A Lawyer Walks Into A Bar

I've been getting some google hits from people searching for this movie. Here is the official site. It premiers in March.

Barbri MPRE Lecture

Attended Barbri class today. It wasn't really a class--more of just a video lecture, going over the Barbri book. The instructor talked superfast. He was also pretty funny if you can catch his jokes. He says that depending on your state, you'll need to get 32-38 questions correct to pass. Considering that the passing scores range from 75-85, I imagine for CA--which requires 79--you need to get something like 35 questions right. But knowing the number really doesn't change my strategy any. I will try to score as high as possible. I still don't know all the rules but I will take a few practice tests. I learn better that way. The test is 2 weeks from now.

Lent Post

First off, I finished reading the Barbri Professional Responsibility outline. The good thing about the ABA Model Rules is that, for the most part, the results make perfect sense. When I read the fact patterns, I would just "know" when something is wrong. Eg, if you take money from a settlement and put it in your own bank account...unethical!

I also bought the PMBR workbooks from Amazon, one from this seller. I had a chuckle at the email it sent me, titled: Your EFFEN Book Order Has Shipped! (emphasis mine). Effin' hilarious.

[Edit:]
A new documentary about the bar exam is in the works:

A soon-to-be released documentary, called “A Lawyer Walks into a Bar,” chronicles the lives of six wannabe attorneys as they prepared for last July’s California Bar exam.
...
One of the test takers in the documentary is Donald Baumeister (pictured, left), an ex-Marine, who had failed the California bar 41 times and is shown in the movie gearing up for attempt #42.

Premature Panick

I have this friend who is also taking the CA bar this summer. We chatted yesterday. She hadn't done a thing and she was getting worried. I suppose I'm a bit worried too. The test is in a matter of months and I still hadn't done much myself. We ended up making each other very nervous. And then we had to calm ourselves down. THe thing is, I can't really even afford to worry about the bar right now, b/c I have a midterm and the MPRE coming up.

Hurray for not having to register for classes or apply for FAFSA this semester...

Trip Home

Life has been disappointing lately. My laptop power cord is broken. I decided to skip class this morning and drove back hometown today, about a 200 mile drive. Somewhere along the way my car hit 100,000 miles.

The drive game a chance to listen to more PMBR CDs. I went thru 4 contracts CDs. The lecturer was kind of hard to understand. But he was the most eloquent and the funniest of the all the lecturers so far. I really liked his stories about his brother-in-law. We had a terrible contracts teacher when we were 1Ls. She spent half the semester on remedies. Then I think she had some family problems and flew back to her home state (she was visiting) several times and cancelled multiple classes. So we ended up skipping a lot of stuff. I went on to take classes on all the rest of the UCC articles, except I never learned Article 2. I guess I'm learning it now.

I ate lunch and dinner on the road. Read some.

PMBR CDs - Conlaw

I just finished listening to the conlaw CDs. I think I got the least from the CDs on this subject; I still feel like I don't know anything about conlaw. Part of the problem was that CD #4 was very scratched up, so the CD player couldn't really play some parts of it. Also, MBE conlaw covers several different law school classes. It deals with what our school covers in 1L conlaw class, which includes commerce power, separation of powers, etc. It also include things that would be in "Federal Courts" and "Free Speech." I took a class on the First Amendment but I never really understood the law. And this CD doesn't really do a good job of explaining it. I will end up learning much of this subject from outlines. Ironcially this is supposed to be the easiest subject.

Next: Contracts. Another subject that I really didn't understand in law school. 7 CDs. Good thing I have some long distance driving planned next month.

MPRE Prep Plan

Most people don't worry about the MPRE that much but I want to feel fully prepared. I'm taking the Barbri class. I also bought a used book to go over the outline first. It's kinda old: 2003. The outline is divided into 13 sections. I'm currently on section 5. Hopefully I'll get through the outline by the time the Barbri class comes around.

Barbri Class Location Settled

Just got an email from Barbri of Cali. So St. Mary's is settled (because I paid in full already and already sent the bill to my firm for reimbursement).

I may go to SF during spring break to look for a place to live for the summer. The class will start May 21, which gives me an excuse not to stick around here for the graduation ceremony. Some people love to have their photos taken but not me.

From wikipedia, St. Mary's is in the Cathedral Hill neighborhood. Wiki says: "The neighborhood is mainly comprimised of large scale apartment buildings and many churchs built atop the hill." I love large apartment buildings.

Superbowl Post

Going to a friend's house in a bit. Go Bears. But before I go I will post some stories.

From law.com: Barbri is being sued for being a monopoly. Oh really?

Between 80 percent and 90 percent of those who take a bar preparatory course, or around 40,000 lawyers and students a year, take one offered by BAR/BRI, a unit of Canadian financial and legal information conglomerate Thomson Corp. The company has recently been the target of antitrust class actions in New York and Los Angeles alleging it abuses a monopoly position.
...
The evidence suggests that BAR/BRI used its substantial market share to control competition, boost prices and potentially force unwilling consumption of its [multistate] instruction," Judge Pauley wrote. "In particular, there are issues of fact whether offering only an integrated course insulates BAR/BRI from competition, allows supra-competitive prices, and forces individuals who seek to combine BAR/BRI instruction with another bar review provider to pay twice."
...
[One] suit, filed on behalf of 300,000 lawyers and law students who took BAR/BRI course, claims the company used monopoly pricing to overcharge test-takers by $1,000 each.

From Above the Law, not really news but: Emily Pataki. Daughter of NY Governor goes to Columbia Law. Girl gets good grades. Girl fails NY bar. Girl sends firm-wide email: I tried my best. Girl ridiculed on the internet.

Pre-Superbowl Post

Well I suppose I should post something. Last week the barbri rep at our school told us how to sign up for the Barbri MPRE prep class. I signed up. The class is at the end of February.

One of the PMBR conlaw CDs is really scratched up. It's very hard listening to it because it skips every other word. I hope there aren't any more CDs like that one.

Here is a Portland country band with a song about the bar exam. Click the link in the upper right hand corner. Their website is here.

Tomorrow, the Superbowl.