It’s not like anyone really gets excited over the idea of taking the bar exam, but it’s a requirement to practice law in the US. However, the number of test-takers has been declining over the past several years, and legal professionals are ambivalent—at best—about the bar’s usefulness.
The number of exam-takers has decreased by 15% since 2016, according to data from the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE). While Covid-19 contributed to the drop in 2020, the numbers were declining well before the pandemic hit, and the number of annual test-takers hasn’t exceeded 65,000 since 2019.
Furthermore, a majority of ...