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My job letter says i will begin working after i pass the bar. is this something i can talk to them about? honestly i am terrified i might not have passed and if i don't, and if i lose the job, i would bawl my eyes out

Anonymous User wrote:My job letter says i will begin working after i pass the bar. is this something i can talk to them about? honestly i am terrified i might not have passed and if i don't, and if i lose the job, i would bawl my eyes out

You can talk to an employer about anything. But you give no details, no company name, no size of company, no geographic location, and therefore any advice you get here will be a wild guess.

Some firms comfortably have the capacity to keep folk on as clerks until they have a second shot at the bar. You can do research and they can either bill it at a low rate since you're not a lawyer, or eat the cost. Other firms need lawyers. They might need you to appear in court. That isn't happening until you're admitted and the firm might not be able to hold off from filling the spot for six months.

albanach wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:My job letter says i will begin working after i pass the bar. is this something i can talk to them about? honestly i am terrified i might not have passed and if i don't, and if i lose the job, i would bawl my eyes out

You can talk to an employer about anything. But you give no details, no company name, no size of company, no geographic location, and therefore any advice you get here will be a wild guess.

Some firms comfortably have the capacity to keep folk on as clerks until they have a second shot at the bar. You can do research and they can either bill it at a low rate since you're not a lawyer, or eat the cost. Other firms need lawyers. They might need you to appear in court. That isn't happening until you're admitted and the firm might not be able to hold off from filling the spot for six months.

It sounds like OP's firm is in the "need (admitted) lawyers" camp, because their offer letter says that OP "will begin working after [OP passes] the bar." They aren't even letting OP start employment until and unless OP passes. All BigLaw firms that I know of let law school grads start employment as clerks before bar results are released.

I'm not seeing any advantage to OP trying to talk to their (future) employer now. If anything, if OP approaches them expressing serious concern about their bar passage prospects, they could even decide to rescind OP's offer. I'd advise OP to hang tight. If they pass (and plenty of folks terrified of failing the bar end up passing), voila. If they fail, then and only then should they approach their employer to discuss options.

Anonymous User wrote:bump

why? what info are you hoping for that isn't already upthread?

OP here. Bump was not me.

Anonymous User wrote:OP here. Bump was not me.

To be clear, I'm not complaining, I'm just legitimately confused what the bumper expects to happen (and if they say so they're more likely to see it)