White House press secretary Katie Zacharia has acknowledged that she never passed a US bar examination, despite describing herself as a lawyer and being referred to as an attorney by President Donald Trump.
Zacharia said she sat California’s bar exam in 2011 but failed, explaining that she was preparing to marry and move to China for her husband’s work at the time. She said she did not attach much importance to the result because she did not need to pass the exam for the work she carried out in China.
She graduated from Pepperdine University’s law school before moving to China, where the White House says she worked in international transaction law. Pepperdine confirmed that she obtained a juris doctor degree.
In a statement, Zacharia said she had “practiced international transaction law, with all the appropriate credentials”, although she did not specify which credentials she meant. Only Chinese nationals may sit China’s bar examination.
She also disputed suggestions that she had claimed to be an “attorney at law”, saying there was “a lot of misinformation around the fact that I labeled myself a lawyer”.
“I was very careful how I executed this. I never came across as someone who was an attorney at law,” she said in an interview with conservative commentator Jack Posobiec.
The issue came into focus earlier in the week when reporters asked Zacharia where she had passed the bar exam as Trump left for a trip to Alaska. She replied: “I went to China”, prompting confusion about her legal background.
Zacharia has previously described herself as a corporate lawyer in Beijing, and her Instagram biography identifies her as a lawyer. Trump has also called her “a distinguished Graduate of Pepperdine University, and the Pepperdine Caruso School of Law, an attorney”.
California complaint over lawyer description
The Campaign for Accountability has filed a complaint with the State Bar of California, questioning whether Zacharia broke state law by referring to herself as a lawyer without holding a licence. The organisation argues that she repeatedly used the description to bolster her credibility as a legal commentator and White House spokesperson.
California law states that a person who advertises or presents themselves as entitled to practise law without being an active State Bar licensee, or otherwise authorised to do so, may be guilty of a misdemeanour.
Nora Freeman Engstron, a law professor at Stanford Law School, said the provision covered more than unauthorised legal practice.
“California law is crystal clear: You can’t hold yourself out as a lawyer unless you’re authorized to practice law,” she said. “And the law doesn’t just prohibit the unauthorized practice of law. It also prohibits the unauthorized pretense of being a lawyer.”
She added that a person did not need to appear in court or represent a client to potentially breach the law.
The White House said Zacharia was “uniquely qualified” for the press secretary role. Communications director Steven Cheung called her “fabulous and wonderful” and said she would do “an incredible job” informing the public about the Trump administration.
Cheung dismissed the complaint as the work of a “radical leftist-organization” and used a series of insults to attack the group and its supporters.
