The Gratuitous Promise

Join Me

2009-02-04T18:47:00.000-08:00

This blog was started three and a half years ago to document my law school experience. While that ended about 9 months ago, I thought it was also appropriate to use it for my experience with the California Bar Exam, and with finding a job in the legal field. Now that I have done that, I am moving to a new blog. I'll still be talking about what's going on in my life, but focusing on my career.

Come on over to the new place and bookmark it. I moved all the old posts over already, so they are in one handy place. Let's all roll our eyes together and wander on over to The Blonde DA.

It's Official! I'm a Deputy District Attorney!

2009-02-04T16:38:00.000-08:00

I haven't really wanted to comment much on my job hunt and interviews. Obviously, I needed to get a job and start making money, and when a person is looking in this kind of economy and options are limited, it is reasonable to expect that not every job being applied for is exactly what one would have wanted to be doing.

My ideal job would have been to become an Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA). However, since the USAO only hires graduates of ABA-accredited schools, that was not going to be an option for me. The next job on my list was that of a Deputy District Attorney (DDA). Prosecuting on the state level may not be as glamorous as working in that gorgeous federal courthouse, but it is still doing the work I want to do, and I was not really looking for a "glamorous" type of job.

Since the Fresno County DA office is not currently hiring, I applied at the DA offices in 3 neighboring counties. I also applied for a position as a Child Support Attorney here. I did receive an offer for that job, contingent on a background check being successfully completed. (In all fairness, had I started this job, I know I would have done a wonderful job there, and probably found it challenging while I learned the law in that area. Ultimately however, it was not where I saw myself being, and knew I would have continued trying to find a DDA position.) Unfortunately for them, but fortunately for me, in the time that check has been ongoing, I interviewed twice with with nearest county and received an offer from them this morning! I start on Monday. :)

I don't think there is any way I would have received this offer if it had not been for a couple of things: first, taking the Criminal Trial Practice class (taught by the USAO office chief) that gave me the confidence and skills I needed, as well as the courage to pursue it, and secondly, working the internship at the USAO for the last year of law school. I truthfully told the panel during my interviews that they should hire me because I was the best bargain out there- they could hire me for the lowest salary range, yet I had more court and trial experience than anyone at my level (and probably more than a lot of others). In addition, I found out that my supervisor at the USAO gave the DA a "glowing recommendation" for me, which I'm sure also put the icing on my offer.

I'm thrilled, excited, and just ready to start working. Can not wait!

"Is This Real Life?"

2009-02-03T14:19:00.001-08:00

More Babies = More Cash

2009-02-02T10:08:00.001-08:00

I so called this one!

Public Defender Gets Shit-Faced In Court

2009-01-30T15:49:00.000-08:00

That was too easy!

July 2008 Bar Exam Stats

2009-01-30T12:46:00.000-08:00

Kind of interesting to check out the statistics on the July 2008 California Bar Exam. Of the California, but not ABA, accredited schools, mine ranked 4th among the 18 schools in that category, beating the average 37% pass rate with their 51% rate.

Of the California law schools that are ABA accredited, Stanford had the highest pass rate with 97% among first time takers. Out-of-state ABA accredited schools University of Utah and University of Virginia both had 100% pass rates for their first time takers.

8 + 6 Doesn't Add Up

2009-01-30T10:11:00.000-08:00

More details are coming out about the woman who gave birth to live octuplets the other day. Like how she already had 6 children, aged 2 to 7, including a set of twins; like that she is single; like that she lives with her parents in a small home; like that she filed for bankruptcy and abandoned a home recently; like how she was using fertility treatments.

Who, in that situation, tries to get pregnant? With multiple babies? And keeps them all? Obviously, being intelligent and making rational decisions has never been a prerequisite to becoming a parent. And I don't advocate the government stepping in and telling people how many children they can have, but why didn't someone do something? Um, maybe her parents could have counseled her to think about the cost of raising 14 children (which now they will presumably be forced to share) or consider waiting until she was in a stable relationship with someone to help her raise the brood? Or perhaps a friend could have suggested that she concentrate on raising the large family she already had instead of taking on more.

