Day Three is History

Yeah! I'm done! Now just 16 long weeks to find out the results.

This mornings essays surprisingly did not contain anything related to Civ. Pro. The topics were Remedies, Property and a Wills & Trusts/Community Property cross-over. (I was right about the Remedies and Property being on there, but missed the mark on the other two in my predictions from last night.)

The Remedies question was a gold mine....so many things to talk about and the calls of the question were so specific. I loved that question! I think I wrote the most to the question over any other essay on the exam. The Property question was kind of weird, because the calls were also specific, but there was not as much to write about, so I don't know if I didn't see stuff, or it just wasn't there. I much prefer having tons to write about. The final question was also strange, because while I have done well on W&T, and CP practice essays, I never had one combined like that, so it was difficult to figure out how to organize it exactly. I answered it, but who knows if I did it how they wanted.

The PT in the afternoon was writing a memo of points and authorities requesting the denial of a defendant's motion to suppress evidence. Yeah, I totally loved that one, as it was from a district attorney's point of view, and I love the crim stuff anyway. The task memo wasn't quite as clear as Tuesday's in how to organize the final document, but I tried to make sure I included everything they asked for. There were tons of facts to put in, so I'm just hoping I used enough and the right ones.

Overall, the bar exam didn't seem to be that big of a deal to actually take. The studying and preparation is by far the worst part of it. If you have prepared, the exam isn't much. You just have to go in for 3 days in a row and do it, but it's not really that bad. For me, the MBEs were the worst, as I have no idea how I did and felt like I wasn't doing well. I feel very positive, overall, about the essays and performance tests.

It's so odd now to think that I don't have to study. Yeah, I do have to look for a job (once I get back from Maui), but I can stop being a student. It's freeing yet unsettling. What am I going to do with all my time? Somehow, I think I'll find ways to fill it! ; )

Day Two is Through

No more MBEs! Yeah! Today's two sessions of the California bar exam were 100 MBEs (multiple choice questions) each. We had 3 hours for each session, but I finished both in about 2 hours and 45 minutes, a little slower than my average in practice tests.

The afternoon session's questions seemed to be easier than the morning's questions, but we were given very strict instructions about not revealing any portion of any question or answer in oral, written or electronic form, so I won't do that. Not that I really remember many specifics anyway.

I'm tired and it's already 9pm and I want to review the topics I think are most likely to appear in essay questions tomorrow (Civ Pro definitely!), so good luck to everyone on the final day tomorrow. That's it for me tonight!

P.S. My personal predictions for tomorrow's essay topics: Civ. Pro., Evidence, Property/Remedies cross-over.

Day One is Done

I'm one-third of the way finished munching through the meadow. I'm completely exhausted but feel very good about the test sections I took today. First up this morning were 3 one hour long essay questions. The first was a Professional Responsibility one, not really one of my favorite topics because, as I've mentioned before, duties just seem to appear out of thin air and I never can find them all. Anyway, it was kind of a relief to have that question first since we are guaranteed to get a PR one somewhere during the 3 days, so nice to get it over with. I think I discussed 8 different duties, so hopefully that was enough to be a decent answer.

Second question was the bizarre one of the day- a cross-over of Con Law and Crim Pro. Not the typical Con Law Equal Rights, Due Process or First Amendment stuff, so I really have no idea on that one. I wrote for an hour though, so maybe I hit enough issues???

The final essay question was a Contracts one. I just worked my way through that one, but I didn't feel like I was quite as organized on how I analyzed that one. We'll see.

The most annoying part of the day is after each session, you must stay in your seat, silent, until the exam proctors pick up all the different papers (used exams, scratch papers, exam covers, etc.) from each applicant in their area. Most of these proctors move very slowly and most of the applicants don't seem to care to get their papers in order before the proctor is standing in front of them, so this process takes about 20 minutes. So, after just completing a 3 hour exam, you have to just sit there and do absolutely nothing for 20 more minutes while this collection process takes place. You can't surf (no internet access), can't send text messages (no phones allowed), can't get up to use the restroom or get a drink (have to stay in your seats). You are just so anxious to get out of there, walk around and eat something and it seems like they drag that out more than necessary.

Anyway, after lunch was the 3 hour performance test. Generally, they are just a matter of following directions and being organized, but sometimes if the directions are ambiguous or weird, they can be puzzling. Thankfully, today's was straight forward and the document we were asked to create was nothing strange. There were a lot of things to comment on, so I just did as much as I had time for. I feel like I at least touched on all the main points, though I would have written more if I had had the time.

