A Look at the Legal Résumés of Potential VPs

Executive Branch

A Look at the Legal Résumés of Potential VPs

Posted Aug 20, 2008, 05:52 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss

One potential vice presidential candidate failed the bar exam twice. Two others—one a Republican and the other a Democrat—are Harvard law grads like Barack Obama.

The American Lawyer takes a look at the legal résumés of some potential vice presidential candidates that are often mentioned as leading contenders for the job.

Democrats include:

• Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana. A Virginia law school grad who clerked for a federal judge and worked at several law firms, including Hogan and Hartson, and Baker and Daniels.

• Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware. A Syracuse law grad who worked in private practice for three years before becoming a senator.

• Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine. A Harvard law grad who practiced law for 17 years at Mezzulo & McCandlish, now McCandlish Holton, focusing on civil rights cases.

Republicans include:

• Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. A Harvard law grad who founded a private equity company.

• Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty. A Minnesota law grad who worked at Rider, Bennett, Egan and Arundel for 10 years, focusing on education and employment law.

• Former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge. A Dickinson law school grad who worked at Gifford, Lay, Johnson and Ridge for 10 years.

• Florida Gov. Charlie Crist. A graduate of Alabama’s Cumberland law school, he failed the Florida bar twice. After passing on the third try, he formed Wood and Crist with his brother-in-law.

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Posted by J.D. - 3 months, 2 weeks, 3 hours, 39 minutes ago

Suspiciously absent from Biden’s legal resume is his plagiarism during law school. I don’t care what one’s political ideology might be; plagiarizing during law school is horribly pathetic and shameful.
Posted by Tom - 3 months, 1 week, 6 days, 22 hours, 48 minutes ago

What’s Obama’s bar exam history? He has been quite secretive and refuses to release any objective data about his academic performance.
Posted by Alva Dickey - 3 months, 1 week, 6 days, 5 hours, 8 minutes ago

Obama Yo-Mama! Is he a scholar or what!

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