I can't help but wonder if this woman, with stars in her eyes, thought this may be her way to fame and fortune. Get a reality show with a hefty contract and move into an extreme home with a fat paycheck. Who knows?

It just doesn't seem fair that people like this end up with so many children, who I'm guessing will not really have the kind or quantity of attention they deserve, while some intelligent, rational people struggle to have even one. I know, I know. Life's not fair.

Vegetarians Have Better Sex?

2009-01-27T11:45:00.000-08:00

That PETA ad has been banned from Super Bowl Sunday as being too sexy. What do you think?

Interview #2

2009-01-22T17:35:00.000-08:00

Today I had an interview with the second place that contacted me for one. This one was not with the actual department with the opening, but with the county's HR department, with a panel of 3 people from other counties. It was a rather short interview (though since I arrive quite early, I know mine was the same length as that of the person before me). Kind of boom, boom, boom, ok, walk her out.

I feel like I did well, but it was hard to tell much. They are going to speak with about 30 people over 2 days, rank them, and send out letters inviting the top 6 to return for interviews with the department. There are 2 openings.

Now the tricky part. Job offer #1 was made contingent on a background check. Since that contingency has not been yet removed, that offer cannot really be accepted. Until that time, it is not a sure thing, and I will continue to pursue other opportunities. However, since I know my background check will come back clean, it is really a matter of timing (and I suppose living in California, hoping the budget doesn't suddenly get yanked!). This job would have me starting 1/26 or 2/9, as the start date must be on the first day of a pay period. If I don't know by tomorrow, that would give me until 2/9 to see if I can get another offer, to have 2 to pick from.

Both jobs have attractive points. I'm clearly hoping that a certain one works out over the other, but when you aren't working, won't any do? I'm completely confident that I would do well and please my bosses at either. I'm just anxious to start doing SOMETHING!

Anyway, so my boyfriend and I are going to Las Vegas this weekend. We had talked about going to see Penn and Teller months ago, and once we found out that we both passed the Bar Exam, we booked this trip to catch their show. I haven't been in quite a while, so really looking forward to it. We have traveled to a few places in California so far (Carmel/Monterey, San Mateo (does the Bar Exam count?), San Francisco), but never out of state and not by plane yet. Of course, when you're in love, it probably really doesn't matter where you go or what you do, as long as you're doing it together. :) Yeah, yeah, I know that was corny (but it's true!).

Something else cool that we are doing is volunteering at the Fresno County Mock Trial Competition. The Fresno County Bar Association was looking for help, so we're going to be scoring attorneys for a couple of nights in the upcoming weeks for this event in which 10 local high schools are participating. We already received the packets describing the facts of the case and details about how to score the students. After law school (Moot Court and Criminal Trial Practice especially), it will be nice to be on the opposite side and be the one giving the evaluations and comments. Hopefully I can find something encouraging and helpful to say to all the participants.

Oh, and one more thing, Clint got robbed!

One Interview, One Offer

2009-01-14T07:54:00.000-08:00

After finding out in November that I passed the California Bar Exam, I applied for 4 jobs. All 4 were with different counties, and 3 of the 4 were for positions as a deputy DA. Two I have not yet heard from either way, but the other 2 called and set up interviews. The first was this past Monday.

This first interview was for the only job that is not as a DDA. I had figured that the initial interview would be with the HR department, so I was kind of surprised when I showed up at the given address and found it was the actual department of the position. I was interviewed by a panel of 3 people: the director and deputy director of the 260 person department, and one of the 6 attorneys currently working there. I could not read them and had no idea what they thought of me or if they liked me.

Before I left, I asked what the next step would be and was again surprised by hearing that they would make a decision in 7-10 days without a second interview. I guess even though they stressed that this was a "no glamour" job, because it was for an attorney position I thought they would want to put the applicants through a little more hoop-jumping.

