Kim Kardashian Faces Fourth Bar Exam Setback, Vows to Continue Legal Pursuit

By Zoe Papadakis | Monday, 10 November 2025 01:14 PM EST

Kim Kardashian failed the California bar exam for a fourth time but described the result as motivation to persist in her six-year quest to become a lawyer. “Well … I’m not a lawyer yet, I just play a very well-dressed one on TV,” she wrote Saturday via Instagram. “Six years into this law journey, and I’m still all in until I pass the bar. No shortcuts, no giving up — just more studying and even more determination.”

Kardashian, 45, acknowledged her close call with passing the exam, stating, “Falling isn’t short of failure — it’s fuel. I was so close to passing the exam and that only motivates me even more.” She is currently enrolled in California’s legal apprenticeship program, which allows candidates to train under a licensed attorney instead of attending law school.

The reality star began the program in 2019 and passed the First-Year Law Students’ Examination, known as the “baby bar,” in 2021 after three attempts. Kardashian, who never completed college, previously noted she was 15 credits shy of graduating. The apprenticeship track requires at least 18 hours of weekly study and monthly testing over four years.

Her late father, Robert Kardashian Sr., was a Los Angeles attorney best known for defending O.J. Simpson during his 1995 murder trial. He died in 2003 after being treated for esophageal cancer.

Kardashian has also built a career around criminal justice reform. She gained national attention in 2018 after helping secure clemency for Alice Marie Johnson, a grandmother serving a life sentence for a nonviolent drug conviction. Kardashian brought Johnson’s case to President Donald Trump, who commuted her sentence after 21 years in prison.

Her advocacy continued with the 2020 documentary “Kim Kardashian West: The Justice Project,” which explored issues around long-term sentencing and mass incarceration. She has also voiced support for Lyle and Erik Menendez, who are serving life sentences for the 1989 murders of their parents. In an essay last year, she wrote that their case was “more complex than it appears on the surface” and criticized the exclusion of evidence about alleged abuse.

Currently, Kardashian is starring in “All’s Fair,” a new Ryan Murphy series about an all-female law firm in which she plays divorce attorney Allura Grant.