Becoming a Lawyer

An Ending

2008-04-26T19:58:00.000-07:00

I haven't had much of a chance to write lately. Then all of a sudden, I find myself at home this weekend. When you're the junior lawyer on a case, you never really know when you're going to be busy and when you're not.

I received this in the mail a while back (I painted over my information):

I carry it in my wallet, even though there's not point to having it all the time.

The other day, my cousin, who is going to college next fall, told me (over IM) that she was thinking about going to law school. My initial reaction was to try to talk her out of it (but I didn't). For me, law school was one of the most consuming (time and energy and money) experiences of my life, and I'm not sure she's up for it.

The bar exam process is not all that different. You're hoping that it's all going to work out, but constantly worrying. All the while there is all this material that you must get through. I suppose that one thing that you learn through this process is how to work under stress. I don't know if this has anything to do with it, but I notice that a lot lawyers tend to be procrastinators. Maybe that is because they are so used to the stress that being a bit late simply does not bother them any more.

Anyways, the job is going okay. I'm on several different matters and learning some stuff (mostly by watching the the process in action). The law is a largely static body of knowledge so I'm not worried about learning everything as quickly as I can. Once you learn everything, the fun is over. Or may that's when the fun begins. One of the two.

So this is going to be my last post. I know that the summer Barbri classes are going to begin soon. I hope some of you summer 2008 takers will find this blog. I hope what I wrote will help / entertain you. If you're planning to blog through the summer, leave a comment with a link and I will check it out. Good luck to you and to all the Feb takers on their results!

Positive Thinking

2008-02-23T23:52:00.000-08:00

Good luck folks!

Document Review Video

2008-01-25T23:10:00.000-08:00

- I heard New York got 20k.
- I heard that too.
- It's not fair.  We work just as hard.
- I do.  You always get the good leaf.
- You're retarded.
- Of course we get more money.
  It costs more to live here...
  Real estate prices alone...
  And having to take cabs everywhere.
- I keep thinking there is more than this.
  Bigger things...
  These leaves seem endless...
- But one day these leaves will end.
- I can't wait to make partner.
  Laying back...
  Phat crib.
  Making the big decisions.
  Life a big party...
  These leaves are never going to end.
- Yes they will.
- There is nothing out there.
- Yes there is.
- Like what?
- You will know it when you see it.

Happy 2008

2007-12-31T14:05:00.001-08:00

Not The Last Post

2007-12-16T23:40:00.000-08:00

I found myself in San Francisco again this weekend. I had my camera with me so I drove by St. Mary's and took a picture. Unfortunately there was service going on inside so I didn't go in. It's actually a real church, not just a tourist attraction.

Sold all my bar books last week. So just waiting for the card now...

Advice: Exam Days

2007-12-01T10:02:00.000-08:00

The hardest part.

Like Barbri says, the bar exam itself isn't the hardest part of the process. Studying is. When the days of the exam finally roll around, there is nothing more you can do. Fortunately, there is really nothing TO do, except to regurgitate, which you'll find is a largely involuntary process. Your main job is just to focus, and not make stupid mistakes in reading, bubbling, time managing, and on some essays, spotting.

Normal routine.

Don't do any experiments with your body now, no matter how small. Keep your habits. If you don't eat breakfast, don't start. If you stay up late to watch Conan and drink a beer every night, keep doing it.

Sleeplessness.

I only slept three hours the night before my first day, despite the sleeping pills. By that time, I was used to it. The weeks leading up to the exam, I was having insomnia pretty regularly. I found that I can still function with that amount of sleep, so I wasn't afraid of it. Interestingly, being tired also made me less nervous. The second night I slept like a baby, probably out of pure exhaustion.

To offset the effects of insomnia during the exam, try to get some sleep the few days before. A good sleep can have benefits 48, even 36 hours later. So, at some point in the last few days, sleep becomes a higher priority than studying. You have to pull yourself out of the cram mode, and just try to relax a bit.

Nervousness.

You will be nervous. Maybe like never before. Don't be nervous about your nervousness however. It's inevitable. You do not need to be perfectly calm to do your best on the exam. But do stay in your "zone." If you freak out easy, try meditation. Meditation is the practice of thinking about nothing. Practice it when you're not stressed, and you'll be able to do it when you are. Also, try not to look at the three days as opportunities to "mess up." Think of them as opportunities to pick up points here and there. Even if you had a bad day, you're getting closer to passing.

The climax will be day 1, the last few minutes before they call begin. I was sitting there, in the middle of a huge hall, slightly tired. The proctor spent forever going over the directions. I could barely hear her b/c I already had my earplugs in. My pencil was under the first page of the first book. My watch said 12:00; its knob was pulled out. My heart was pounding. I couldn't for the life of me recall the elements of battery. Begin.

The essays.

