PassTheBarExam.com

The next time someone reminds you that it’s okay to have failed the Bar Exam because (insert, here, the name of a successful person who failed the bar) did too, you can tell them that they missed one.

He may have failed the NY bar, but now he can do more to influence the creation and administration of justice in New York. He is David Paterson, and he’s going to be the next former lieutenant governor of New York.

New York Lt. Gov. David Paterson failed the New York State Bar Exam, and he’s about to have new business cards printed without the “Lt.� qualifier. That has to be some kind of record for making lemonade when life hands you a case of lemons.

Of course, if you’re trying to compare yourself favorably to other unsuccessful candidates, Paterson might not be the best persons to use as your benchmark. You might come up short.

As proof that nobody truly fails until they stop trying, consider these things: He was born legally blind. When Paterson’s parents were told by the New York City Public School System that David couldn’t attend regular school with the sighted kids, they decided to move the family to Hempstead, where the school district had no such ‘nearsighted’ restriction. As a result, he graduated from Hempstead High School in 1971 with the rest of his sighted classmates. He then went on to graduate from Columbia University in 1977, and from Hofstra Law School in 1983.

After law school, he went to work for the Queens District Attorney’s Office. We were unable to locate any information as to what position he held in the DA’s office but, because he did not pass the New York State Bar Exam, we know that his responsibilities did not include those of an attorney.

Paterson was elected to the New York Senate in 1985 at age 31. He made history in November 2002 when he was elected Senate Minority Leader, becoming the first non-white legislative leader in New York State history, as well as the first visually-impaired senior member of New York’s state government.

After Paterson was elevated to Senate Minority Leader, he continued his commitment to solve problems for his local constituents and expanded his focus to include problems plaguing the entire state of New York. Having joined a Senate Reform Task Force in 1991, his new position as Minority Leader allowed him to bring reform to center stage. He called for reforms of the state lobbying laws, of state procurement procedures, and of campaign finance rules.

Paterson is nationally recognized as a leading advocate for the visually and physically impaired. He was elected as a member of the American Foundation for the Blind, and also serves as a board member of the Achilles Track Club, having completed the New York City Marathon in 1999. In September 2006, Paterson was honored by the New York Institute for Special Education.

New York’s Bar Exam is considered to be the second most difficult in the nation, surpassed only by California in the percentage of students who are told “better luck next time� (even though each time you take and fail the California Bar, your chances of passing to down).

So the next time you’re inclined to complain about the difficulty of passing the Bar Exam, just imagine how much more difficult it would be if you could barely read the fact pattern. David Paterson might not have passed the NY Bar, but he certainly it raising the bar for all New Yorkers.
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Brian Johnston contributed to this article