A 17-year-old boy in the state of California in the USA passed the bar exams, thus becoming the youngest person in the country to be qualified as a lawyer. This was published in the ABA Journal.
Young Mitt Park passed the bar exams on the first try when he was 17 years old, making him the "youngest person to ever pass" the state bar exam. Park, who turned 18 at the end of last month, currently works as an assistant district attorney in the state. The young man's employer says that Park took the exam last July and received the news on November 9 that he passed the exams.
The California Bar Association says it cannot confirm whether Park was indeed the youngest person to pass the exam, but its director, Leah Wilson, told The Associated Press that passing the bar at such a young age "is an extraordinary achievement and worth celebrating."
The boy started studying law in the 8th grade
Park's father suggested the idea of attending law school when his son was just 13, the Washington Post reported. According to the report, the young man's father discovered that his son would only be able to apply to law school in California without a bachelor's degree if he passed the college-level exam program tests. Meanwhile, Park began studying in the eighth grade, passed the CLEP exams and began applying to law schools.
Park enrolled in the four-year online program at Northwestern University's law school in California at the same time he started high school and was able to graduate high school in 2021, at the end of the 10th grade, by taking the California High School Proficiency Exam, which allowed him to devote himself full time to his law studies.
In an interview with the Francisco Chronicle, Park said "There are smart people out there like me. I wouldn't say I'm like a super genius. I'd just say I'm just like, pretty smart." According to him, "there are people like me who would like to be a lawyer at the age of 17 - who wouldn't want to?" – but they just don't know how."