As I said before, the only time that truly matters with the essays are the 15 minutes you spend reading, spotting, and outlining. Typically, I only had time to read the question once. But if you have the luxury of doing it again, do it. Try to get your focus level up for the read. Take a deep breath. Stretch your arms. Forget the last essay you did.

Lunch.

Buy your lunch the evening before. In Oakland, there were a ton of restaurants near the Convention Center. I took a walk through the Asian market across Broadway both nights and found some lovely pastries. I like the effect that Red Bull has on me. I drank half before the AM session and half before the PM.

The PTs.

The first challenge for the PTs is fighting off fatigue. The second, and most critical thing, is to read and follow the directions carefully, and exactly. Given the weight of the PTs, the time you spend reading those directions has THE BIGGEST impact on your score. In other words, those first few minutes are the MOST IMPORTANT of the entire exam. Once you start writing, few things can truly go wrong (or right).

The right answer is the most obvious answer. Typically, you'll find a section in the file or library that is "right on" for a call. Just copy the damn paragraph out exactly and slap on a heading. If the facts give you a bulleted list, copy the list. Lists of short things are easily graded, and so if you see something like that, they probably want you to copy it out for the grader. If there is an ambiguous direction, check if you misunderstood it. If not, do what you think most other examinees would do.

Finally, keep your mind open for a PR issue. Often the issue will jump out at you, b/c it's some lawyer doing something outrageous. But before you start writing, flip through your book again. See what the lawyers did. If there is anything questionable, write a paragraph about it.

Messing up early.

The MBEs are not such a big deal b/c one wrong MBE never broke anyone. But for some people, knowledge that they messed up on an early essay question or PT will nag them and hurt them for the rest of the exam.

You can save yourself the heartache by not talking about the questions afterwards. Forget it. Keep your earplugs in and go straight into your hotel room and eat your sandwich and watch Jerry Springer.

If just "happen" to find out that you did something wrong on day one, don't dwell on it. You got 40 by simply writing down the first word. If it was an essay, remember that a PT is worth twice as much. If you messed up more than that, remember that there is nothing you can mess up the first day that can't be fixed on the third. Wrong answers get credited all the time. Whatever you do, don't just pack up and go home.

I personally found out I missed a major issue on the very first essay last July. I found out right afterwards, but didn't do a full damage assessment until after day 3. I didn't let it get to me and it didn't really hurt my performance any.

Studying in between.

My advice is to not plan on it. At this point, sleep will do you better than studying. However, if you're not tired, you can flip through some MBE flash cards or go over your essay checklists. But really, the difference between you flip through those 100 flash cards and not is probably nothing.

The MBEs.

The MBEs are very mechanical; you've probably heard all the advice already. Read the call first so you know what subject the question is. Each question is only 1 point so don't be shy about guessing. Mark the ones you guessed on and come back to it if you can. Check your bubble number against the question you're reading occassionally. Keep track of time. If you're short on time, skip the long and Property questions. If you're really short on time, pick all C's.

One thing I will add is don't be thrown off by a string of the same letters. I experienced a string of D's in my PM session, and went back and reread some of the questions and didn't change anything. I'm not sure how many I got right but hey I passed. It happens.

Afterwards.

After the exhaustion had faded, the period after the bar was probably one of the happiest few days of my life. Having all that pressure all of a sudden disappear was incredible; I felt like I'd been cured of cancer, but with a slight chance of remission.

Some people say waiting is the hard part. I think they're partly joking. At any rate, it doesn't matter how you wait. Happy or sad, the dye is already cast.

Some people will tell you the bar is not hard. "Oh you'll pass." That always rubbed me a little the wrong way. The most accomplished people have been known to fail. What makes you so sure that *I'll* pass? That was sort of the problem some people had with Honisberg (whom you'll meet next summer). I promised myself that once I lived through it, I wouldn't say something like that to a law student. I don't care who you are, no one is guaranteed to pass. And frankly, it was hard. But I'm not sure how much of that had to do with the exam and how much with me.

Good luck.

Mazel Tov.

2007-11-29T21:12:00.000-08:00

Sworn in today. I held up my right hand and repeated some oath. Then the judge signed our registration cards. The firm had a champagne get-together afterwards. Hors d'ourves. Suits. Flash photography. Toasts and handshakes. Now I just need to fill out the registration card (black ink only) and drop it in a mailbox.

Had a nice chat with my office neighbor about how scared he was when he found out his results. I was a bit moved by the way he talked about it. Clearly, bar membership is something he takes very seriously.

The secretary asked if I felt any different now. I told her no. But now that I think about it, it does feel different. For the first time, I stopped looking at the people I work with as my mentors, but my peers. I am just like them (even the old ones).

Of course, that'll all change tomorrow when I have to ask the para again how to use the doc review software...

Advice: The Summer

2007-11-25T12:51:00.001-08:00

Mindset.

