Triumph Over Trials

Taking the bar exam is an intense experience marked by months of rigorous preparation, high stakes, and the ever-present tick of the clock. But for someone like Michael Leyba, III, ’93, who has extreme test anxiety and PTSD, the pressure of the bar exam is a colossal mental battlefield.

Leyba has encountered several obstacles in his lifetime. Beginning at only six months old, a near-death, code blue hospital experience due to bacterial meningitis left doctors telling his mother he would either die or be developmentally disabled. Luckily, he’s neither – but he believes it’s possible his illness as an infant may have contributed to his condition.

Growing up as one of five children in a Mexican American family of parents with limited formal education, earning a post-graduate degree and navigating academia was no small feat. He started his undergraduate career at UC Irvine, but fierce competition and academic hurdles prompted a transfer to UC Riverside. Despite these challenges and his anxiety, he was determined to succeed and when Washburn University School of Law recruited him, he jumped at the opportunity.

“I received the chance to pursue college and law school due to the need for minority representation in higher education,” Leyba said. “With the support of insightful counselors, who advocated for me despite my PTSD and test anxiety, I was placed in front of the right people, enabling my academic journey.”

Obtaining his law degree was only half the battle. Test anxiety and PTSD can create an overwhelming sense of dread causing the mind to go blank and making it difficult to retrieve even the most well-memorized facts. After graduating from Washburn Law, he returned to California and attempted the California bar exam three times without success. He moved back to Kansas, where he also struggled to pass the Kansas bar exam. With the support and mentorship of Washburn Law Professors Bruce Levine and James Wadley, Leyba took the Kansas bar exam again, and improved by 31 points to pass.

“Though I’ve always been a slow starter, these opportunities – along with the help of my professors – helped bridge the gap between my exam challenges and my true academic potential.”

Leyba practiced law in Kansas as a prosecutor and criminal defense attorney for indigent clients before relocating to Colorado in 2000 where he worked for LexisNexis for eight years. His anxiety caused him to fail the Colorado reciprocity test twice, but the COVID-19 pandemic facilitated a conversation with the state’s chief counsel, who, after recognizing his medical challenges, approved his application in April 2022. He now serves as lead attorney with a national law firm, representing major lenders on all Colorado debt collection cases. The whole time, crediting the critical role of self-advocacy and support from Washburn on his journey.

“Every ranking and recognition that Washburn has ever achieved is well earned. I’m a product of that environment,” Leyba said. “The staff and professors always cared. I don’t know that I would have gotten that kind of attention at a bigger school in a bigger city.”