White House press secretary's legal credentials under scrutiny amid bar exam failure and licensing questions
Katie Zacharia, Trump's new press secretary, faces a watchdog complaint and public questions after being described as an attorney despite not being licensed to practice law in any U.S. state.
What happened
President Trump announced Katie Zacharia as his new press secretary, describing her as an attorney. When asked which state she passed the bar exam in, Zacharia answered "When I moved to China." She does not appear to be registered to any state bar. The Wall Street Journal reported she took California's bar exam after graduating from law school in 2011 but did not pass. Zacharia later told the New York Times she misheard the question amid noise from Marine One and thought she was being asked where she was after law school. She has referred to herself as a lawyer on multiple occasions and told Pepperdine University she was advised by its president that she could call herself a lawyer but not an attorney. The watchdog group Campaign for Accountability filed a complaint with the California State Bar Association alleging she "repeatedly held herself out to the public as entitled to practise law without a licence." Zacharia states she "practised international transaction law" in China with "all the appropriate credentials" and worked as an associate at a Beijing law firm from 2011-13, though Chinese law permits only citizens to hold law licenses.
Context
A law degree alone does not confer the right to practice law in the United States; bar licensure is required. Zacharia's claim about her credentials is material to her appointment as White House press secretary, a role requiring credibility in communications with the public and media. The apparent gap between her descriptions of herself and her actual licensing status raises questions about the accuracy of her public representations. China's legal system does not permit foreign nationals to obtain law licenses, which constrains what role she could have played in legal practice there, though foreign employees may work at law firms in other capacities. The complaint and public scrutiny may trigger formal investigation into whether her public statements constituted unlicensed practice of law.
What's disputed
Whether Zacharia's China bar exam answer was intentional misrepresentation or mishearing; whether her work in China constituted practicing law or other roles at a law firm; whether the Pepperdine president's alleged advice that she could call herself a lawyer was proper guidance; whether her various public statements calling herself a lawyer were consistent with legal restrictions on the term.