A 17-year-old legal trainee is the youngest graduate of the California bar exam
Peter Park, who took the California bar exam in July and received his results in November, has been on the fast track to a legal career since he was 13.
According to the Tulare County District Attorney’s Office, in 2019 he simultaneously enrolled in high school in Cypress, California, and a four-year Juris Doctor program at Northwestern California University School of Law.
A California Bar regulation allows students to apply to law school by completing the College Board’s College-Level Examination Program, so the public prosecutor’s office in a press release.
“I want to become a prosecutor because I am driven by a moral obligation to uphold freedom, equality and justice in society,” Park said in the statement. “I admire how prosecutors keep our community safe and provide closure for victims.
Park, who turned 18 last month, graduated from high school in 2021 after taking the California High School Proficiency Exam and then continued his law studies, graduating in 2023, the release said.
In August, he became a law clerk with the Tulare County District Attorney’s Office and was sworn in as a practicing California attorney on December 5.
“We are extremely proud of Mr. Park’s accomplishments and that cannot be overstated. We are pleased that he has demonstrated his drive and determination to advocate for the victims and their families here in Tulare County,” said District Attorney Tim Ward in a statement.
Also the State Bar of California congratulated Park on social media and wished him “good luck in his promising legal career.”
Park now works as an assistant district attorney and is training to become a new prosecutor with the Tulare County District Attorney’s Office, according to his LinkedIn page.
According to the State Bar of California, passing the bar exam places Park among the over 196,300 active lawyers in Golden State. Demographic data shows that the average age of licensed lawyers in 2022 was 31 years old.
Of the 7,555 people who took the California bar exam in July, 52% passed files – the lowest pass rate of the 50 states and Washington, D.C. this month, according to the National Conference of Bar Examiners.
Park said his success wasn’t easy, but it was worth it.
“It took discipline and strategy to pass the bar exam, and I did it in the end,” Park said.
“I am very happy that I found this path and I hope that more people realize that there are alternative paths to becoming a lawyer,” he said.
He will officially begin his new role in early January, “pending some state legal filings and the county’s new payroll procedures,” Tulare County Communications Director Stuart Anderson told CNN in an email.
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2023-12-16 10:23:28
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