Processing an unsuccessful bar exam outcome necessitates a grieving process. But unfortunately, in response to institutional and ABA standard demands, we may turn too quickly to offering repeat taker programming without creating space for the taker to process their grief.

If we don’t create the space for students to grieve then we merely serve to reinforce the increased stress, anxiety and mental health challenges in our profession.  The article, “Managing Stress, Grief, and Mental Health Challenges in the Legal Profession; Not Your Usual Law Review Article” by Deborah Rhodes begins with reference to a true story from the book Smacked.[1] The account details the death and funeral of a partner at a Silicon Valley firm. His life lost due to complications from substance abuse. While a young associate gave remarks at his funeral, many of the lawyers in attendance were on their phones, reading and tapping emails. A clear example that in the most important time for grief, lawyers are inclined, and perhaps programmed, to operate “business as usual.”

Support for an unsuccessful bar taker requires more than “business as usual” – repeater support programming, commercial provider free repeat courses, and supplemental study programs. This is our moment to work with the graduate to process the grief as part of the pathway to success. In a world where access to sustained mental health resources and counseling support is limited, we must fill this void when our graduates grappling with unsuccessful outcomes.

To institute good grief, here are some practical exercises to consider:

1. Engage the student in a perspective analysis.[2] Push the graduate to reframe their circumstances, explore their gratitude and compare their circumstance to a more challenging (and worse) life circumstance that they are not currently experiencing. This practice helps minimize the weight of the negative outcome.

2. Help the student identify an activity that they currently engage in or that they want to engage in that contributes to something more than themselves.[3] This exercise promotes well-being, brings fulfillment, and externalizes focus.

3. Identify key future deadlines in the overall “life” agenda. By mapping out the reality of the circumstance and intentionally incorporating time for grief, it can bring ease to the inherent tendency our graduates have to “study right away” after experiencing a bar exam loss. A “life” agenda generates opportunity for sustained achievement of short-term goals during the grieving process – which is more likely to yield long term success.   

(Amy Vaughan-Thomas)

[1] Deborah L. Rhode, Managing Stress, Grief, and Mental Health Challenges in the Legal Profession; Not Your Usual Law Review Article, 89 Fordham L. Rev. 2565, 2566 (2021) (citing EILENE ZIMMERMAN, SMACKED (2020); Eilene Zimmerman, The Lawyer, The Addict, N.Y. TIMES (July 15, 2017), https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/15/business/lawyersaddiction-mental-health.html [https://perma.cc/N4MH-LXYR].

[2] Id. at 2573.

[3] Id.