Help Aaron Get His Bar Card

You probably know that I took a very unorthodox path to a legal career. My undergrad has nothing to do with law. I took a temp job moving boxes for an attorney in 2008, stuck around to do more odd jobs for her, and left years later as a legal assistant with an itch for legal work. I started doing civil rights work in my free time, ran a grassroots network for a political campaign, moved to a federal firm, and kept learning. I decided I liked my work, so I picked up a paralegal certificate. I continued learning new areas of practice, went in-house, and eventually left to join the early team at Higher Ground Education. Now I travel the US negotiating with state governments to open amazing Montessori schools.

You'll notice I said nothing in there about law school, because I never went to law school. Instead, for the past 4 years I've been doing something that used to be common and is now very rare - "reading law," the practice of studying law under an attorney rather than going to law school. I almost got knocked out of the program when Mal died during my First Year Law Students Exam testing window, but I made it through.  Now I finish my study this month.  I made it this far, and that makes me eligible to take the California bar exam and become an attorney.

I was planning on skipping the September bar exam and delaying until February 2021 for the simple reason that August is my busiest work month of the year and there was no way I'd have time to study for an early September bar. But due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the State Bar of California pushed the exam into October. I can take it this year, and I can take it from home!

Unfortunately, while I saved a ton of money skipping law school, this still isn't cheap. The exam registration fee is $850, the MPRE is $135, and my good moral character investigation is $550. That's over $1500 in fees alone, and assumes I don't spend a dime on exam prep classes or materials.  (The normal choice for most law school grads is to take a BARBRI prep course for the low low price of $2900-$4200)  The education industry, like most other industries, took a huge hit due to quarantine and it's affecting all of us. I thought I had almost a year to come up with the funds I need to finish out my study, but now I'm rushing to meet the July 24th deadline just announced today. 

I know many of you are financially hurting right now. I know this is a dream of mine, not a matter of life or death. I was able to just barely scrape together the money for the registration, so I'm taking it in October no matter what.  But I really had to scrape the bottom of the barrel to come up with it on such short notice, and I have no clue when I'll have the money to cover the rest. I get told a lot by friends that they don't know how to help me and that I never ask for help, so I'm swallowing my nervousness and asking. If and only if you're doing ok financially, if I've been a legal help to you in the past or you just would like to help make my dream a reality, I would greatly appreciate any help you can give.  Any amount helps me chip away at this last big hurdle and gets me over the finish line after 

I'm almost there. I've been chasing this dream for 12 years, and it's just around the corner. Whether you toss in a dime or not, thank you all - my friends, family, and colleagues - for being a part of my journey and for supporting me all along the way.