Sounds like the start of a good lawyer joke. But what does it mean when we say a lawyer has passed the bar? Well today we mean they have passed the Bar Exam which is required before a lawyer can be licensed to practice law. But that is not where the phrase originated.
In the raucous courtroom of 14th century England, trials drew large rowdy crowds of spectators, most of whom had no personal interest in the case and came primarily to watch for entertainment. Because the courtroom could become so rowdy and interrupt the proceedings several measures were put in place.
Judges started using wooden gavels to bang in order to restore order in the court. Bailiffs were added to provide security for the Judges and the barristers (trial lawyers). And, a physical wooden bar was installed to separate the Judges and lawyers from the spectators. To be admitted past that bar meant you had “passed the bar” and were a “barrister”. That meant that you could go into the area where the court proceedings were taking place.
In English practice, lawyers were either solicitors or barristers. A lawyer had to be one or the other. He could not be both. Solicitors could handle everything except presenting the case in court. If the case went to trial your solicitor had to engage a barrister. The solicitor would prepare a “brief” to present to the barrister explaining the case to help him prepare. (Only men could be solicitors or barristers during this time.)
In the United States the distinction between solicitor and barrister was dropped, but it still exists to some extent as it is common to have courtroom lawyers and non-courtroom lawyers. Today courtroom lawyers do a lot of the preparation of the case which in England is still done by solicitors. But I digress.
The language of the Bar and Passing the Bar stayed with us, even though our system had changed. In the early period of the United States there were few law schools and most lawyers learned the profession by “reading law” (apprenticing) in a lawyer’s office. Abraham Lincoln became a lawyer this way. The Bar in those days was made up of the judges and practicing lawyers in a jurisdiction or county. When a candidate was ready he would sit for an oral examination by “The Bar”. Hence “The Bar Exam”. If they judged him worthy, they would “pass” him, and admit him to “The Bar”. There is still a bar to separate the spectators from teh court officials in most courtrooms to this day. Today, attending law school is required in almost all jurisdictions and the Bar Exam is a written test that lasts for two and a half days. And it is still called “Passing the Bar”.
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