Presumably because passing the bar is necessary but not entirely sufficient to being a decent lawyer. I hear what you are saying, with the ridiculous debt that

Presumably because passing the bar is necessary but not entirely sufficient to being a decent lawyer. I hear what you are saying, with the ridiculous debt that people go into for law school (an increasingly dubious proposition unless you can go to a top flight school). But even being able to take the Bar exam (in CA) without going to law school requires several years of on the job "reading" with an actual lawyer.