Multiple horrifying reports have reached us from the New York bar exam, where tipsters say an applicant suffered what appeared to be a heart attack during the test.
A woman taking the bar exam at the Hofstra location — a Fordham graduate, according to one tipster — fell to the floor unconscious and required CPR during the morning session. Some reports claim the examinee died, while others say she’s recovering.
We tried to contact the NY State Board of Law Examiners for more information, but the number informed us “our phone lines will be closed Monday, July 28 through Friday, August 1.” Because… obviously.
A consistent theme across all reports is a fanatical refusal to stop the exam during an obvious crisis. A Reddit post claims the response was slow with most people simply carrying on with the test while someone next to them might have been dying. A roomful of legal professionals-in-waiting so institutionally gaslit that they carried on with the test as if nothing happened. Thankfully, some did speak out, and security officers arrived with equipment and were “performing chest compressions” according to the Redditor. Another tipster says they “were forced to continue during CPR.” Security officers are noted as starting to provide treatment but it’s unclear when emergency medical technicians arrived. One tipster reports that “the proctors waited until the lunch break to let the paramedics in,” which we desperately hope is either untrue or a coincidence. That said, it’s important to remember that the proctors themselves are instructed by the bar examiners to never deviate from their precise, inane instructions, setting the stage for this sort of disaster.
Here’s what really got to me: the exam never stopped. Everyone just… kept going. Or at least tried to. I don’t know how anyone could fully focus on the exam when someone was literally being resuscitated a few feet away.
And then — because the bar exam is its own flavor of sadistic theater — everyone went to lunch and came back like it was a regular day.
Sadly, this story reflects the bar exam’s ignominious tradition. In the comments to the Reddit post, older lawyers shared their stories of bar exam medical emergencies — watching test-takers administer emergency care and be told that they would not be receiving extra time for their efforts. Bar examiners largely scoffed at the idea that THE EXAM might be compromised by a global pandemic. When the Hawai’i bar exam evacuated over the tsunami, it was so jarring because it was so extraordinary.
The bar exam is a stupid hazing ritual. It does not test the skills required to be a competent attorney. It’s a hustle. Which is why the “non-profit” running it has $175 million in assets.
Hopefully this examinee survived and is recovering now. But in any event, this is a tragedy compounded by the idiotic arrogance of this exam.
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter or Bluesky if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.
The post Bar Exam Taker Suffers Apparent Heart Attack appeared first on Above the Law.
Multiple horrifying reports have reached us from the New York bar exam, where tipsters say an applicant suffered what appeared to be a heart attack during the test.
A woman taking the bar exam at the Hofstra location — a Fordham graduate, according to one tipster — fell to the floor unconscious and required CPR during the morning session. Some reports claim the examinee died, while others say she’s recovering.
We tried to contact the NY State Board of Law Examiners for more information, but the number informed us “our phone lines will be closed Monday, July 28 through Friday, August 1.” Because… obviously.
A consistent theme across all reports is a fanatical refusal to stop the exam during an obvious crisis. A Reddit post claims the response was slow with most people simply carrying on with the test while someone next to them might have been dying. A roomful of legal professionals-in-waiting so institutionally gaslit that they carried on with the test as if nothing happened. Thankfully, some did speak out, and security officers arrived with equipment and were “performing chest compressions” according to the Redditor. Another tipster says they “were forced to continue during CPR.” Security officers are noted as starting to provide treatment but it’s unclear when emergency medical technicians arrived. One tipster reports that “the proctors waited until the lunch break to let the paramedics in,” which we desperately hope is either untrue or a coincidence. That said, it’s important to remember that the proctors themselves are instructed by the bar examiners to never deviate from their precise, inane instructions, setting the stage for this sort of disaster.
Here’s what really got to me: the exam never stopped. Everyone just… kept going. Or at least tried to. I don’t know how anyone could fully focus on the exam when someone was literally being resuscitated a few feet away.
And then — because the bar exam is its own flavor of sadistic theater — everyone went to lunch and came back like it was a regular day.
Sadly, this story reflects the bar exam’s ignominious tradition. In the comments to the Reddit post, older lawyers shared their stories of bar exam medical emergencies — watching test-takers administer emergency care and be told that they would not be receiving extra time for their efforts. Bar examiners largely scoffed at the idea that THE EXAM might be compromised by a global pandemic. When the Hawai’i bar exam evacuated over the tsunami, it was so jarring because it was so extraordinary.
The bar exam is a stupid hazing ritual. It does not test the skills required to be a competent attorney. It’s a hustle. Which is why the “non-profit” running it has $175 million in assets.
Hopefully this examinee survived and is recovering now. But in any event, this is a tragedy compounded by the idiotic arrogance of this exam.
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter or Bluesky if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.
