At 17, most American teenagers are choosing their preferred college or learning to drive.
Peter Park, a teenager from California’s Central Valley, is starting his career in law after passing the state’s bar exam on his first attempt — becoming the youngest person to ever do so.
Park, who took the exam before turning 18 last month, has been sworn in by the Tulare county district attorney’s office, meaning he is now officially a practising attorney.
The California bar exam is regarded as one of the most difficult to complete, with a pass rate this year of 51.5 per cent, compared to 66 per cent in New York and 92 per cent in Utah. The average age of lawyers who take the bar is 27 years old.
The exam is known for its broad scope, requiring applicants to have a deep understanding of the law and its emphasis on legal writing and problem solving, applied to real-world examples.
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Park started high school in 2019 aged 13 while at the same time enrolling in a four-year law programme at Northwestern California University School of Law.
The teenage legal prodigy, whose family moved to the US from Japan when he was four, completed his high school studies in 2021 to focus on law. Most Americans start high school at 14 and finish at 18. Park graduated from law school this year before taking the bar exam in July and working in the district attorney’s office.
“It was not easy but it was worth it,” he said. “It required discipline and strategy to pass the bar, and I made it in the end. I am extremely blessed to have discovered this path and my hope is that more people will realise that alternative paths exist to becoming an attorney.”
He told The Washington Post: “At first it was very intimidating — I had zero knowledge about the law. But now I pretty much have a ten-year head start. That’s like living ten years extra. I value that over the traditional high school experience.”
Park said the idea to study law at 13 came from his father, Byung Joo Park, a patent agent, who had read about a 21-year-old who had passed the test and believed his son could do so too.
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He plans to become a top-level prosecutor: “This DA’s office gave me as a 17-year-old a chance. Now I get to prove myself in court.”
He added that his younger sisters were planning to take the test even earlier than him in a bid to break his record.
