Bay Bridge

You've probably heard by now, from the national news:

The elevated section of highway that carries motorists from the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge to a number of freeways was destroyed early Sunday when the heat of a burning gasoline tanker truck weakened part of one overpass, crumpling it onto another.
...
Transportation officials said it could take months to repair the damaged interchanges. Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency to speed up cleanup and rebuilding efforts.

First thought. If the driver was negligent, was all this foreseeable? Even worse, is this one of those strict liability situations?

Second thought. I will not live in Oakland, but I am taking the bar exam there. I made myself a little map here (bottom right). Now the explosion happened at the 80 / 880 junction. I live across the Bay. Sounds like all this won't be fixed by the time I take the bar in July. I guess I'll manage somehow.

Last of classes today. We laugh; we cried. We clapped for the professors; we clapped for ourselves. It's hard to savor this moment because we are all so busy. But yes, for most of us this will be our last classes ever.

Bought my ticket for SF. Will depart out of hometown May 20. Couldn't figure out how to get a one-way ticket so I went with a round-trip. Probably cheaper that way anyways. At any rate, the firm is paying.

Trip Report

Well I got the lease signed. I also picked up the Barbri materials. It's two books plus a deceptively heavy paper box. I took it with me back to hometown because I couldn't find a place in SF to put it right now. When boarding, I was asked if I'd packed the box myself. I lied and said yes. I assume there're books in there and not a bomb.

The Barbri office seemed kinda hectic. There are boxes and books everywhere. Had to fill out a quick form. I didn't really have my Barbri ID but they gave me a box anyways. I wonder if I could've just waltzed on in and gotten the materials.

The apartment looks nice from the outside. The walk from there to St. Mary's is longer than I expected--about five blocks. The area seems like it's a pretty bad neighborhood but it's nice if I stick to Geary. As expected, the final approach up to St. Mary's is an extremely steep hill. There are actually aparments within a few feet of the church, but of course I couldn't find those on the internet.

St. Mary's itself is breathtaking. It's an oddly shaped building sitting on top the hill. There is a huge space inside with pews and colorful glass and a giant organ. Bathroom and offices are downstairs. I should have taken a photo.

The picture above is at diner right next to Cliff House. Had a cheeseburger. Flipped thru one Barbri book. Felt scared.

Short Trip

Right now I am in a hotel in South SF. Just ate a big plate of pasta. Watching the Pistons. Feeling mighty fine. I will sign my lease tomorrow. Then immediately back home for the finals. Everything is in motion.

I've been to the SF area quite a few times these past two years. I don't feel at home here, but I get a good vibe. I know many ppl want to live here but I was never one of them. SF, to me, has always been a nice place to visit (like Vegas) but I never planned to move here. Well I'm going to move here for good next month and I want to see what all the hoopla is all about.

I've been thinking alot about my post-bar trip. The more I think about it the more I just want to spend a month exploring SF. I don't think I will be able to do it after I start work (sometime in September).

Attended last class in PR. Monday will be my very last time attending formal classes! Hurray!

Oh and--just found out Jerry Rice was inducted into the bashof. The what? That's right the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame. Now you know.

Sublessee - Found.

The craigslist ad quickly produced three inquiries. Cool thing about living in a college town is that, at around summer time, everybody swaps apartments. So I easily found someone whose needs matched mine. The apartment is running a credit check on them now but I'm confident they will pass. With this settled, I can finally decide on the move date. I'm thinking it should be May 20. I'm also thinking about leaving from my hometown, b/c I have to take the car back. Hmm...logistics.

Later this week I will visit SF to sign the lease.

Lease

I have to cut my lease short. But when I read my lease I realized that it's going to cost me a fortune to do this. This disappointed me greatly. Solution? A craiglist ad seeking sublettor. Hopefully someone will bite before I leave or I will have to pay out the entire lease--which is bad.

Finals are coming up so I can't do any more MBE's. I did a few last week. Not getting any better. I guess I'll worry about it when the summer begins.

Second Conlaw lecture cancelled. Guess I'll review teh First Amendment on my own...

Moral Character Application - Initial Processing Completed.

From the State Bar of California:

This acknoledges that the initial processing of your Moral Character Application has been completed, and it has been forwarded to your analyst. The analyst assigned to your file is [redacted]. ...
Written notification will be sent to you when the investigation has been completed.
If you have any questions, please contact the analyst assigned to your file.

This reminds me. I need to make list of people whom I need to notify about my address change.

Hard Evidence Question

Another question that I missed.

Company C hires truck driver D, who drinks, drives, and injurs little girl. Little girl sues Company C. At trial, which of the following is LEAST likely to be admissible?

A) Evidence that D's reputation for driving is poor, if C and D argue that the latter was not negligent.
C) Evidence that C carried liability insurance on the truck, if an investigator for C's insurer testified for C.
D) Evidence that C carried liability insurance on the truck, if C argues that D was an independent contractor.

I knew that the fact that C is insured is NOT admissible to prove that it was negligent. FRE 411. But. Insured-ness *is* relevant in to prove other things. Eg, to prove agency (choice D) or bias of a witness (choice C). Thus these two choices are wrong.

Choice A would be wrong, if this is the girl is suing C for a "negligent entrustment" claim. In other words, C was negligent in hiring D and entrusting his drunk ass with the truck. There, D's reputation as a bad driver would be at issue.

