RHOC How COVID helped Emily Simpson’s husband Shane pass the bar exam
Real Housewives of Orange County‘s Emily Simpson is an attorney, but a big storyline that has followed her over her seasons on the Bravo show has been her husband Shane’s struggles to pass the bar exam. He has failed after several attempts, including a couple attempts documented on television. He’s often seen studying for the bar exam, and his studying is often interrupted by his role as a husband, a father, and his own full-time job at a law firm. Thankfully, though, Shane Simpson has now passed the bar exam!
When Emily revealed this on the show she said that his success may be due to lowered requirements to pass due to COVID. He had skipped taking the exam at all in 2020 because the bar exam was all virtual. His attempt in 2021, however, was a success.
Emily shared Shane’s success with Gina Kirschenheiter on the first episode of Season 16, explaining that the California Bar Association had lowered the passing score to 1390, which helped Shane pass. The previous requirement for a passing score was 1440. They also allowed retroactive scores to pass starting from 2015, but Emily stated that Shane had actually taken the exam again after the requirement was lowered.
Two years ago Emily commented about all the attention her husband’s career hurtles get, and compared his situation to her own when she passed the bar exam. “I feel badly for him ’cause when I took the bar exam in 2005, I took it as a single person. I didn’t have children. I didn’t have a job. I had just graduated from law school,” Emily told Bravo in 2019. “So, I didn’t have all these other responsibilities. So, I feel badly that not only is he trying to take the bar exam where he is a father of five children and has a wife and a home and a family. But he’s doing it with like two million people watching. I feel badly ’cause that’s a lot of pressure.”
Despite not having passed the bar exam until recently, Shane has been employed at Long Beach Law Firm, which is owned by one of his law school friends, for a while.