One of biggest reasons people do not pass is not taking Barbri seriously. Taking Barbri seriously means you need to go to every substantive lecture, and keep up with the Barbri's Paced Program as much as possible.

On other hand, don't take it *too* seriously. This was an issue for me, especially after Barbri ended mid-July. I was worried a lot and found it hard to fall asleep at times. The way I dealt with this was to stop studying a half an hour before bedtime. I forced myself to take the break by eating or blogging before bed.

Books.

Before Barbri begins, you will pick up a lot of books from Barbri, around 10 volumes. Don't be scared. I never read the two big outlines of law. For just about everything, the Conviser Mini Review (CMR) will be sufficient. If you knew everything in the CMR, you know more than enough for the bar. If you're really curious about something, you can do some "research" in the big volumes. But if you're in the big volumes a lot, you're going way overboard. The other important book is the In-Class Workbook. You will take this book (or portions thereof) to class every day and fill in the blanks as the lecturer talks. The rest of the stuff are practice materials for the MBE, essays, and PTs.

Two phases.

Your approach to each subject can be separated roughly into two phases: learning and doing. Learning means understanding the material, or deciding that something is not worth understanding. Doing is practicing. After you learn a subject, you should be able to explain most ideas without looking it up. But don't worry if you have to look up some stuff, as long as you have a general idea. Don't try to commit things to memory until you start practicing. The bulk of memorizing will take place in the finals weeks before the exam.

For the six MBE subjects, you try to wrap up your learning phase by mid to late June. For the rest of the essay subjects, wrap up as soon as possible after the Barbri lecture. Ideally, you want to finish learning everything by the time formal Barbri lectures end, probably one week after July 4. I wasn't able to do this. I was still trying to learn in the final week before the exam. So if you fall behind, it's not the end of the world. But try not to.

Learning the law.

Some people outline in order to understand. I tried unsuccessfully to do this for every subject. But what I realized is that you don't really need to write out an outline to understand. This is especially true for subjects where the in-class notes are short. For example, last summer, the Business Associations and Remedies in-class notes were super-short. Outlining those subject would have been a waste of time. However, the Evidence, Civil Procedure, and Corporation notes were long. Outlining those made sense for me.

Remember, also, that you'll be doing this along with the Paced Program, which can be a real challenge. When Barbri begins, you will be advised to do the following daily: attend class (usually half a day), do the assigned homework (usually some MBEs or two essays), and reading the CMR to prepare for the lecture next day. It's very difficult to do all of this, and learn, every day. The trick to this part of the race is just to keep up as much as possible. Feel free to cut some corners with the Barbri homeworks. I skipped some essays and came back to them later. I don't recommend skipping class though, because going to class is probably the most efficient way to take a first pass at the materials. Also, some of the lecturers (e.g., Whitebread and Schecter) are extremely funny and worth seeing for pure entertainment value.

MBEs.

After you've learned MBE law, you should start doing MBE's regularly.

When you're doing MBEs to practice (as opposed to learn), you should go fast. Otherwise doing and reviewing 50 MBEs will take forever. I was really slow at first, but I find it's b/c I read too carefully. Sometimes there is no need to understand a question fully to be able to answer it. Often, you can eliminate two choices without having to read the question at all!

When you start doing mixed-subject sets, it really helped me to read the call first. I do this to quickly place the question into one of the six MBE subjects. E.g., if I see "admissible" in the call, I put on my Evidence hat and begin skimming the question. Sometimes I glance at the choices too.

I didn't have a set number of MBEs that I did everyday. I think I didn't an average of 33 per day. I would take a set MBEs to me to lunch or dinner, and just do them while I eat.

After I did them, I only reviewed the ones I got wrong. Sure I probably got some right for the wrong reasons, but it was just too inefficient to check every answer for new knowledge. I got comfortable with the idea that I'm not going to be able to know every little bit of MBE law.

If I got something wrong b/c of my lack of knowledge (as opposed to a misread or just a silly question), I write it down on a flash card. On the front I'll write some facts and a call, and on the back an explanation. Usually by the time I wrote the point down I've already memorized it. But I would sometimes flip through the cards and if I see one I know, I remove it from my review set. This is basically how you practice MBE.

In terms of questions, I would do the Barbri assigned MBEs first, the Barbri released questions second, and then PMBR red book, and then PMBR blue book. Hopefully you'll never get to the PMBR blue book, b/c I hear they are unreasonably difficult with bad explanations.

After a week of doing mixed MBEs, you should be averaging about 65% correct.

Essays.

If you're in CA, Prof. Sakai will give you a lecture on each essay subject. During the lecture he will give you a checklist of things to talk about. For most subjects, this list is pretty short. You should memorize this list, from the top down (ie, big bullets, then small bullets). Find some funny acronyms; they make things easier.

