19. Did the lawyers’ Bar Exam start as a drinking contest?
Queen Elizabeth II greets High Court judges (royalromania.wordpress.com)
The UK legal system applies a separation of roles – there are two kinds of lawyers: barristers and solicitors. Only a barrister may address the court.
In old times, barristers would run their offices in local bars. Hence, Bar-rister, hence, the Bar Exam. I personally prefer my lawyer sober, but that’s just me.
Bonus Fact: Like barristers, ‘Mind your Ps & Qs comes’ comes from bar houses. Bartenders in England used to tell regular customers that drank too much and lost their manners to mind their Ps & Qs – that is to say, pintes and quarts. It was later shortened and used in other circumstances.