to a good credit report. Most states, including Virginia, do not require specific courses to sit for the bar exam; however, certain courses are quite helpful as preparation for those taking the exam.
Other People Are Reading
-
Requirements for the Virginia State Bar
-
The Commonwealth of Virginia, like all other states and most U.S. territories, has a state bar association that provides a list of requirements. The Virginia Board of Bar Examiners does not require specific courses to be taken during law school in order to be eligible to sit for the bar exam. However, it does require a student to receive a degree from an ABA-accredited law school, to pass its Character and Fitness to Practice Law requirements, to disclose any mental and chemical or physiological and dependency matters, to pass the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam with a score of 85 or better and to pay the required fees.
State Law Subjects
-
While specific courses are not required to be taken while in law school, certain courses can be very helpful to your studies. Day one of the exam, held the last Tuesday of every February and July, is an essay exam on state law topics, including the state law distinctions on common law topics. These topics are: Agency, Conflict of Laws, Constitutional Law, Contracts, Business Organizations, Creditor's Rights, Criminal Law, Domestic Relations, Equity, Evidence, Federal Practice and Procedure, Local Government Law, Professional Responsibility, Real and Personal Property, Sales, Taxation, Torts, Trusts, Uniform Commercial Code, Virginia Civil and Criminal Procedure (including appellate practice), Wills and Estate Administration. These are topics you may want to take as electives in your later years in law school in order to prepare for the state law portion of the exam.
-
Multistate Common Law Subjects
-
Day two of the exam, held the last Wednesday of every February and July, is a multiple choice, 200-question exam called the Multistate Bar Examination, which tests only common law, with no state-specific distinctions. The topics are: Constitutional Law, Contracts, Criminal Law, Evidence, Real Property and Torts. These are the groundwork topics that law students likely take their first year in law school.
Recommendations
-
If you went to law school in Virginia, you have likely learned much of the state law already through your regular coursework. However, if you attended a school outside of Virginia, you can still use the common law you learned in class when studying for the exam. Combining this with the state law you will learn in your bar review courses should adequately prepare you for the Virginia State Bar Exam.
-
References
Resources
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Goodshoot/Getty Images
