<p>When I was a kid my grandfather told me that he passed the bar exam, without ever having gone to college or law school. This was in New York City, in the '20s.</p>
<p>As much as I'd like to cherish the memory of the story, I can't help but ask--was it even possible to take the bar without a degree of any sort? I would assume it's impossible now...any ideas on how I might research this?</p>
<p>I believe you still can take bar w/o law school in NY but you need some kind of law firm apprentice experience. Go to [url=<a href="http://www.nybarexam.org%5DBOLE%5B/url">http://www.nybarexam.org]BOLE[/url</a>] for specifics. And I think Vermont allows this also.</p>
<p>It should also be noted that during the 20's there were a lot less regulatory laws on the books then there are today. However, it is possible to still pass the bar, it would just be quite difficult.</p>
<p>I'm pretty sure California still has an apprenticeship program. There were probably more states that allowed this in previous generations. For example, Abe Lincoln didn't go to law school but was a lawyer. Your grandfather could definitely be telling the truth.</p>
<p>In NYS you can take the bar before graduating law school, or you can take the bar after a course of study at a law firm or something like that.</p>
<p>Definitely possible, used to be you could take it at any time.</p>