The first thing to practice is spotting the issues. This is a skill that requires the greatest amount of practice on the bar exam. In fact it is probably the most sophisticated form of "thinking" (if you can call it that) on the bar exam. Generally, every sentence in a question is there for a reason and you should aim to use them all in your answer. But don't worry if you see every issue. Usually there are only three or four "big" issues that you should hit if you want to pass that essay. On the other hand, if you are given multiple calls to a question (as opposed to just "discuss"), you don't have to spot anything. Just make sure you answer the calls exactly. All in all, I would spend about 15 minutes spotting, and outlining an answer before you start writing. If you finish early, take a deep breath, and spot some more. Remember, if you're going to screw up an essay, it will probably be something you do in those first 15 minutes.

After you have something of an outline, you should start writing. This is the brain-dead part of the exercise. You are basically regurgitating (or making up) a rule of law, and then listing some relevant facts after it. Then you come up with some sort of a conclusion; it really doesn't matter how you say here. You have 45 minutes to do this.

The most important thing about the writing process is to use lots of short headings. You'll hear this again and again, but the grader only spends about 2-3 minutes reading each essay. If you have more or less the right headings on there, chances are nothing else will get read. Try to use short headings of law or fact. E.g., "battery," "constructive trust," "damage to Mary's car." Don't get creative lest the grader actually reads what you write. I'd say if you can help it, make every fourth or fifth sentence a heading.

I didn't memorize exact statements of law, but I had a general idea of the elements. Again, flashcards are useful here. Analysis is the least likely thing to get read by the grader. Just start with "Here," signifying you're analyzing, and then stick in a "because" and copy in the facts from the question verbatim. E.g., "Here, M and N formed a contract because on January 1 M sent N a letter and then blah blah." Do do a better job on the first issue though, because things that come first are more likely to get read.

Over the summer, you should write out about 5-10 essays fully, to get an idea of the timing. You will submit a few of them to Barbri for grading, but they don't do a very good job of it. I would recommend you get together with some friends and just look at each other's answers. Don't worry if you didn't spot everything. Just look at each other's style. Conform to each other's style. There is no "right" style. But the best style is the one that most people are using.

Toward the end the summer, you don't need to write out the essays. Just go through the 15 minute outlining exercise. You'll see that writing is just a matter of copying facts over, and a big waste of time. The essential steps that should be practiced are reading, spotting, and organizing headings. And don't worry about hitting all the issues the Barbri model answers do. If you hit a majority of those in 15 minutes, you're doing great.

Last word about predicting essay subjects. I tried to do it last summer with a poll, but it was completely off on many counts. People had predicted that First Amendment, Landlord-Tenant, and Criminal Law were unlikely. But they all appeared. On the other hand people did correctly predict Community Property. There's nothing wrong in predicting but do not completely neglect a subject in reliance--you never know. Remember that PR will absolutely be tested every year, and the essays will usually be half MBE subjects and half non.

Performance tests.

There is nothing to learn for the performance test. Everything should be in the file and library they give you. Also, you get a full three hours to do one, so you're not really rushed. You should aim to do perhaps 3 full practice PTs during the summer. Basically, do the ones that Barbri forces you to do. Use the same writing technique that you use for the essays.

In terms of time management, you should spend about an hour reading the file and library, and the rest writing. Barbri suggests that you take a break in between reading and writing to clear you head. I didn't find it all that helpful. But it is a good time to drink some water or go to the bathroom if you need to.

The most important thing to remember about PTs is to, again, not deviate from the crowd. This means following the directions exactly. Answer every part the way it is asked. When you're asked to "come up" with a solution, don't get too creative.

Toward the end of the summer, you'll be advised to do a few more PTs on your own time. You probably won't have time. Instead, just do the one-hour excercise of reading the file and library and outline an answer, or better yet, just read the instructions and look at the model answer. Usually, the answers are lists of facts (fact gathering), which are quite easy to grade.

Feedback.

In my opinion, Barbri does not do a good job of grading your essays and PTs. The grades take weeks to get back to you and when you read it, you wonder if the grader actually read what you wrote at all. Once I got the law completely wrong and they gave me passes. As I said above, the best way to gauge yourself with essays and PTs is to look at a few friends' answers.

Also, don't worry about regurgitating the law correctly on the graded essays. You'll know you missed an issue immediately after you write an essay; you don't need a grader to tell you "need to talk about vicarious liability." Instead, cheat: take your time to find all the issues, look up the law, and outline. Then, limiting yourself to 45 minutes, write out an answer to be graded. This way, all the feedback will be on your writing style, which is what you need.

Finally, don't worry too much about Barbri failing you. Very few people pass the first essay. Lots of people fail all the essays. I do believe though, that the graders lighten up toward the end, so if you're still failing toward end, look at their comments carefully. There is probably something you're obviously doing wrong.