I received a phone call yesterday from one of the three on the interviewing panel. I thought maybe she needed to clarify something I had said during the interview. Nope. She was calling to offer me the job. It is contingent on a background check, though I'm not worried about that since I passed an extensive one for the Department of Justice prior to working at the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Now I'm not quite sure about the second job interview I have lined up. If the background check takes a while, I'll still go and see what they have to say. But if the check is completed rather quickly, it wouldn't really be appropriate to go if I would be starting a new job a couple of days later. We'll just see.

In any event, I'm thrilled to have a job lined up and to know that I'll be working soon, as an attorney. Makes it feel so much more official. :) This position will have me in court 2 full days a week, and preparing for those days the rest of the time. The department has 70,000 cases, so it sounds like exactly the crazy kind of work I prefer.

A Stiff Sentence...Hmmmmm

2009-01-09T09:09:00.000-08:00

This story reminds me of a case I prosecuted last year. Gotta love those defendants who keep us laughing!

I need all the entertainment I can get these days. I'm so bored! Now that my move and the holidays are over, I have nothing to do. I have a couple of interviews scheduled for the next few weeks, but realistically I know that means I probably won't be working for at least a month. Ugh.

My boyfriend and I are going to see Frost/Nixon tonight and then to the Fresno Philharmonic tomorrow night, and I do have a couple of books I'm reading (Convictions, Principles of Roman Law), but I could seriously use some sort of project to work on.

Freaky!

2009-01-07T08:28:00.001-08:00

Do you know what an apothecary jar is? It's like the one there at the left, used to decorate your house by displaying various things inside. I bought a set of 3 at Sam's Club a couple of weeks ago. I put apples in the medium jar and lemons (picked from a tree I planted myself from a seed!) in the large and small jars.

Anyway, the lemons were creating condensation in their jars, so every other day I would take the lids off to let that evaporate. The jars are not totally air-tight (notice that there is not a seal around the lid). I figured I should buy something else to use in those jars, but had not done so yet.

Last night when my boyfriend and I were in the kitchen, we heard a noise on the counter, but neither of us saw anything fall or look different in any way. However, this morning I noticed a crack in the smallest jar.

I removed all the lemons to get a better look and when I picked up the jar, the top portion came off! It had cracked all the way around, completely through the glass!

I've never heard of lemon fumes cracking glass before and don't know whether to just return the jar set for a refund and assume it is a poorly made product, or exchange it for another set and assume this one was a fluke.

Has anyone had something similar happen?

"I May Be a Ho, But I'm Not a Crack Ho!"

2009-01-04T08:32:00.000-08:00

California's new no texting-while-driving law comes with a built in excuse. The law itself states that:

"A person shall not drive a motor vehicle while using an electronic wireless communications device to write, send, or read a text-based communication... (using an electronic wireless communications device to manually communicate with any person using a text-based communication, including, but not limited to, communications referred to as a text message, instant message, or electronic mail)."

But it goes on to say:

"A person shall not be deemed to be writing, reading, or sending a text-based communication if the person reads, selects, or enters a telephone number or name in an electronic wireless communications device for the purpose of making or receiving a telephone call."

So if you are pulled over for texting while driving, all you have to do is tell the officer that you were not texting but in fact just scrolling through your phone book on your phone to make a phone call. (Of course, I would never condone breaking any law. I'm just saying that, you know, I'm sure you would only be scrolling and not texting, right???) By the time you actually pulled over and the officer approached, I have no idea how he would know the difference. What is he going to do- confiscate your cell phone and look at the time of the last sent and received text messages and see if they have been read yet or not?

This law makes no sense to me. If the purpose of the law is to make dangerous behavior illegal, is there proof that scrolling through phone numbers is less dangerous than texting? Of course not, but I suppose they were forced to put in that exception since talking on our cell phones (with a hands-free device, of course) is still legal, and we could not talk if we couldn't scroll through the names in our phone and make a selection.

