The self-made lawyer

She passed the bar on her first try.

For the past six years, Ms. Skoglund has held what she deems "the best job; I can't believe I get paid." Her job: Vermont Supreme Court justice. Despite her rise to the top and her gratitude for Vermont's flexible program, Skoglund doesn't urge would-be lawyers to follow suit.

"It's not for everybody," Skoglund says. "You have to be really focused and self-disciplined, because you'll be taking the same bar exam as everybody else."

When they finally take the bar exam after at least four years of preparation, those in Vermont's law-office study program generally come in behind those who spent three years in law school. The average passing rate over the past 10 years for law-office study candidates in Vermont has been 49.6 percent, compared with a 73.4 percent passing rate for law school graduates.

Those who read the law say they sometimes encounter barriers in their careers. Skoglund notes that she could not get a license to practice law in most states, even though she sits on the high court bench in Vermont. Similarly, New Hampshire has blocked establishment of a tri-state bar association with Maine and Vermont since both its neighbors license lawyers who lack law degrees. And private employers have also been known to condescend, even when an applicant has a valid law license.

"It is true there are firms in Vermont that don't respect the intellect of people who have been through this [law-office study] program, even though this has always been how lawyers were trained," Stonier says.

To keep pace with national trends, Vermont has, over the past two decades, become more specific in outlining expectations for those reading the law. Such decisions reflect the evolving will of the state's lawyers, since law is regulated in almost every state by the supreme court, whereas other professions are regulated by an executive branch of state government.

According to state regulators, lawyer apprenticeships are not likely to catch on elsewhere, despite their practicality for today's second-career types. Other states seem to value standardized training above access to the profession.

But in states where lawyers still train side-by-side, law study programs seem in no danger of disappearing.

"The long-term trend is for there to be pressure to get away from this program," says Richard Cassidy, chairman of the Vermont Board of Bar Examiners. "It's tempting to think about [requiring law-school training], but it's an economic-diversity issue. Some folks just wouldn't be able to swing it. And if we didn't have an alternative, then we'd be missing all those who have become fine practitioners."

Well-known American lawyers who did not go to law school or who did not finish

Patrick Henry (1736-1799) governor of Virginia

John Jay (1745-1829) first chief justice of the Supreme Court

John Marshall (1755-1835) chief justice of the Supreme Court

Daniel Webster (1782-1852) secretary of State

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) president

Stephen A. Douglas (1813-1861) representative, senator from Illinois

Clarence Darrow (1857-1938) defense attorney in Scopes trial of 1925

Benjamin N. Cardozo (1870-1938) justice of the Supreme Court

Strom Thurmond (1902- ) US senator, governor of South Carolina

Source: David Wallechinksky, "The Book of Lists"

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