As for the MBEs, you should average about 60-65% correct with the Barbri questions after a few weeks of doing them, and maybe slightly lower on the PMBR book questions. You should also be averaging less than 1.8 minutes per question, or 1 minute 48 seconds. Toward the end, you should be closer to 70%, especially with the Barbri released questions, which are somewhat easier.

Barbri will give you a 200-question simulated exam after the lectures on the 6 MBE subjects. At that point in time scores will vary widely depending on your level of preparedness. I scored 131, which was high, since I'd prepared a little before Barbri began. If you're between 110-120, you're about average nationally. If you're under 100, you need to work on your MBEs, and I know people who passed with low simulated MBE scores in June.

Some people do the PMBR 3-day simulated exam. This exam is very hard. About a week before the actual exam, if you score 100, you're above average.

Memorizing.

Barbri will formally end about a week after July 4. At that point, you will be let loose to study on your own. Hopefully by this time, you're done (or close to) learning everything, and can concentrate on memorizing and practicing. Don't feel bad though if you still need to learn things (as I had to). Don't freak out if you're behind. There is actually a lot of time b/c you can learn by practicing. The key is to take responsibility for what you need to cover and what you need to cut.

In the last week or two, you will spend some time commiting things to your short term memory. The way I did this was to run everything I needed to memorize over my mind, wait 10 minutes, and then spitting it back out in my mind. I'd then go to bed, and when I wake up the next morning, spit it back out again. If I forget something, I'll quickly go over it again. Also, by now I'm constantly doing practice essays and MBEs, so the heavily tested materials are repeatedly getting exercised in my brain.

There are three things you should memorize. First, you need to memorize MBE law. You probably made flashcards for those, and they should be cycling in and out of your review stack. These are easy b/c they usually very fact-rich and there is a lot for your mind to hold on to. Second, you should memorize the essay checklists. These are provided to you by Barbri in the In-Class Workbook. Stick to these, b/c everyone will be using these lists, in the order it's printed. These should be at your fingertips if you've been practicing a lot of essays. Finally, you will need to memorize the statements of blackletter law. This is very hard b/c the volume of stuff here is huge, and they don't get exercised by just outlining the essays. If there is something you cannot recall on the bar, it'll probably be one of these rules (eg, elements for malicious prosecution). The only thing I can tell you is, most people cannot remember all the rules. Try to remember as much as you can; try not to be too precise; and learn to make up rules.

As you're memorizing, be confident that things are sticking--they are. Be confident that if they don't, you can guess, and make stuff up on the exam. On the MBEs, you can usually eliminate wrong answers down to two, and on the essays, made-up law is just as good as correct law.

Okay. So that's the summer. Sounds grueling heh? To deal with it, I inserted a lot of little breaks that were not too time-consuming. I tried a lot of restaurants in the area and went to Safeway a lot. I even took a day off to visit the test site at Oakland. All in all, it wasn't too bad.

To be continued...

Tough Questions from a Middle School Student

2007-11-22T16:53:00.000-08:00

Seen at Legal Underground:

Mr. Schaeffer: I was wondering if you could answer a few questions for a lawyer paper I have to do for school--

1. What is roughly your yearly income?

2. Why did you decide to become a lawyer?

3. What school did you go to and for how long?

4. What do you do if you know your client is guilty?

5. What kind of cases do you take care of?

My answers:

1. I make about $20 an hour.

2. See here.

3. University of Pluto, for 0.1 Pluto years.

4. I think the bar answer is to withdraw. I don't know.

5. I defend big corporations and help them screw the little guys.

Advice: Before Barbri

2007-11-22T11:49:00.000-08:00

So. This is the first of my advice posts to you, if you are taking the July 2008 CA bar exam. This will be useful if you're exactly like me. Otherwise, not so much.

The exam.

First, one thing I would do is to find out as much about the exam itself as possible. I recommend Travis Wise's site for this.

Very briefly, the exam will be toward the end of July. It'll be three consecutive days, with the first and third days involving writing, and the second a bunch of multiple choice questions (MBEs). The MBE multiple choice questions are not California-specific and are administered nationally. They cover, in equally portions, Conlaw, Contracts, Crim law and procedure, Property, Torts, and Evidence. You will do 200 of these on day two. On each of the first and third days, you will do three essays questions, and a performance test. The essays can cover any of the 14 CA subjects, sometimes two subjects at once. For the performance test, you don't need to know any law. Instead you will learn the law in a file given to you, and then draft some work products.

You should also know the scoring system. Talk to people who've gone through the process. Know what to expect from Barbri. Become an expert on the process itself.

Take bar-related classes.

It's your last year of law school and I'm sure there are interesting classes you want to take. After all you'll never be in this setting again and I don't blame you. But do give some thought to taking classes solely with an eye towards the bar exam. I did this for Wills & Estates and felt good about it. It's really hard to learn in Barbri. When the summer begins, it will be full-days after full-days straight lecture. And when I say "straight lecture," I mean some guy (or gal) reading a 50-page outline verbatim, slowing down enough only to allow you to fill in the blanks on the lecture notes. There is no time to think. So, if you're a naturally curious person who likes to think about stuff as you learn new things, do that before Barbri, or get over it.

