Bar Application Woes

I’m sure that most of you have heard by now that the application to take the Bar Exam is a beast. My husband is a third year law student who is getting everything ready to graduate and take the Bar, and not too long ago we discovered some interesting things about the Bar application that may be helpful to other law students who are not going to school in Utah. In order to take the Bar Exam in Utah, a background check needs to be done through the FBI for the application. This can take up to 20 weeks, depending on how busy the FBI is. The application is due the first of March if the student wants to take the Bar in July, so students should look at the application well in advance if they want to get everything taken care of in time. My own husband looked at the application a month and a half early and panicked when he found out about the background check. Luckily he contacted the people at the FBI and found that they were processing them much quicker than 20 weeks at that time. It still took him three weeks to get it back and that was after he did everything he could to get it expedited. So, yes, my husband is okay to take the Bar now, but I wanted to send out a notice to students who will be sending in applications in the future. Please, spouses, have your law students look at the Bar application well in advance. Not all states demand a background check, some just require a set of finger prints so that they can run the background check themselves, and some don’t require anything like that, but some do, so be aware.