Thousands of aspiring lawyers in Texas just got the results of the July 2019 bar exam⁠—results they've been eagerly awaiting, or dreading, for months. "Dreading" is an apt description for many, since only 77.87 percent of first-time takers of the Texas Bar Examination passed it last year, a decline of more than 3 percent from the previous year. Nationwide, the bar passage rate for first-time examinees was 74.82 percent, also a decline from 2017. But for those who do fail, is that it? Do your professional hopes die? Does life as you know it come to a screeching halt? Will you be doomed to an existence like Vincent Gambini, the protagonist from "My Cousin Vinny," who was always hoping "six times is the charm?"

Of course not. Plenty of famous, distinguished people have failed the bar exam. Past residents of the White House have even failed the bar exam: President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who failed the bar initially before passing it in 1907, and former First Lady Michelle Obama, who failed the Illinois bar exam the first time (and she graduated from Harvard Law School). Another former First Lady, and presidential candidate, also failed the bar. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton failed her first bar attempt, the District of Columbia bar exam in 1973, after graduating from Yale Law School (she later passed the Arkansas bar exam). And among the crowded field of Democratic presidential hopefuls, Sen. Kamala Harris failed the California bar initially. That temporary setback didn't prevent her from becoming the state's attorney general or a U.S. Senator. Christian broadcasting mogul and former presidential candidate Pat Robertson failed the New York bar exam after graduating from Yale, and he doesn't seem to be complaining.

John G. Browning, a Partner at Spencer Fane LLP.

Even if your sights are set a bit lower, like governor, failing the bar on your first try won't disqualify you. California Governor Jerry Brown failed on his first attempt. Another California governor, Pete Wilson, actually flunked the bar 3 times before finding success on his fourth attempt. Governor Charlie Crist had two whiffs at the bar exam before eventually passing, and later became Florida's attorney general and governor. Three times was the charm for Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, a Harvard Law graduate who served as governor from 2007–2015. And failing the bar exam didn't prevent David Paterson from becoming New York's first African-American governor (and only the fourth black governor in U.S. history).

Want to be mayor of a major U.S. city? Failing the bar exam needn't slow you down. Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch failed his first attempt at the bar exam. Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley weathered two failures of the Illinois bar exam before going on to serve as mayor for 21 years — proof that while the dead may vote in Chicago, they evidently don't grade bar exams. Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa flunked the California bar exam 4 times, and while he never passed, he still became "His Honor."

In fact, plenty of politically prominent folks didn't pass the bar exam at first. Congressman Harold Ford, Jr. failed the Tennessee bar exam and still found his way to multiple terms in the House of Representatives. Political scion John F. Kennedy, Jr. failed the New York bar twice. Former White House Director of Communications Anthony Scaramucci failed the bar exam twice after graduating from Harvard Law School. Even a prominent legal scholar like Kathleen Sullivan, the former dean of Stanford Law School (and who was already licensed in New York and Massachusetts) was in for a rude awaking when she returned to private practice and proceeded to fail the California bar exam on her first try.

Perhaps the ultimate notable example of perseverance in the face of bar exam washouts is Alaska's Senator Lisa Murkowski. Long before she decided to vote against the confirmation of Justice Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court, Murkowski's road to constitutional scholarship got off to a bit of a rocky start — she failed the Alaska bar 4 straight times. After passing it on the fifth try, she became such a fan of the prep course she used that she became its Alaska representative for several years. Murkowski also vowed to help tutor other students dealing with bar exam failure, helping them "work through the psychology of taking on a very difficult exam." As Sen. Murkowski put it, "I want people to understand what that episode in my life allowed me to do."

So there you have it. Even for those who don't pass the bar exam on their first try, life doesn't end and success — in politics, business, law, and life — isn't foreclosed.