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I have a question about the bar exam and our Office of Student of Affairs is worthless so I'm turning to ya'll for advice. I am a 3L graduating this May. Following graduation I have two clerkships lined up (federal district and then appellate).

More relevant, I have the opportunity to do some research abroad this spring. I am considering staying abroad and just traveling until my clerkship begins in August (instead of studying for and taking the bar). What are the consequences of delaying the bar exam until July 2021? Will I be 'less marketable' when I begin searching for a post-clerkship job? Is it possible to study for the bar while working?

I know nothing about the bar exam so any guidance you can provide would be very appreciated!

Edit: I should note that I'm leaning heavily towards traveling; I'm OK with some headaches down the road to make this possible.

Won't hurt you - just might make it a bit more stressful down the line.

And will limit your flexibility to leave your clerkship in case the clerkship is a nightmare or you get a sweet offer somewhere else.

I wouldn't worry about working and studying for the Bar at the same time. I barely studied for the Bar and passed the UBE easily. And the amount of work required to pass the Bar is massively overblown (lawyers like to make everything sound like a huge, dramatic accomplishment for lay people).

I'm a huge proponent of traveling and gaining life experience while you can. Having the chance to live abroad doesn't come around very often, and pretty much impossible once you're cemented in a legal career. But I might be slightly biased because I bailed overseas after law school to the horror of my classmates, family, CSO - and everything turned out just fine for me.

It will probably effect your ability to get a JSP step increase for your second clerkship, which can be a pretty substantial amount. You can check the table here https://oscar.uscourts.gov/qualificatio ... y_benefits

This is not uncommon, but you won't be able to advance to JSP-12 until you have your admission to the bar. So if you theoretically went your whole second clerkship without being admitted to a bar, you'd lose out on about 10-k (difference between JSP-11/2 and 12/1).

It's probably too late for you now, but I have a three week gap between my first and second clerkships that my gf and I will use to travel. There will never be a better time to get the bar out of the way than right after graduation imo.

I don't know how many things out there exist that require you to be admitted to a bar for a certain number of years (e.g., application to the Supreme Court bar), but those would be affected.