Harvard law grad fails N.Y. bar exam; sues due to lack of accommodations for her disability

[philosslayer]

A Harvard Law School graduate is suing the New York Board of Law Examiners, blaming her failures to pass the bar exam on the board's refusal to grant accommodations for her disability.

Tamara Wyche eventually passed the bar in 2015, but claims that her legal career had already been damaged by the two prior failures.

Wyche, 29, suffers from debilitating panic attacks and requested that the board allow her to take the exam in a separate room from other test-takers, provide extra time and stop-clock breaks to decrease the stress level, according to the suit filed in Brooklyn Federal Court.

Despite support from Harvard Law for the accommodations, the board allegedly refused to give Wyche all the breaks she requested. Wyche was granted all the accommodations on her third try.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/disabled-law-school-grad-sues-failing-n-y-bar-exam-article-1.2672410

She passed the third time, but said no one will hire an applicant with two previous failures.

[PJMcK]

1. I guess she's putting her degree to good use (n/t)

[oberliner]

2. What's your take on this?

Just curious.

[philosslayer]

4. Doesn't the ADA require reasonable accommodation for disabilities?

And they did give in eventually, so the accommodation can therefore be considered reasonable.

As a non-lawyer, I think she has a case.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

6. Just because they chose

to provide all of her requested accommodations the third time doesn't mean they were reasonable.

There comes a point where accommodations become unfair advantage, and I think she passed that point.

[oberliner]

17. Do panic attacks qualify under their guidelines?

In order to have a disability under the ADA , you must have a physical or mental impairment. Not everything that restricts your activities qualifies as an impairment. However, under the ADAAA, the definition of disability now must be construed in favor of broad coverage to the maximum extent permitted.

A physical impairment is any medical disorder, condition, disfigurement or loss affecting one of the body systems, such as neurological, musculoskeletal, special sense organs, respiratory (including speech organs), cardiovascular, reproductive, digestive, genitourinary, immune, circulatory, hemic, lymphatic, skin, and endocrine.

A mental impairment is any mental or psychological disorder, such as intellectual disability (formerly termed mental retardation), organic brain syndrome, emotional or mental illness, and specific learning disabilities.

http://www.illinoislegalaid.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.dsp_content&contentid=167

[PoliticAverse]

20. That's extremely broad. I don't see how you can argue it isn't covered. n/t

[pnwmom]

21. Well, a real panic attack could affect the cardiovascular, respiratory, circulatory,

and endocrine systems, so I would think they would qualify.

[dixiegrrrrl]

67. Panic disorder is in the Mental Health book, therefore is probably under ADA.

The book is called the DSM, now version 5, so DSM-5. In the citation you mentioned, panic attacks would be an emotional disorder.

"Panic disorder is classified as an anxiety disorder in DSM-5. According to the guidelines, in order to be diagnosed with a panic disorder, you must experience unexpected panic attacks on a regular basis."

and

"The experiencing of recurrent panic attacks, with 1 or more attacks followed by at least 1 month of fear of another panic attack or significant maladaptive behavior related to the attacks."

"Maladaptive behavior" being key here.

I would assume that being a trial lawyer may not be an option, but there are plenty of legal jobs that don't
require public performance.

One interesting note: I have known people so anxious about taking the verbal part of their boards, that they got help from a hypnotist.

[elleng]

55. What's 'reasonable,'

there's the rub.

[bigwillq]

3. I've suffered from panic attacks, and they're awful BUT

I don't think she should have been given special accommodations.
What happens when she's in a trial?????
She has to find a way to deal and manage with her issues, like the rest of us.

[KamaAina]

8. Only a small percentage of attorneys are trial lawyers.

I would imagine, for instance, that your employer retains legal counsel; it may well have its own legal department.

[bigwillq]

13. I get that.

Trial, work, whatever. She still needs to deal and manage with her issues without special accommodations, imo.

[oberliner]

30. She works in the legal department at Cantor Fitzgerald

Has been there over a year.

[haele]

10. Not all lawyers that pass the bar are trial lawyers.

Depending on her specialty, she might work in a nice office doing contract, patent, or some form of corporate law. She still has to pass the bar to hold a position as an advocate or legal representative in a company setting. Someone with panic attacks can do that sort of work very well.

Haele

[womanofthehills]

23. I believe according to the law she should be given special accommondations

She is dealing with her issues by getting special accommondations!

I know environmentally ill people who have gotten great accommondations at the Univ of NM and at their workplaces.

