A teenager from California’s Central Valley has become the youngest person to ever pass the state’s bar exam and is now working as a practicing attorney.
The Tulare county district attorney’s office announced this week that Peter Park learned last month at 17 that he had passed the “rigorous exam” on his first attempt in what officials described as a “legal history making moment”. Park has been a law clerk with the office since August after completing law school.
The teen started high school in 2019 at age 13 and at the same time enrolled in a four-year law program at Northwestern California University School of Law. He was able to enroll due to a state bar rule allowing students to apply to law school after completing the College Level Proficiency Exams.
Park completed his high school studies in 2021 and then focused on law school and graduated in 2023, the DA’s office said. He took the bar exam in July and then went to work for the district attorney’s office.
People don’t realize that being a great attorney is knowing a wealth of historical precedent by memory and that only comes with time and experience. Not to downplay his accomplishments but he simply knows the rules of the game. If he fully immerses himself in it from here on out, he will have the best head start in history (afaik). He must be very excited.