The location itself is kind of odd. The building feels like a big warehouse. There are just rows and rows of tables, and they have us seated 2 to each table. At first I thought it might be too squishy, when you get your laptop and all your papers spread all over the place, but it was fine. I have no idea how many people are taking the test at this location, but I wouldn't be surprised if it were over 1000. We have assigned seating and I like my spot. I'm in the third row from the back, in the first section from the door. Makes it close to the restrooms and water, and faster to get out.

It would be nice if there were more lunch options closer. At first you think you are getting an hour and a half for lunch (12-1:30 when you are supposed to get back), but because the paper collection process takes so long, you don't really get out of there until 12:30, so you have to rush to get anywhere and eat quickly. Not exactly helpful if you are trying to stay in a de-stressed mood.

Tomorrow is MBE day- 100 multiple choice questions in the morning and another 100 in the afternoon. I normally take about 2.5 hours to do 100 questions, so if I repeat that pattern, I will be able to leave early for lunch and at the end of the day. (The days you use your computer, if you leave early, you are not allowed to take your computer. You have to come back at the end and get it, so hardly any point in leaving.) The MBEs are not on the computer, so I don't have to haul my laptop over there, worry about any technical issues, and don't have to wait to pack it up when I'm done. All of that plus MBEs aren't as high stress as the essays. You already know the 6 subjects that will be on the questions, and if you have done enough practice ones, you know the type of questions to expect. It's just a matter of sitting there and working through them. It almost seems like having a day off to only have MBEs tomorrow.

Thursday is a repeat of today, with 3 essays in the morning and a PT in the afternoon. They generally don't use a single topic for more than one essay, so the topics still available for essays on Thursday are: Property, Torts, Evidence, Crim Law, Wills & Trusts, Civ Pro, Community Property, and Business Associations. My preference would be for Thursday's line up to be Evidence, CP and W&T, but that is highly unlikely. Civ Pro is apparently highly likely to make an appearance, but I did well on the last practice essays I did on that subject, so I guess that shouldn't be too bad. Maybe none of them really look too scary right now.

Ok, I'm tired and I've gone all for way too long. Time to relax...

Well, This is It

My last blog post before I take the bar exam, that is. I have to say though that I feel pretty good. I mean, I've spent three years studying in law school and nine weeks of intense studying for the bar. If I don't know something now, I don't think I will learn it in the next 24 hours.

I'm just sick of studying and sick of thinking about studying. I want to be normal (or at least as normal as a person with a J.D. can be). I want to sit on the beach and drink tropical drinks and not even think! Well, I get to do that soon enough, as I leave for Maui a week from today.

But first things first. My study partner and I leave for San Mateo in the morning, where we will check out the site of the exam and make sure we know all the important stuff (bathroom and drinking fountain locations) and where to get a lunch quickly during the breaks.

I know it is all going to go by quickly. And next thing I know, I'll be on the beach, trying to be normal.

What Will It Feel Like...

one week from today when I wake up and have the bar exam behind me? It seems hard to imagine a life with no studying, no practice tests, no reading law outlines.

My return to normal life will be postponed for a week for a trip to Maui with my family, but I'm not even sure what this new "normal" will be. Obviously I will start applying for jobs, and have plenty of stacks of books and notes to sort through and organize, but then what?

Whatever it entails, I'm just excited to start it. I have felt disconnected to so many important areas of my life- family, church, volunteer work, and I'm eager to get involved again.

The Last Week

The countdown is on. One week from today I will be up in the bay area, waiting to take the first of 3 days of exams for the California bar, which starts the following day. Bar review classes are over, so I'm just going through all the subjects on my own. I don't necessarily feel ready, but when I'm outlining essay answers for subjects I don't think I know (ahem, Civ Pro), and I get every single issue that is in the sample answer, I start to think maybe I'm going to do ok.

If I had to pick the essay topics (there will be a total of 6 essay questions given), I'd choose Community Property, Wills & Trusts, Evidence for sure. Maybe Torts, Property and Crim too. I'd rather not see Bus. Org., Con. Law or Civ. Pro., but I could probably do ok. Professional Responsibility is going to show up somewhere, which sucks, because duties come out of the woodwork in those questions and I never seem to see them all. Remedies will probably be included as part of a cross over question, possibly with Contracts.

Today I did 50 mixed MBE questions, then reviewed Corporations and outlined 2 essays, then reviewed Civ. Pro. and outlined 2 essays. Time for a dinner break and then probably some more MBEs. Fun, huh?

Better Late Than Never

Last summer I did an internship at the DA's office. I spent my entire time there working on a gang injunction. I drafted all the documents needed for the entire process for the Dog Pound gang, and drafted another set of generic documents, for any injunctions they wanted to do in the future.