[jtx]

38. Agree w/ you.

There will be no special accommodations given when clients are counting on her to represent them. She may need to use her degree in another way.

[840high]

53. I've had panic attacks and agree with you.

[msongs]

5. panic attacks are a treatable condition with a positive outcome. they are not a disability nt

[Quackers]

11. Actually, it is a disability.

At least part of the panic disorder or anxiety disorder.

[KamaAina]

12. Tell it to my friend and colleague who has them.

She was finally able to get on plane without having one, just yesterday.

[womanofthehills]

24. that is a very concrete statement - not every condition has a positive outcome

[PoliticAverse]

7. If she's good enough to win her lawsuit someone will probably hire her... n/t

[KamaAina]

9. "no one will hire an applicant with two previous failures"

No one in midtown or on Wall Street will hire an applicant with two previous failures. There, Tamara, I fixed it for you. I'm sure plenty of public-interest law firms in NYC would go for a Hahvahd Law grad, perhaps the NYC office of Disability Rights Associates.

http://dralegal.org/about/

[madaboutharry]

15. My thoughts exactly.

There are many opportunities out there for her. She is choosing not to seek them out.

[oberliner]

29. And yet she got a job with Cantor Fitzgerald

So it looks like things worked out for her.

[KamaAina]

32. Cantor Fitzgerald?

The firm whose NYC offices were on the top floors of 1 WTC until 9/11?!

[oberliner]

33. The very same

They have come back very strong since then. The won a major settlement with American Airlines for over 100 million dollars in relation to Flight 11.

[hardluck]

46. You're exactly right

There are plenty of jobs for a Harvard law grad - even if they had to take the bar three times to pass. She just may not get the big law salary. So sorry, no $180,000 as a first year. She might have to settle for 120k or 140k.

[oberliner]

48. She had a $160K job out of law school with Ropes and Gray

She was fired from there after failing the bar twice, which is their policy.

She now works for Cantor Fitzgerald.

[smirkymonkey]

47. Didn't JFK Jr. fail the Bar about 2 or 3 times?

Not sure what the number was, but I'm pretty sure it was at least twice.

[oberliner]

49. He failed it twice

Passed on the third try.

I think Hillary failed once too.

[phylny]

65. This is heresay, but a friend of mine is a lawyer who took the bar way

back then in NYC. She said the passing rate for JFK's third attempt was well over the norm, suggesting the test was easier.

[cwydro]

51. Downthread I saw someone post that she works for Cantor Fitzgerald.

Pretty sure they're Wall Street.

I bet she's making a fortune.

[1StrongBlackMan]

14. Under the ADA, the Board of Examiners are required to make "reasonable" accommodations ...

and when they did, she passed the exam. However, a couple of thoughts ... First, without evidence of a withdrawn offer, it is going to be difficult to prove damages, i.e., what she might have been paid, if someone had hired her.

Second, and related to the above, what makes her think she would have been offered a job with a top law firm, anyhow? It seems that she may have been telegraphing a sense of entitlement and that may have been why she hadn't found employment with a top firm.

Third, and related to my second point, if she thought she was being shunned before, she ain't seen nothing, yet. There aren't many companies, let alone top law firms, that seek to hire litigious employees. She is making her row, tougher to hoe.

Third,

[oberliner]

28. She has been working for Cantor Fitzgerald since 2015

For what that is worth.

[1StrongBlackMan]

36. Okay ... But her suit isn't making her a more attractive candidate. Further, ...

From an HR perspective (and having worked in law) ... I sense that since she has been working for the firm (i.e., they know her work product, work ethic and organizational fit), her having failed the BAR (three times) is not the reason an offer was not forthcoming, it might be/have been the proffered excuse, though.

[oberliner]

40. She passed the bar in 2015 and got a job almost immediately thereafter

One can speculate as to how and why that came to pass.

[1StrongBlackMan]

41. I guess that's what I get for just reading the exerpted part, huh?

{I 1SBM's best Rosanna Anna Danna voice}: Never mind!

[oberliner]

44. There's a lot to this story if you dig around online a bit

She was an associate at a prestigious law firm (Ropes and Gray), but claims she lost her position there due to failing the bar twice (hence the lawsuit). Upon passing the third time, she got the job she has now at Cantor Fitzgerald.

Here's her official legal complaint:

https://www.pacermonitor.com/view/7FNAM7Q/Wyche__nyedce-16-03029__0001.0.pdf

[Sgent]

56. She had a job out of college for a major law firm

and they fired her after the second failure -- the law firms policy.

