So - if you are interested, you can read the post below that explains how I made the decision to finish my education in California and take the California bar, as the means of becoming licensed to practice in Washington State. The bottom line is while WA has a rule that would generally require me to practice for three years in CA after passing the CA bar, for the last four years or so I have been relying on communications between myself and personnel at the Washington bar, that once I passed the CA bar I could take the WA bar. So of course I have always had this uncertainty or fear that rules would change or something would happen and this complicated plan I've had wouldn't work out.
But I have pressed forward. I had to take a major leap of faith in April. With the California results three weeks from being released, I applied to take the Washington bar exam in July, hoping for two big things 1) I had passed the CA exam and 2) WA would let me sit their exam. Washington's application deadline was in April, so I took a chance and went for it.
I kid you not when I say that 10 minutes, that's right, 10 MINUTES before the California bar results were released, I get an email from the state bar of Washington, telling my that I do not qualify to sit their exam, citing the three year waiting provision.
I can't even begin to describe how much my heart sunk at that moment. This had been a fear I'd had all along. There are no guarantees with a non-ABA degree. Moving to CA and working for 3 years has never been something in which I was remotely interested. I just thought, "Oh crud."
Then ten minutes later I find out I have passed the CA bar! Yay, yay, excitement, yay! But these emotions were so overshadowed with this horrible feeling that my 'big picture' plan was not working out. I battled with the conflicting emotions of intense joy and happiness at the success, and fear and despair over my 4-year plan: oh crud, what was I going to do now!
So Monday rolls around and I communicate back and forth with the Washington bar all day. Bottom line that I do have confirmed in writing is that because I was not a sworn in attorney at the time of their application deadline, I cannot sit the July WA exam, but, I can - specifically with the degree I've earned from my specific school - sit the February exam.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Relief!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Happiness!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Relief!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In my 'everything works out exactly as I wanted it to' world, I would be taking this exam in two months, I would pass, and I would never have to sit a bar exam again. But we all know that it is rare to get everything we want. So, I am very content to have a great summer with my kids, then start up bar prep again in the fall.
I am going to be studying Spanish a bit the next few months - but serious studies won't be happening until after Christmas, when I begin to dig into Washington bar prep.
And that, my friends, is a long and drawn out explanation of what my current plans are.
Oh yeah, and after the 1st of June I will be sworn in as a real-life, licensed in the state of California and living in a state in which I can't use a California license attorney!!!!!!! yay yay yay yay yay!