I'm sure Joe Simitian thought he was doing a great thing for our state by getting his law passed, but I have to tell you, I see a lot of other dangerous behavior in cars every day. I think he should also see about outlawing the following while driving: eating, putting on makeup, shaving, reading, listening to music, having conversations. I mean, all of those are distracting activities and surely accidents have been caused by drivers engaged in them. Senator Simitian, we are not truly protected yet. Can't you help us???

In the meantime, if the "I was only scrolling" excuse doesn't work if you are caught texting while driving, you can always try the one in the title of this post. I'm not sure it worked for the working girl who used it the other night on Cops, but it was pretty funny.

Don't Like Your Gift? Sue Someone!

2009-01-01T13:21:00.001-08:00

Here's a lawsuit I would like to see filed, strictly for the entertainment value (from our friends over at Not Always Right):

(An angry, overweight female customer approaches me with a Nintendo Wii Fit and hands me her receipt.)

Me: “Hi, what can I help you with today?”

Customer: “I’d like to return this.”

Me: “What seems to be the problem with it?”

Customer: “I think it’s broken.”

Me: “All right, what’s going on?”

Customer: “Whenever it weighs me and calculates my BMI, it labels me as obese.”

Me: “And…”

Customer: “Well, that can’t be right!”

Me: “From what I’ve heard, the measurements on Wii Fits are fairly accurate. Are you sure you want to return this? They’re pretty hard to find.”

Customer: “Are you calling me fat?!”

Me: “No, I’m just saying that…”

Customer: “You just called me fat!

Me: “No, I was just saying…”

Customer: “Whatever. I still want to return it. It’s obviously not working right. And, I think someone should talk to the designer; make them use a different word. It hurt my feelings.”

Me: *soothingly* “Maybe you could contact Nintendo; write a letter or something.”

Customer: “You know what, I will! I’ll let them know that their stupid game called me obese and made me cry for three hours straight. I haven’t eaten solid food for two days because of it. I’m so hungry! I almost fainted last night. Do you think I can sue?”

Me: “Well, you can sure try. Have a nice day.”

Happy New Year!

2008-12-31T10:54:00.000-08:00

I know this is a little early, but I'm going to busy later with my friends so figured I would post now. I suppose a lot of you are making New Year's resolutions, but I don't really see the point of that. If you want to be or do something different, why not just do it? Why wait until some random point in time? If something is important enough to you to make a change when you realize you want that change, it is more likely to actually stick and not be forgotten in less than a month, as most "resolutions" are.

I've accomplished so much in 2008, it is hard to know what I would resolve for 2009 even if I had to. I am now legally free of a very negative and harmful influence in my life. I took and passed the California Bar Exam on my first try. I'm completely happy and content in my personal life. There is the little matter of finding a job, but finding one is not a resolution. I will just do it. I already have one interview scheduled in a couple weeks, so I'm not really worried about that.

The Fresno Bee has a weekly page for kids called Scoopy Squad. Yesterday's edition asked kids "What are your goals for the new year?" Most answered with something whose results will be very difficult to determine, such as "be a better soccer player", "behave better on the school bus", or "be a better reader". Miriam in Kingsburg had the best response though- "I am going to help my mom make pancakes." Ok, Miriam, I'm cheering for you to make your goal this year. And everyone else- whether you make a resolution or have a goal for 2009, I'm cheering for you too. :)

2008

2008-12-30T07:38:00.000-08:00

Wow. When I think about how this year began, there is no way I could have predicted how it would end. It began with me finishing my final semester of law school, with an increasingly insecure and paranoid husband, whose threats of violence finally became too much to live with. While I was certain any attempt to escape would have disastrous consequences financially and possibly physically, I felt I had no other choice.

I cannot really even understand how I was able to leave an abusive husband in the middle of my last semester of law school and hold it together enough to get through that, moving, studying for my finals, and on top of that, preparing for, taking and actually passing the California Bar Exam. I must have been on auto-pilot or something, because even thinking about it now makes me nervous and a little scared.

