Rhiannah Gordon remembers sitting on her therapist’s couch listing all the reasons she shouldn’t go to law school.
The single working mom of two young kids was already stretched thin. Transitioning careers felt next to impossible.
“My therapist was like, ‘If you concentrate on all the bad things that can happen, you’re not going to do it,’” Gordon, 35, tells TODAY.com. “She convinced me to take the first step.”
After her children were asleep, Gordon, who was exhausted from her 9-to-5 job, would study late into the night for the Law School Admission Test (LSAT).
“It was super intense,” she says. “I would read a page and not understand a word, and then I’d be up Googling until it clicked.”
“I was determined,” she adds.
Gordon’s hard work paid off, and she was accepted at the University of California, Davis. That’s when the real work began.
The next three years were spent juggling a full course load on top of her position at the California Department of Transportation.
Gordon’s children, Flinn, 12, and Rhiley, 10, made sacrifices, too.
“We would always eat together as family. But once I started law school, I’d put dinner on the table and go study while they ate,” Gordon says. “It was hard for them. They missed that routine.”
The mom guilt often felt overwhelming. Sometimes the stress and sleep deprivation caused her to snap over little things.
“I did everything I could to maintain the life that we had already established,” she says. “I took them to their sports practices, I was at their games, but sometimes that meant if they looked up at me in the stands, my head would be in a book.”
Gordon can now say that it was all worth it.
Recently, footage went viral of Gordon learning she passed the California bar exam on her very first try.
In a TikTok video, sits in front of a laptop while Flinn and Rhiley stand anxiously behind her. Rhiley is crying from nerves as she waits for the results to load.
“Oh, my God,” Gordon says, slowly as if she can’t believe what she’s reading. Then she starts to scream, “Oh my God. I passed! We did it!”
Flinn and Rhiley rush to hug their mom and all three burst into tears of joy and relief.
According to the State Bar of California, 53.8% of applicants passed the July 2024 exam.
“The support from your babies made me cry. They know how hard you worked. Man, that’s an invaluable lesson for them to never give up. Good job mama,” one person wrote in the comments.
“The support from your babies made me cry. They know how hard you worked. Man, that’s an invaluable lesson for them to never give up. Good job mama,” one person wrote in the comments.
- “One single mom’s win is another milestone for all of us single mamas!”
- “Omgggg, I’m crying. The bar is the hardest thing ever, especially in CA. This is wonderful and so special.”
- “Everyone in that house helped bc the emotional investment is real prominent here!”
- “This was absolutely no small feat! And you’ve taught your children the joy of going for what you want/need.”
Gordon’s swearing-in ceremony was held in December 2024. She is now working for the California Department of Justice.
“Black people face more barriers and obstacles,” Gordon tells TODAY. “So it was very important for me to make sure that my kids’ odds of being successful are as high as they can be. A parent’s education level contributes to that. I did this for them. They are my reason.”