Prepping early.

I started prepping at about this time last year. Probably overkill. Frankly I didn't think it helped that much. However, I do think it helped me feel calm and in-control. If you're the sort of person who gets psychological benefits from starting early, go for it.

One very popular thing to do is to get the PMBR materials. PMBR (I never knew what the letters stood for) is probably the most popular bar prep course after Barbri. It only preps you for the MBE portion of the exam. People disagree on the value of their live courses, but their material is excellent. Get their audio lecture CD's and their blue and red practice exam books. A good time to get all this is now, b/c there is a flood of this material being sold on the internet by people who have just passed. Listen to the CD's when you can, and start doing some practice questions in the blue and red books. Don't worry if you don't feel like you know the law. Just do it. When you miss questions, write them down somewhere, either in an outline or on flash cards. Don't time yourself.

As for the non-MBE subjects, I got an Examples and Explanations for CA Community Property. I didn't really think that book was very useful. I got more out of my schools' Wills & Estates class, which covered a little CP for our state. So now you know I come from a CP state. I also got Jeff Adachi's Bar Breakers books, although I never actually used them. Finally, you should know that the the non-MBE subjects are much less important than the MBE subjects. So don't worry about trying to learn the non-MBE subjects perfectly.

Logistics.

Although there is no need to start studying, I do, however, recommend that you start planning. During the winter break, you should start an application on the California State Bar's website, and download the moral character app. You'll need to round up your past bosses to fill out questionaires for you. Most people submit their moral character apps in Februrary or March. If you're going to do Barbri, and most of you are, go ahead and sign up for it. Signing up early makes it cheaper, I think.

If you are from out of state like me, consider whether you want to live in CA and do Barbri live, or stay in your own state and do video. There is also an ipod option, which I don't know anything about. I chose to do Barbri in SF, but I sort of regret it. First, living in SF is almost certainly going to be more expensive than where you are now. I thought I was going to enjoy SF a bit during the summer, but realistically there is just not that much time to do anything. Of course, there may be some value to listening to live lectures and avoiding that flight to CA right before the exam. If you are going to be car-less like me, I recommend taking Barbri at St. Mary's Cathedral and staying at the Fillmore Center in SF. The neighborhood is very walkable, there is a lot of good Asian restaurants, and you live right next to a Safeway.

One thing that went wrong for me was the movers. I didn't blog much about it but I was pretty upset. I didn't receive my furniture until mid-June. For about three weeks the only things in my apartment were a suitcase, an air mattress, and Barbri books. They even ended up charging me $500 extra (which the firm paid). Later I found out many, many online movers are basically criminals. There are websites devoted to exposing the scammers and you should do some research.

MPRE.

If you haven't taken the MPRE by now, you should get it out of the way next spring. I believe you can take it after the bar exam, but why? When you prep for the MPRE, don't blow it off. It's easy to pass the MPRE, but PR will also be on the bar. But not the judical code. Attend the Barbri lecture. Do the practice exams. Try to get things straight when you prepare, so that not only can you recognize the right answer, but explain the rules in your own words; you will almost certainly have to write essays on PR. So learn it.

PMBR.

I didn't take the PMBR live course, even though my firm would have paid for it. They offer a 6-day class before Barbri begins, and a 3-day class (basically a simulated MBE exam and review) after Barbri ends. Since I began my MBE prepping early on and had all their materials, I didn't feel like I need to waste time sitting through the live course. Also, some people complain that PMBR's simulated exam is way too difficult. My feeling is that taking a test that much more difficult than the real thing may throw off your instincts. You may start to overthink things on the real exam. Actually the concensus this past summer was that the MBEs were super-tough, so maybe the PMBR simulated exam was not so far off the mark. Anyhow, different people have different opinions on this, but you have my two cents.

Test site and handwriting.

At some point before you graduate, if you've applied on the CA State Bar website like I'd advised, you'll be asked to pick a test site and decide whether you want to type or handwrite. I handwrote. The conventional wisdom is to do what you did in law school. The passage rate for writers and typists are about the same, so you're not disadvantaged either way. I read somewhere that illegible handwriting actually works in your favor, if you have good headings. You will hear a lot of theories about how to game the essays during the summer. Handwriting is nice b/c (1) it is cheaper and (2) you avoid having to deal with any problems with your laptop, Examsoft, etc. As for test sites, I've heard good things about Sacramento. Someone told me San Mateo is next to a highway and loud. I took it in Oakland at the Oakland Marriott / Convention Center. It was great. My firm paid for it all so I stayed at the Marriot all three days. But if you're paying yourself, pay a visit to that area. There are cheaper hotels right next to the Marriott, so you can save some money.