However, choice A says that C and D were aruging that *D* was not negligent. This suggests that they are not defending against a negligent entrustment claim. Instead, C is probably only on the hook vicariously. Since this is not a negligent entrustment situation, D's reputation as a bad driver is character evidence used to prove later conforming conduct, which would be inadmissible. *Sigh*

Free Conlaw Lecture, Part One

Went to school this morning and attended video lecture by this guy. Professor Chemerinsky delivered his lecture standing in between two plants. He made several jokes all of which were unfunny. We covered half of "Conlaw," which is basically a mini-course in American government: the three branches, and federalism. Next time, we will go over the Bill of Rights.

Here is a funny post on the Yahoo group in response to a question asking how long one should prepare for the exam:

I recently had an opportunity to speak with a guy who graduated from my
school in 2005 and passed the Feb 2006 GBX. I asked him for any pearls of
wisdom regarding the test and preparation therefor. He did the standard
stuff, but he also did over 6000 MBEs.

As you know, you can get your MBE score from the Bar for the purpose of
using it to transfer to other jurisdictions that will take you based solely
on that score.

He told me that he missed 6 MBEs.

Six.

A raw 194 on the MBEs will forgive a lot of sins on the essays and PTs.

Last Post of the Day

I am definitely posting way too much today. Here is an infomercial video brought to you by baroutlines.com.



Here is another PMBR video. A good explanation of all their products and services. Enjoy.

California Bar Exam Primer Yahoo Group

So I'm getting a ton of traffic today from here. Thanks Mr. Wise!

And here is an interesting post on the differences between the FRE and the California Rules of Evidence. Not sure how accurate this is.

The Yahoo group has lots of helpful information. I think I'm going to monitor that group (starting tomorrow) and archive all the useful posts that comes up. I will exercise some restraint on what I consider "useful." Hopefully this won't be too much work.

MPRE - Passed!

Oh man. The email came today. I was actually shaking when I was trying to click the button to download the score report. Drying off excessive sweat now.

Luckily I passed: 116 (needed 79). You probably already know, but here are the passing scores for the different jurisdictions. Congrats to all who passed. For the others, better luck next time.

Difficult Torts Question

Robber robs store and flees. Security guard gives chase, and then opens fire at robber. The store had a policy that guards shouldn't shoot at robbers. The shot misses, goes thru random window. Person (X) inside window gets startled, check into mental hospital.

Is the store liable to X?

A) No b/c the store instructed guards not to shoot at robbers.
B) No, unless the guard was negligent.
C) Yes, if pieces of broken window actually hit X.

Answer is C. The theory? Battery.
Several subtle points. First, just b/c the store told the guard not to shoot, the shooting still occured inside the scope of employment and thsu respondeat superior applies. Second, the shooting is not privileged b/c deadly force cannot be used in the defense of property. Here, the guard intended to commit a battery on the robber, and as a result (assuming the fact in C), caused a touching of X. Transferred intent applies and so C is right. B is wrong, b/c negligence is not the only theory that would work.

This question was difficult in part b/c it sounded like an emotional distress question. But actually it was battery. Pretty tricky.

MBEs - Performance Review

I did at least 10 MBEs in each subject. Here are the results:

Torts: 7/10
Ks: 4/11
Property: 7/12
Criminal: 5/11
Conlaw: 4/10
Evidence: 6/11
Crim Pro: 6/10

Maybe with some work, I hope to get to 50% in each subject when class starts. I don't have a ton of time to do many more of these however. Statistically, I need the most help with Ks. But I'm really worried about conlaw because I still feel like I don't know anything. Did surprisingly well in Crim Pro, even though I never took the class. Here is a question. Why is there a set of rules for civil procedure, but criminal procedure all case law? Anyways, I guess watching all that Law & Order really paid off.

Barbri Dates

Message from Barbri. 1) The live SF course will start Monday May 21. 2) Books will be available for pick up, in SF, after April 23. This is kinda nice, b/c I plan to be in SF around that time anyways. Books can be picked up here, which is kinda near St. Mary's and near where I will live.

Earwax

I have been very busy. Sent off my taxes. Filled out a packet of forms for the firm: tax withholding, life insurance beneficiary, etc etc. Asked for another recommendation. Began outlining for one class. Ate crawfish. This Friday we're hosting some judges for a panel discussion. We were told to read the case that the judges will be talking about, so that it will be a real discussion. There is one judge on the panel I'd really like to clerk for so I'm going to read his case.

Also, over the past two days, I developed an earwax buildup problem in my right ear. The school nurse suggested that I pour some hydrogen peroxide in my ear. I did but it got worse. I think it's serious. Dr's appointment made.

Anyhow, here is an interesting article. Apparently CA is considering building a high speed train down its coast from SF to SD. The train's top speed is about 350 mph. It's roughly 500 miles from SF to SD. If the train went non-stop, you could technically go this distance in less than 2 hours!

Some Funny Advice

I'm getting more traffic than usual today. From here. Which led me to here. Which led me here. The last link contains some helpful advice on bar prep; I will look at it more later. Here is one bit of advice found thereon:

Put together a bar review study box.

[K]eep in the box everything you think you might need for studying for the bar. When you go to study place take your box. You'll not have to spend time looking for things.

Example: Things I had in my box
Tape recorder
Bar Review Tapes
Bar Review books
Practice Exams for every course
Multi-state Exams
Stapler, tapes, paperclips
Coffee Machine/coffee, etc.

I laughed at this. But now I'm looking for a box.

Free Criminal Lecture

Another Barbri preview lecture. This time a video. The lecture was conducted by this guy. I like this lecture b/c 1) it didn't try to cover too much, and 2) he was very entertaining. I really liked his bit on the "crimes against nature." It was good especially b/c it was free.

Busy this weekend. Will resume with bar prep next week.