Teen who enrolled in law school at age 13 becomes youngest person to pass California bar exam
Sophia Park, 17, has beaten her brother’s record to become the youngest person to pass the California bar exam. (Photo from the Tulare County, California, district attorney’s office)
A 17-year-old girl has beaten her brother’s record to become the youngest person to pass the California bar exam.
Sophia Park passed the California bar Nov. 8 when she was 17 years and 8 months old, report YourCentralValley.com, the Sun-Gazette, the Visalia Times Delta, KMPH, ABC News and a Nov. 13 press release.
Park’s brother Peter Park was 17 years and 11 months old when he became the youngest person to pass the California bar in November 2023. Park will join her brother working for the Tulare County district attorney’s office in California.
“I don’t think it was extremely difficult,” Park said of the bar exam in an interview, according to YourCentralValley.com. “But I do think there was difficulty in how much you had to put into your brain in a limited period of time.”
Park graduated from the Northwestern California University School of Law in 2024. The school offers online instruction and is accredited by the State Bar of California, according to its website.
Park first considered a legal career after a sixth grade career survey said she should consider the profession.
Park started law school at age 13 in 2020 while she was in junior high school. During her freshman year of high school, she concluded that her work there was taking up a lot of her time, so she took and passed the California High School Proficiency Exam.
Park worked as a summer intern at the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office at age 16 and has been working as a law clerk in the Tulare County district attorney’s office. She will begin work as a prosecutor after she is sworn in as a licensed attorney in March 2025 upon turning 18, according to the press release.
“I wanted to work for the prosecution,” Park told the Sun-Gazette, “because I like the idea that I get to represent the people of the state of California, keep our community safe and make sure that justice is served.”
Park’s record may be surpassed by her younger sister, who is 14 years old and in her second year of law school, Park told KMPH. Her younger brother, who is 8 years old, also wants to be a lawyer; he dressed as one for Halloween.
Leah Wilson, the State Bar of California’s executive director, told ABC News that passing the bar is a “remarkable achievement” that follows Peter Park’s similar success last year.
“Passing the state bar exam at any age is a tremendous accomplishment, and to do so at 17 is truly exceptional,” Wilson said.
