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California teen makes history as the youngest to pass state bar exam

ROB SCHMITZ, HOST:

So what were you doing when you were 17 years and eight months old? Well, Sophia Park was taking the California State Bar exam and breaking a record for the youngest person ever to pass the exam in the state.

SOPHIA PARK: Well, we were both 13 years old when we started law school. And we got our high school diploma while we were attending law school.

SCHMITZ: Wow. Sophia and her brother were able to finish high school, college and law school all in about four years.

S PARK: During the lunch break and, like, 10-minute breaks in between classes, I would be sneaking peeks at the outlines and doing practice questions. And then once school ended for the day, I would study for most of the evening.

PETER PARK: I wasn't worried that she would beat my record at all. I knew she would do it.

SCHMITZ: That is Peter Park, Sophia's older brother. He was 17 years, 11 months old when he passed the bar last year. His sister beat his record by three months. He says the key to his whole family success is a special study setup.

P PARK: At our house, it's pretty unique. Instead of us having our own rooms that we study in by ourselves, we have our rooms where we sleep in, and then we made our master bedroom into what's called our study room. And it's, like, a little library that we made.

SCHMITZ: It's not all studying in their household, though.

S PARK: I think there were times that I did feel overwhelmed, but my parents really supported me through it. I would actually go on walks in the evening with my dad and just talk about how life is going, how school is going. That helped me get through everything.

SCHMITZ: Believe it or not, there's another Park family attorney on the rise.

S PARK: She is 14 right now. Her name's Sarah, and she's in her second year of law school currently.

SCHMITZ: Sarah takes the bar exam in three years. If she passes, she'll beat Sophia's age record by one month. Last, but not least, there's Andrew Park, in his second year of elementary school. He's not in law school yet, but big brother Peter says it's not far from his mind.

P PARK: He says he wants to be an attorney, and he dresses up as an attorney on Halloween. Yeah, he's all for it.

SCHMITZ: Coming soon to a courtroom near you - the law firm of Park, Park, Park and Park.

(SOUNDBITE OF KAYTRANADA'S "LOVER/FRIEND (INSTRUMENTAL)") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Rob Schmitz is NPR's international correspondent based in Berlin, where he covers the human stories of a vast region reckoning with its past while it tries to guide the world toward a brighter future. From his base in the heart of Europe, Schmitz has covered Germany's levelheaded management of the COVID-19 pandemic, the rise of right-wing nationalist politics in Poland and creeping Chinese government influence inside the Czech Republic.