Tie up loose ends; have some fun.

Don't leave major tasks that you can't do in one day into the summer. Finish that paper. Finish painting the house. If you can help it, stop working / job hunting for a while. Anything that competes for your time with Barbri will cause you stress.

Also, try to enjoy your last semester of law school. If you take Barbri seriously, you will have very littel fun until the end of July. But also, don't party hard right up to the start of Barbri. It will be a shock to your system when Barbri gets going. This is perhaps a good reason to take the PMBR 6-day, or move away from your law school town right after graduation.

So that's it. Basically, when late May rolls around, you should have a place to live, have an idea of what the bar exam is all about, preferably have done a bit of prepping (or taken the PMBR 6-day), feel relaxed, and be ready to devote full attention to the Barbri program.

To be continued...

Happy Thanksgiving, Again

2007-11-21T19:57:00.000-08:00

I was under a lot of pressure at work this week. Then, all of a sudden, the parties stipulated to a delay in the court's scheduling order. I still have a lot of work to do, but now it's not so urgent. So I came home. At 4 pm. I have a long weekend all to myself.

I can't believe it's been a year since I started this blog. Much has happened: graduation, moving, the bar, moving again, starting work, and next month--swearing in. Everything happened more or less according to plan and I am very thankful.

I think what I will do now is to write a series of advice posts for first-time CA bar takers, a la AGWIABE. I will go through my past posts and pick out everything that I think is useful, and condense it all. And when I'm done, that'll be the end of the blog. But I will leave it up indefinitely.

Welcome to the Bar ... Need Life Insurance?

2007-11-19T23:22:00.000-08:00

The envelope from the State Bar has arrived. Inside is a life insurance brochure. Why is everyone peddling life insurance?

The most important thing is the registration card. When you get sworn in, someone (a notary or judge) is supposed to sign that card. There are ceremonies in most major cities but the firm is having a judge come in to swear us in and give us a pep talk. It'll be a bit awkward b/c not every incoming associate in our firm passed this year. After the card is signed, you mail it to the state bar. The mailbox rule applies: the moment it's dispatched you are admitted to practice. One month later, your bar number arrives in the mail.

I still have my study materials. Will turn it all in this weekend.

If I Didn't Pass...

2007-11-17T17:07:00.000-08:00

[Edit: This post has been removed by its author.]

Passed!

2007-11-16T19:00:00.000-08:00

Apologies for the late post. I was drinking at a bar. Congrats to all who passed!!!

Complete the necessary general education; (check)
Register with the Committee of Bar Examiners as a law student or attorney applicant; (check)
Complete the requisite legal education; (check)
File an application to take the First-Year Law Students' Examination and pass, or establish exemption from the examination; (not necessary)
File an application to take the bar examination and after eligibility has been confirmed, take and pass the examination; (CHECK!)
File an application for a moral character determination and receive a positive moral character determination from the Committee of Bar Examiners; (check)
File an application, take and pass the MPRE with a scaled score of 79.00 or greater, which examination is administered and graded by the National Conference of Bar Examiners; (check)
Be in compliance with California court ordered child or family support obligations. (check)

Today Is the Day

2007-11-16T00:08:00.000-08:00

Yahoo Astrology says:

Quickie:
There is nothing standing in your way today! The road is wide open and smooth.

Overview:
Whatever you need comes your way almost as if by magic -- but only if you really need it, so don't expect that foot massage unless circumstances get pretty weird! Your mind is almost certainly racing.

Hmm...but I really *need* a foot massage!

I Feel...

2007-11-15T23:17:00.001-08:00

I feel nothing. Not stressed (about the bar anyways). I thought about bar results briefly yesterday, but it soon passed. I'm truly sorry for all of you who are stressed out and can't sleep. All I do is sleep.

Tomorrow the associates are taking us drinking. At first I couldn't decide whether to go or not. But then I figured, I can have some laughs and pass, or I can have some laughs and fail. Either way I'd rather have some laughs. So I'm going drinking. And find out my results when I'm drunk.

I should really do something for myself, pass or fail. Perhaps I should book a hotel room in Vegas for next week and drive there regardless. Driving grounds me. I remember during law school, I would always drive home after I find out my grades after the fall semester. No matter how my grades turned out I'd always be on even keel when I got home. I think long distance driving takes you away from the distractions of life and forces you to be at peace with yourself for a couple of hours. Always works for me.

Hours Billed Today: Zero.

2007-11-11T17:29:00.000-08:00

So. I went and spent the afternoon in SF. It's awesome how my Blackberry is a GPS device and I didn't get lost.

My main purpose in going was to get my hair cut. The partner in charge of my case is coming for a visit and I was advised to "do something about [my] birdsnest." I went to the same place I went after the bar--not that I liked what they did with my hair, but because I just felt like being pampered. There is nothing quite like the feeling of having fruity-smelling hair tonic rubbed onto your scalp by some metrosexual Japanese guy. He made me relax so much I think I farted.

