A 17-year-old teen in California has recently made history after becoming the youngest person to pass the grueling state bar exam, according to authorities.
Sophia Park took California's bar exam in July. On Nov. 8, she received a notification that she had passed the exam. She is only aged 17 years and 8 months.
Sophia is now the youngest individual to have passed California's bar exam. She broke a previous record set by her brother, Peter Park, who passed the exam in 2023 aged 17 years and 11 months.
"Sophia's amazing accomplishments speak for themselves, and we could not be prouder as an office family," Tulare County District Attorney Tim Ward said in a press release. "The dividends for our office have been immense, and we are excited to be part of Sophia and Peter's continued success."
Behind Sophia's Success
According to the Tulare County District Attorney's Office, Sophia enrolled in law school at the age of 13 in 2020. At the same time, she was also still enrolled in junior high at the Oxford Academy in Cypress, California.
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Sophia graduated high school and passed the California High School Proficiency Exam in 2022. She later graduated from law school at the Northwestern California University School of Law earlier this year. She has since been employed as a law clerk for the county's DA's office where her brother also works.
What Are Sophia's Plans for the Future?
After passing her bar exam, Sophia is now on track to swear in as a licensed attorney. The ceremony is scheduled for March 2025 when she turns 18---the minimum age to practice law in California. She has mentioned plans to join the county DA's office as a prosecutor, much like Peter who was sworn in as a practicing attorney a year ago.
Apart from setting records as the youngest individuals to pass the bar exams, Peter and Sophia are also the first and only teen brother-sister duo in a DA's office, per KTVU.
California's bar exam is notorious for being one of the most difficult in the United States. In February of this year, the overall pass rate was 33.9%, data from The State Bar of California showed.
