Posted on 10/06/2006 6:06:43 AM PDT by falcon1966
Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful Harold Ford Jr. referred to himself as a lawyer earlier this week, but the congressman has not passed the bar exam.
Michael Powell, senior adviser to the Ford campaign, said U.S. Rep. Ford took the Tennessee bar exam in February 1997 and failed. He said that was the only time Rep. Ford has taken the test.
Rep. Ford, of Memphis, got his law degree from the University of Michigan Law School in 1996, according to his congressional Web site.
He said Tuesday during a meeting with Chattanooga Times Free Press editors and reporters that Republican opponent Bob Corker has said the next senator should be a businessman and not a lawyer.
"I told Senator (Lamar) Alexander, I said, ‘I won’t hold it against you if I’m elected, and there’s two lawyers in the delegation who try their hardest to work through the issues," Rep. Ford said.
Corker campaign spokesman Todd Womack said, "If Congressman Ford will stretch the truth about his own resume, what else will he stretch the truth about?" Mr. Powell said it is his understanding that Rep. Ford was joking when he made reference to being a lawyer during Tuesday’s meeting.
"He has never held himself out as a lawyer," Mr. Powell said.
He said President Bush has referred to Rep. Ford as a lawyer.
"I think it makes sense to send somebody up to Washington who’s not a lawyer," President Bush said at a Nashville fundraiser in late August, according to a transcript. "Nothing wrong with lawyers, we got a lot of them up there."
Mr. Powell said the GOP is finding "petty" things to talk about.
"We’re a month out from the election, and the Republicans and Mr. Corker still are not talking about the issues," he said.
I know if I were to represent myself as an Electrical Contractor without the proper credentials...that I'm in a world of hurt with the legal community (fines, etc.). Practicing with a license is risky enough, to practice without should, or without the shielding of one, deserves a more than just a slap along side the head.
I wonder what percentage of U of M Law School graduates failed the bar. My guess is about 20%.
I believe you do.All that Ford can rightfully (and legally?) claim is to have graduated from law school.
47 times??
WOW
lol. Ain't it the truth?
Meaningless. If you have a JD you are a lawyer. The Bar only permits somebody who is already a lawyer to appear and speak in court. There are thousands of lawyers who spend their lives in research, teaching, contracts, etc but neber go near litigation.
I went to law school, but am not licensed to practice law. I've never thought it was wrong to call myself a lawyer, as long as I didn't pretend to be a practicing attorney or practice law without a license.
"Ford graduated from UofM Law School and FAILED the Tennessee Bar Exam!!!! That is quite an embarrassment."
Not really. You will recall that UM was taken all the way to the Supreme Court over its affirmative action program (UM lost).
I don't believe the bar exam scores were normalized for candidate race.
All the ones in accounting I knew had passed the CPA exam and were working as tax specialists, so they could probably get by with accountant since they has passed that exam.
But a corporate lawyer doesn't have to take the bar does he/she?
I don't actually know, but it would not surprise me if your guess of 20% was pretty close to the mark although the difficulty of passing state bar exams does vary quite a bit depending upon the state. Anyone considering law schools should check out their bar exam pass rates. Michigan's should be among the top.
same with being an engineer.
That's what I thought.
Didn't Hillary "the smartest woman in the world" fail the bar and then followed her man to Arkansas and passed the exam there?
Losers will always be losers.
Ummm, no. Without passing a state bar exam, you cannot hold yourself out as a lawyer and you may not actually practice law. All you can say is that you have a law degree.
Yes they do.
Gee, maybe he said "trained as a lawyer" and someone misquoted him??? < /sarcasm >
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