The old neighborhood looks the same, except it's kinda cold now. If I hadn't made it clear up to this point, I lived near Fillmore/Japantown during the summer. I went by teh old Safeway. The same cashiers still work there. It's amazing how small the neighborhood is when you're in a car, basically a few blocks. Felt much bigger when I had to walk everywhere.

Less than a week now. Still not that nervous. I actually hadn't been too stressed. I think it's because I've been so busy; I haven't had the time to stress. The secret to happiness, it appears, lies somewhere in the pile of soul-crushing paperwork I keep in my office.

LinkedIn: Good Idea???

2007-11-05T22:17:00.000-08:00

If you're on LinkedIn, this recent law.com article on social network sites and legal ethics is worth a read:

"There are several ethics opinions that clearly indicate a Web page is an ad," says ethics expert Diane Karpman. "But are the social networks also ads? There are no ethics opinions on this." If a MySpace or LinkedIn page can be considered an ad, it's subject to some major ethics controls. For example, the LinkedIn site allows attorney Jane Doe's connections to post testimonials -- e.g., "Jane is a fabulous attorney who really knows her stuff." But the California rules governing advertising and solicitation clearly prohibit a communication that contains testimonials unless such communication also contains an express disclaimer. If Jane Doe has failed to include such language on her page, she's run afoul of the rules.

Yikes. Good thing no one has recommended me.

The Dreaded MPRE

2007-11-01T23:00:00.001-07:00

I'm getting more hits than usual today. Mostly from people searching for things like "MPRE scaled score how many do i need to get right", "mpre how many questions right to get a 75", and "mpre dont worry". You probably hit one of my MPRE posts back in March. Life was so different then.

Anyhow, if you are looking for advice, here is some. DON'T WORRY. Not because it's easy (which it is), but because you can easily take the test again (not much studying). Pay attention in PR, read over the Barbri materials, do the Barbri practice questions, do the practice exam on the NCBE website. If you do two of the four things above, you will pass. I promise.

I Almost Passed Out Watching This

2007-10-30T23:00:00.000-07:00

So nerve-wracking. Results soon. Life doesn't stop though. Right around the time of the results, we have a huge discovery response due. November will be hard.

Injustice!

2007-10-22T00:46:00.000-07:00

This spot is awesome because it features Jeff Adachi, bar tutor, author, public defender, and movie director. Goooooo Jeff Adachi!

Nice Flick

2007-10-07T18:37:00.000-07:00

I haven't seen this yet. But it just got two thumbs up on Ebert and Roeper.

Work is going. Met many people in the office.

The secretary tells me that some incoming associates in the past had been real uneasy about their bar result. The more I think about it the more I feel I screwed up on the second half of the MBEs. Hopefully I missed only the experimental questions.

Ok. Back to America's Funniest Home Videos.

Taking Bar-Subject Classes

2007-09-24T21:42:00.001-07:00

Does it help? Appareently not (seen today on abovethelaw):

[N]o relationship existed between law school courseloads and the passage rate of students ranked in the first, second or fourth quarters of their law school class, while only a weak relationship existed for students who ranked in the third quarter. Overall, Rush writes, “students in the upper two quartiles passed the exam at an extremely high rate and those in the fourth quartile failed at a high rate, regardless of which classes they took in law school.

Hmm. I didn't really try to take bar classes in law school, except wills, which also covered a little CP and trusts, which I thought was helpful, even though it wasn't California law. And I also knew a bit of agency and partership from a business associations class, which were had to take. And also PR. Oh and also a First Amendment class and some secured credit. So apparently I've taken everything. Except water law.

Nice Tune

2007-09-21T21:45:00.000-07:00

I still haven't returned the Barbri materials yet. Should get on that. Everyone is assuming I passed the bar. If I don't my world will come crashing down.

Work has started. I billed 6 hours today. It's really hard for me to bill 3 hours straight. I have to get up and go do something. A good day for me is 6 hours. I think 8 hours would probably kill me. The secretary's desk is right outside my office so she can hear everything I say. When I go walk around randomly, I have to make up some story about where I'm going. I'm kind of afraid of her. I like to carry around my Blackberry everywhere. It makes me feel important.

Loose End

2007-09-04T15:27:00.000-07:00

From the State Bar of California:

Your file does not contain an official copy of your law school transcript. If you have any questions, please call Information Services (213) ...

Oops. A few calls and $10.00 later, an official transcript should be on its way to Los Angeles.

Work starts tomorrow. I fly to city one for orientation number one. Then, to city two for orientation number two. Deep breath.

Here are some photos of the office. Left to right, top to bottom: (1) Corporate group. (2) A partner office. (3) Window view. (4) Library. (5) Conference room A. (6) On-site gym.