Law School Grad Goes Into Labor During Bar Exam, Finishes Test

A recent law school grad had her next step into becoming a lawyer complicated by the fact that her water broke while she was taking the bar exam.

Gavel in office
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Image via Getty/Thitiphat Khuankaew/EyeEm

Gavel in office

A recent law school grad who was taking the bar exam in order to become a lawyer was complicated by the fact that her water broke mid-exam. She completed the test afterward. 

Brianna Hill, who just completed law school at Chicago's Loyola University, took her bar exam last Monday, which lined up with her 38th week of pregnancy. Like a lot of things this year the timing had been junked up by the pandemic, which ended up pushing her exam date back to Oct. 5. As one might expect, that switch of dates proved pretty stressful.

"I thought I would only be 28 weeks pregnant when I took the bar," Hill said to CNN. "However, due to the pandemic, the test was pushed to October and I was going to be 38 weeks. I joked about taking the test from my hospital bed. Lesson learned!"

And here is Brianna Hill, giving birth during bar exam. https://t.co/h0RWk6AdES

Reports state that Hill had discovered her water broke after wrapping up the first part of a four-part test. That test was spread out over two days, and was conducted remotely with a proctor to prevent cheating. One (and by that I mean me) wonders what this proctor was doing throughout all this. 

"I thought I felt something about 30 minutes into the test and actually thought, 'I really hope my water didn't just break,'" Hill added. "But I couldn't go check and so I finished the first section. As soon as I stood up when I finished, I knew my water had broken."

For those doing the math in their heads, the test split was set to be evenly distributed for each day, meaning that there was still a second section to be completed despite what was going on in said womb at said time. Hill reportedly completed Day 1's second section (which was said to be an hour-and-a-half long) and then went to the hospital with her husband and midwife. She adds that she took the second part after her midwife told her she had time to do it. 

Five hours afterward she had her kid, and then (on Tuesday) completed the second day of the bar exam from her hospital bed. 

"The whole time my husband and I were talking about how we wanted me to finish the test and my midwife and nurses were so on board. There just wasn't another option in my mind," Hill said.

CNN adds that Hill is not yet aware of her test results, but that she has a job lined up.

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