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Typical time off to study for the bar after lateral?
Posted: Wed Apr 10, 2019 6:37 pm
by darkdaedra
I just lateraled to a big firm in NYC from a public defender's office out of state. Anyone have a sense of what is a reasonable amount of time I can ask to be off preceding the exam? There's no firm policy.
Re: Typical time off to study for the bar after lateral?
Posted: Wed Apr 10, 2019 10:40 pm
by M458
darkdaedra wrote:I just lateraled to a big firm in NYC from a public defender's office out of state. Anyone have a sense of what is a reasonable amount of time I can ask to be off preceding the exam? There's no firm policy.
Have seen between 3-4 weeks.
Re: Typical time off to study for the bar after lateral?
Posted: Thu Apr 11, 2019 9:57 am
by JHP
Did the firm not specify the length of time they'd give you off before the bar? Anyone I know who has either had to re-take the bar while working or lateralled and then needed to take the bar were told a specific amount of time they'd have off before the bar (I think it was 2-3 weeks or so).
Re: Typical time off to study for the bar after lateral?
Posted: Thu Apr 11, 2019 12:11 pm
by Anonymous User
At the very least I'd do 2 weeks. Have not seen anyone take more than 4 weeks off.
Re: Typical time off to study for the bar after lateral?
Posted: Thu Apr 11, 2019 7:54 pm
by darkdaedra
JHP wrote:Did the firm not specify the length of time they'd give you off before the bar? Anyone I know who has either had to re-take the bar while working or lateralled and then needed to take the bar were told a specific amount of time they'd have off before the bar (I think it was 2-3 weeks or so).
Yeah. They didn't specify. And I felt like it would look bad to ask before I got an offer. Planning on asking for three.
Re: Typical time off to study for the bar after lateral?
Posted: Thu Apr 11, 2019 8:58 pm
by joeschmoe
I just lateraled and will be sitting for the July exam. I asked for 4 and the firm countered with 3.5. No harm in asking for 4 after you receive an offer.
Re: Typical time off to study for the bar after lateral?
Posted: Thu Apr 11, 2019 10:54 pm
by Anonymous User
Somewhat related question: Is it harder to lateral to a market where you need to take another bar exam? I imagine that firms would much rather hire someone already barred in their state? I'm hoping to switch markets at the start of next year and would need to take the new state's bar exam, so I'm just trying to get a sense of how hard it is to actually do that.