Behind the Times

Thanks to the bar, I've been a little behind the curve when it comes to the news. Didn't realize it until today, but Momofuku Ando, the inventor of the ramen noodle square and the cup-o'-noodle died a couple weeks ago. But for Mr. Ando and his miracle invention, I would not have been able to afford to eat and simultaneously destroy my liver during undergrad and law school. I'm eternally grateful for the fact that I could always justify another round of drinks or other recreational activities knowing that my next meal could cost as little as 20 cents.

A Day in the Merde

I'm starting to really hate the material. I didn't find law school particularly interesting, but every now and then I managed to drum up something approximating interest some of the topics. On rare occasions, I also find the bar material somewhat interesting. When this happens, the days move somewhat more quickly. Unfortunately, these days are increasingly few and far between.

I've come to the conclusion that I pretty much hate the law. Maybe actually practicing law, as opposed to playing the role of peon law clerk and bar failure extraordinaire, will be better. But then again, it may suck just as much. All I know is that once this is over, I'm going to have to figure out whether or not I really want to devote myself to this for the rest of my life.

State of the Union

Today was seriously the most unproductive day ever. I think I managed to do a grand total of 50 Con Law MBE questions. So, I'm going to stop trying to pretend that I'm going to study. In honor of Bush's 28% approval rating...I'm going to celebrate the state of the union (the state of my bar result, and the state of Bush's by now apparent alcoholism) by playing the state of the union drinking game.

I'm guessing I'll be fall down drunk by 6:35...

Hapless Law Grads 1, Barbri 0

I was only aware of the class action suit against BarBri in Southern California. Apparently there is a second anti-trust suit filed in NY. Apparently, the Plaintiffs just survived summary judgment and the case still has some life in it. Never took anti-trust law or unfair competition, so I frankly couldn't give a shit about the technical nitty-gritty details of the claim. However, I do very much give a shit about recouping as much money from a class action settlement/award as possible from the greedy fuckers.

Nevertheless, found a few interesting tidbits from the article discussing the case.

"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.

I realize that pretty much any class action settlement is bullshit, and should the miracle occur, I'll probably get some sort of coupon entitling me to the Conviser outline of my choice... nevertheless its still pretty nice to hear that I'm not the only one to think that the fact that BarBri is the only game in town is a little fishy. My eyes pretty much glazed over reading the rest of the article, but then I came to this little piece of trivia:

BAR/BRI courses generate approximately $125 million in revenue and $60 million in profit a year, according to the ruling.

Shit, that's not bad for paying a few flunkies to insert a couple of DVDs twice a year. All-in-all, I can't really complain about the actual BarBri classes, but I sure as hell can complain about the price. I'm sure they'll settle this eventually, but either way I'm looking forward to getting at least a BarBri mug or something when it does eventually settle.

Essay Subjects I'm Currently Dreading...

...Seeing on Exam Day (much less having to study for)

1. Property (in all of its miserable forms)
2. Evidence (especially the transcript questions-did one the other day and got slaughtered)
3. Contracts (least favorite subject of all time)
4. Civ Pro (not the worst, but can be a real downer at times)
   
5. Anything involving any combination of the words remedies, real property, and/or contracts
   

I'm guessing that we'll be hit with the mother load of "crossovers" this time around...Fuck

Greatest Study Plan Ever...

Ran across a repeater today who tried to tell me that he wasn't studying corporations this time around since it was tested last time. When pressed, he added that he might briefly look at it the day before the exam to refresh his memory. Maybe his Magic-8 Ball tells him things mine doesn't, but to me this is maybe the stupidest thing I've heard in a long line of stupid things related to the bar.

Theoretically, you could apply this method, and also eliminate contracts, torts, PR, wills and trusts, con law, and remedies, thereby allowing oneself to peruse the remaining subjects at a leisurely pace. I can only imagine how this strategy will work should corporations, or anything else, make a repeat appearance. I would shit a proverbial brick if I were in his shoes and found myself looking at a question about nimble dividends or some other shit. I'm guessing that approaches such this go a long way towards explaining the rather dismal success rate for repeaters.

