A California law clerk who is only 17 years old passed the state’s difficult bar test on his first try, making history as the youngest person to ever do so.
Since he was 13, Peter Park has been quickly preparing to become a lawyer. He took the California Bar Exam in July and got his results in November.
The Tulare County District Attorney’s Office says that in 2019, he started both high school in Cypress, California, and a four-year program to become a lawyer at Northwestern California University School of Law.
A rule set by the California State Bar lets students apply to law school by passing the College Board’s College-Level Examination Program, the district attorney’s office said in a news statement.
“I want to be a prosecutor because I feel I have a moral duty to protect freedom, equality, and justice,” Park said in the statement. “I admire how prosecutors keep our community safe and help victims find peace.”
Park, who turned 18 last month, took the California High School Proficiency Exam and graduated from high school in 2021. He then went on to law school and finished in 2023, according to the release.
His first job as a law clerk was with the Tulare County District Attorney in August. On December 5, he was sworn in as a licensed attorney in California.
“We are so proud of what Mr. Park has done that it’s impossible to say it enough.” “We are excited for that drive and determination to be used to help victims and their families here in Tulare County,” said Tim Ward, the district attorney for the county.
On social media, the State Bar of California also praised Park’s achievement and wished him “tremendous success as he embarks on his promising legal career.”
His LinkedIn page says that Park is now a deputy district attorney and is going through training to become a new lawyer at the Tulare County District Attorney’s Office.
The State Bar of California says that Park is now one of over 196,300 active lawyers in the Golden State after passing the bar test. Based on its statistics, the average age of lawyers accepted to the state bar in 2022 was 31.
The overall pass rate for the 7,555 people who took the California bar test in July was 52%. This was the lowest pass rate of any state bar exam that month, according to the National Conference of Bar Examiners.
Park said that what he did wasn’t easy, but it was worth it.
“I kept to a plan and discipline to pass the Bar, and I did it in the end,” Park said.
He said, “I feel very lucky to have found this path, and I hope that more people will realize that there are other ways to become an attorney.”
“Pending a few state bar documents and the county’s new employee onboarding payroll procedures,” he will start his new job in early January.