Shortly before I left, they halted the Dog Pound injunction. It was not explained to me why. I was disappointed that I never heard about it being filed, but there is nothing a lowly law clerk can do about such things since this is the kind of issue that is driven by policy. At that time, several gang injunctions were coming under fire in other areas of the state, so I wondered if that was the reason for the stop.

This morning, however, I was very pleased to read that this injunction has been filed. The permanent one was signed by the judge yesterday. Of course, I have no way of knowing if they actually used the documents I drafted for it, but it is still pretty cool. : )

Huh?

Sometimes I read stuff and I'll come across something that stops me, and all I can think is "Huh???" Happened this morning as I read this article in the local paper about an ordinance to stop solicitors on city street medians. Personally, I think if people would just stop giving to the panhandlers, they would disappear and go elsewhere. I'd rather have our police concentrating their efforts on violent criminals than rounding up the cardboard squad.

Anyway, the article contained comments from different people, including the owner of a funeral home. She was for the ordinance because she claimed that "panhandling by the homeless is hurting her business." Huh? Ok, I can see that if you have a store or restaurant extremely close to an intersection where homeless people are begging, some customers may be turned off or frightened. (But even that seems like a stretch, as most parking lots and store fronts are quite a ways off from the medians.) However, I have yet to see anyone driving around with a corpse in their vehicle, looking around to decide what funeral home to use!

Random Bar Review Phrases and Images

In honor of my last bar review class being tomorrow, I give you the BarBri random phrase and image list:

• Munching Sheep
• "It's my prerogative"
  
• "Everybody passes"
• "PLAIN VIEW"
• "Fabulous!"
  
• Sharon Stone buying Epstein's $400 Cadillac
• "Make 'em liable!"
• Rapping aardvarks
• No-note-Chemerinsky
• Conviser wearing leathers
• "Good idea???"

Bonus points to anyone who emails me and tells me which lecturer and subject each of those came from! :)

Bring It On

I'm not sure if it is because I'm just tired of this process, or I actually feel like I can pass, but the title of this post was finally my attitude today towards the bar exam.

I mean, I excelled in law school, under very trying circumstances, and I have been studying like crazy the last 6 weeks. What more can I do? Yeah, yeah, keep studying for another 2.5 weeks, but really? I'm just wanting them to throw it all at me so I can give it my best shot. Will that be enough? Who knows, but I just want to do it!

5 More Days

That is all that is left of bar review classes. In some ways I feel less ready now than I did 6 weeks ago because now I'm aware of exactly how much I don't know. It's depressing, tiring and I just want it all to be over.

The only topics we have left to cover are Wills & Trusts (ugh, 120 pages and 8 hours- I'm already dreading being bored out of my mind!) and Community Property (hoping that isn't so bad).

At this point, I'm not feeling like I have much motivation or energy to tackle this. And of course, that makes me more depressed.

Three and a half weeks and I can forget about this for a while.

No Wonder I'm Stressed

Sometimes this seems overwhelming- especially when I look back over everything that has happened in the last year:

• Last year just about this time, my daughter was diagnosed with cancer. Three hours after hearing that diagnosis, I had to compete in the Moot Court competition. (I did go on to compete in the finals, and my daughter is doing great and cancer-free now.)
• I worked 20 hours a week this last year of law school, in the US Attorney's office, responsible for a case load of over 100 cases in the misdemeanor unit. (I had 5 trials in that time, including one in federal district court, and got guilty verdicts in all 5.)
• I have had my house for sale for the last year, in this horrible market, and for most of that time was solely responsible for getting the house presentable for all showings.
• My eyes were opened to the realization that my marriage was an abusive one, and when physical violence of a deadly nature was threatened in a dramatic way, I had to move out and file for divorce in my last semester of law school. (I still graduated with distinction, ranked #8 in my class.)

Those are the "highlights". I suppose I have good reason to feel stressed! But I can also look back and see how I have survived and excelled in spite of all the stress. So I suppose that should make me feel a little hopeful if I feel stressed now.

One Month

It will be over one month from today. It's hard to believe, mostly because I don't feel ready and I don't see how one month will make any difference.

The bar review period is so much more intense than law school- studying 8-12 hours a day, every day, trying to relearn everything you have spent the last 3 years learning. It wouldn't be nearly as overwhelming if it was just the major concepts, but it isn't! So many of the MBEs test you on the very minor points or subtleties and it seems impossible to be able to remember them all.

I suppose the good news is that in a month, I shall get 3.5 months off from studying, regardless of how I do. On November 21, the results will be posted, so it won't be until then that I will know what the following 3 months will bring. Better not to get too far ahead of myself.

Just gotta keep plodding along.....one day at a time, one subject at a time.