I must be crazy

[ste_noni]

because I am seriously considering taking the Colorado Bar Exam.  I had always thought that after being licensed in NC for 5 years, I could transfer my bar license to Colorado.  But, I was reading the website more carefully and both states require that you have been physically in the state and practicing law for five years, which I haven't been. 

There are some advantages to only have the NC license - I don't have to take CLE courses, for example, and it doesn't matter for immigration law, which is all federal.  And I really only want to practice immigration law - I like it and I know it.  But my dad, whose opinion I trust, has been talking to me about all the limitations I have and he's right.  If an immigration client wants a will, or a divorce, or say, guardianship, that's work that I have to pass to someone else and can't get paid for.

I have until December 1 to decide.  The exam fee is $500 + $100 if I want to use a computer.  And I'm pretty sure I need a PC laptop tp take the exam.  (I'm sure I could borrow someone's laptop.  Writing the test by hand would be crazy).  A bar review course would be $1350, plus more if I wanted to take it on my own, which I would.  But, I do have some old Colorado BarBri books here and I see that you can get old bar exams from the Colorado Court for $15 so maybe that would be good enough.

I think the hardest part, though, would be the anxiety around the test.  I can't imagine doing it twice.  That was two miserable days of my life and for about three years after the bar exam, I would get this sort of sick feeling in my stomach just remembering it.  

Comments

[cashmerepett.livejournal.com]

Good luck with your decision. My twin sister took the Ohio bar and the following year, due to her divorce and moving back to Indiana, had to take the Indiana bar less than a year later. It was hell but she's glad she did it.

I know it's stressful and expensive so I can understand not wanting to do it but it sounds like a good investment.

[lunarophelia.livejournal.com]

Good luck with the decision. I am not a lawyer, so I have never taken a bar exam, but my dad said when he took his he got a hotel room and unplugged the phone so he could focus because our house was crazy because I was 2 and my brother was a newborn!