[1StrongBlackMan]

60. Yeah ... I had not read beyond the exerpt, Oberliner informed me of that.

[W_HAMILTON]

16. How would an employer know that she had two previous failures? n/t

n/t

[mentalsolstice]

37. Usually public record.

Go to any state bar website and you can search for an atty. by name and see where they went to school and when they passed the bar exam. Look at her resume, see when she graduated from law school and do the math.

[Sanity Claws]

66. Compare date passed bar to date she graduated

Bar exam is given twice every year. If she graduated May 2014 but she was not admitted to the bar until fall 2015, you would think she failed the summer exam 2014 and the winter 2015 exam but passed the summer 2015 exam.

[Yavin4]

18. She shouldn't be a lawyer

I'm sorry but there's no nice quiet place to work when you practice law. You are going to be in highly stressful situations.

[oberliner]

27. She works in the legal department at Cantor Fitzgerald

A prestigious NYC investment banking company.

[1StrongBlackMan]

39. There are plenty of lawyerly assignments that are not highly stressful ...

i.e., contract drafting/review.

[WillowTree]

54. Mergers and acquisitions doesn't tend to be one of those serene departments.

[WillowTree]

19. Chances are that she's going to demand similar accommodations from an employer.

Which, of course, isn't going to enhance her chances of getting a job. And the employers can always claim that it's because of the two failures to pass the bar.

I'm wondering what accommodations she demanded and received in order to get through college and law school. She apparently managed to pass her exams in order to get those degrees.

[oberliner]

26. She has a job at a prestigious investment banking company

Has been working there for over a year.

[WillowTree]

43. Good for her.

That would kind of negate her claim that the two failures prevented her from being able to get a good job as a lawyer.

[oberliner]

45. If you are interested, here is a link to her official legal complaint

Check it out:

https://www.pacermonitor.com/view/7FNAM7Q/Wyche__nyedce-16-03029__0001.0.pdf

[WillowTree]

50. No thanks. Not that interested.

The OP states, "She passed the third time, but said no one will hire an applicant with two previous failures."

Cantor Fitzgerald ain't no one. I hope her case gets thrown out.

[oberliner]

52. Fair enough

Her claim in the legal document is that she is unable to get a "comparable position" to what she had previously. I guess that means she isn't making $160K/year at her current job?

[WillowTree]

57. Wait a minute!.......She was making more money BEFORE she managed to pass?

I missed that part.

Now I think she's making this thing up as she goes along.

[oberliner]

59. Yes, she got a job as an associate at Ropes and Gray after she graduated from Harvard

However, since she failed the bar twice, they fired her - which is their policy.

[Sgent]

62. Not unusual

big lawfirms will hire top grads out of school and pay them big salaries while they study to take the bar -- the fire them if they fail.

[RedCappedBandit]

22. Plenty of people without the privilege of going to an elite law school

pass the bar. This strikes me as unfair.

[oberliner]

25. She currently works at Cantor Fitzgerald

A pretty prestigious investment banking group in NYC.

[CBGLuthier]

31. She would make one fine fucking lawyer.

Can we clear the courtroom your honor, I might get a panic attack with all these people watching.

[w4rma]

35. Clearly, she'll never be a trial lawyer. But, that is only one type of lawyer. (nt)

[oberliner]

42. She works in mergers and acquisitions

With a focus on employment and stock option agreements.

[azmom]

34. They should have provided accomodations

From the get go. I wonder why they refused to do so until the third time?

[oberliner]

58. They did offer her accommodations

Just not the full accommodations that she had requested.

She was offered "off-the-clock breaks" and seating in a smaller room.

They did not grant her the 50 percent extra time.

[Igel]

63. "Off-the-clock breaks" are extra time.

Unless they insist on breaking between sections so she can't see what questions are coming up.

During standardized writing tests, a lot of students have no problem going to the bathroom *before* they start writing. They read the question, think for a minute, and go to the bathroom. Along the way they think. While there they think. They come back have had 5-10 minutes of time during which they've worked at least 3-8 minutes. Their potty breaks aren't off the clock for that reason. Some find it a useful break during which they resolve some problem they encountered while writing.

[oberliner]

64. Yes indeed

Her request was for "50 percent extra time, stop-clock breaks during which time would not run, and a separate testing room."

They gave her the last two but not the first one.