Goodbye Isolation

As I’ve written before, I think that one of the hardest parts about failing the bar is the utter sense of isolation that comes with it. For me connecting with the 20% (give or take) of my class who also failed was difficult given the fact that I was only really close with one other person who failed, who for a variety of reasons isn't re-taking the bar. Although sympathetic, non-lawyers don't really understand the sheer time, energy and financial resources that are involved with taking, much less, failing the bar, and are therefore not the best group of individuals to talk to. I still find myself avoiding those who passed, but based on my limited contact with this group, generally feel like they regard me as if I just failed out of rehab. Until you've done it yourself, its really hard to understand what its like.

In light of this, I think one of the main reasons that I took the performance test seminar was to meet other people who also didn’t pass. It was a breath of fresh air to meet a class full of equally capable, smart and intelligent fellow failee’s. Other bloggers have compared failing the stages of grief that accompany the death of a close friend or relative. I agree with this analogy, as I found myself experiencing the majority of the emotions that follow the grieving process. To be sure, failing the bar is nowhere near as bad as losing someone close to you, but after having experienced both, I can say that the range of accompanying emotions are kind of similar. I feel like I'm finally starting to break the cycle of shock, fear, anger, blame and despair. Meeting others certainly helped me break out from the almost constant feelings of despair and self-loathing. I know that there will be days when I feel like shit because of this, but a least these days are increasingly fewer and far between.

John Holtz’s PT Seminar

Finished Holtz’s PT seminar the other day. All in all, I have to say that I’m glad I took it. I was decidedly less than impressed with Honigsberg’s PT lectures. I came out of it with the understanding that all you had to do was to make sure that the instructions were reflected in your section headings, and that by being a sheep you could definitely succeed in the closed universe of the PT exam. Obviously this approach worked for many, but it certainly didn’t work for me.

I was pretty skeptical about Holtz’s PT workshop. I didn’t know anyone who had taken it, and so I could only rely on limited information gleaned from the various bar related message boards. My sense was the people either swore by the class, or decided that his methods were too complicated to be of any use. After three, rather long and grueling days, I came away decidedly impressed.

His system (which I'm precluded from discussing under the terms of a non-disclosure agreement) was complex, but certainly workable. I liked how he encouraged the class to adapt his system to suit our needs, as opposed to most other classes that heavily push their method as being the only method to pass. However, the most valuable element of the lectures was the sheer number of tests that he forced us to dissect. I now feel that I have a much clearer understanding of what is, and isn't, necessary to write a passing answer. I'm not saying that the workshop is for everyone, but I'm certainly glad that I stumbled onto it.

The Performance Test

Not fucking up second performance test on day 3 would have gone along way towards a passing score on my part. I don’t know if the 50 (65 on the first one) I received was due to exhaustion or overconfidence on my part. I clerked extensively through law school and may not have taken the PT as seriously as I should have. It may have just not been my afternoon. Whatever it was, I’m determined not to screw them up again. I found BarBri’s classes on the PT to be just shy of useless. So I decided to shell out a couple hundred bucks for a performance test workshop. I don’t have high hopes for the workshop, but figure that it can’t hurt either…

T Minus...Whatever

Apparently there are 56 days until the bar exam. I’m finally starting to feel some urgency about this. This was not the case until today. I tried to study during the holidays and lugged my books around but only managed to revise a couple of outlines and do something like 32 multiple-choice questions, most of which I bombed. I counted backwards using my old Paced Program to create a new schedule, it seems that I don’t have to start torts until Friday...

I feel ready to throw myself into this full-time, but am stuck working 9-5 for another week and a half so that I can keep myself somewhat solvent during the run-up to the bar. I’m planning on putting in 4-5 hours a day after work until next week, after which, thanks to what will likely be a steady diet of ramen noodles and Kraft Dinner, I should be able to study full time without selling my soul to visa.

Holiday Recap

Haven’t posted for a while due to extended hangover better known as the holidays. All in all, not too bad, kept finding myself fighting this urge to bolt the room or individual conversations whenever talk turned to anything job or bar related. But when forced into conversations usually skirted the issue whenever possible – i.e., “yes I’m still working for ____ law firm, yeah, its okay… blah, blah, blah.” Couldn’t figure out if people were being polite by not asking or genuinely didn’t know. Whatever, I managed to get through the holidays with my liver intact, which is always good news.