But out of all that crap, a new and much better life has emerged. (Ok, yeah, insert your own "manure/flower" metaphor here.) I'm in a healthy relationship with someone I love and adore, where I am treated with respect and my intelligence is not viewed as a threat. I have a group of friends that I enjoy and see often. I am living in a house that is perfect for me, where I feel safe and comfortable. I am an attorney, licensed to practice law in California. I cannot think of anything I really lack in my life at this point. I am happy and I feel pretty lucky.

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-24T07:16:00.000-08:00

Wishing everyone a special time with family and friends! :)

My Gardener Rocks!

2008-12-23T16:28:00.000-08:00

Last Christmas Eve, I was surprised in the late afternoon by the doorbell. There stood my gardener, who handed me a bag of warm, homemade tamales. What a gift!

Since I only rehired him at my new house a couple of weeks ago, and haven't even paid him for any service yet, I doubted I would be receiving the same thing this year. But this afternoon, the doorbell rang, and there he was again!

I remember how good the tamales were last year, so I can't wait for dinner tonight. YUM!

The Place I Now Call Home

2008-12-22T16:46:00.000-08:00

I know I haven't posted much this month. It's been kind of crazy trying to move, get my apartment cleaned out, and do all the Christmas stuff (shopping, wrapping, decorating). I finished in time for my daughter's arrival yesterday from MIT. Now I can relax and enjoy her and the holidays. :)

Anyway, here's a peek at my new place. If you think this looks pretty good for only having lived here for 2 weeks, you haven't seen my closet! It is a true organizational freak's dream. :)

A Room with a View

2008-12-15T18:47:00.000-08:00

My boyfriend and I went to SF this past weekend. Here's the view from our room. Pretty cool, huh? If you look closely, you can see the rainbow to the left of Coit Tower.

While in the city, we visited the de Young Museum and the Legion of Honor Museum. Both are fabulous! In addition, we had an incredible dinner at One Market Restaurant. I can easily recommend all three places. What a great, short escape from Fresno!

Comcast SUCKS!

2008-12-12T20:10:00.000-08:00

I've been out of commission on here for the last week, trying to move, find a job, decorate for Christmas, etc. One of the biggest hassles has been getting the services at the house up and running. But actually it comes down to one incredibly inept company- Comcast. Let me tell you about my experience.

From my prior use at my apartment, I knew any contact with Comcast was likely to result in problems and the need for further service calls. Since I was moving in on Monday, I scheduled them to come Tuesday and had a 8am- noon window. They were to install my cable tv, internet, and phone (which they were to transfer from AT&T).

My boyfriend, who shares my disdain for Comcast, predicted they would not show up before 11:30am. He was right. They showed up at 12:10pm. Ugh. (Of course, later in the day, my son went to the apartment and got the phone and answering machine I had left there until the phone number was moved to the house. The idiots had left a message on that machine, telling me they were running late. Hmmm....now, since they knew they were moving that number from my old residence, and they knew my service window was 8-12, how exactly was I supposed to get that message? They had my cell phone number, and I had it on me at all times. Nope. Didn't call that.) Strike one.

When they arrived, "they" were a team of 3 Comcast workers. When I mentioned that in booking the appointment I was told it would take 2-3 hours to set everything up, I was told, "No, with 3 of us, we will be out of here in 45 minutes!" Shortly, a second truck arrived and a fourth worker joined in. My house had been remodeled from top to bottom by the seller, and the team appeared perplexed that there are wires in so many different locations. They went into my crawl space, my attic, and every room of my house trying to figure it all out. In the process, they tracked dirt everywhere and left insulation bits all over my closet. They moved furniture out to mess with all the cables. Did they clean up any of the mess, replace any of the furniture they moved, or apologize for any of that? No. Strike two.

Eventually, they did get the phone line working, and later, the internet, though they misspelled my network name even after I had deliberately spelled it out loud and slowly for them. I use my last name as part of the name and really did not want it spelled incorrectly. I should not have been surprised. No attention to detail is standard for Comcast. Strike three. But it continues.

They were not able to get the cable tv box working. They kept blaming it on "bad boxes" and "bad wires". It did not make sense to me that the working box which I moved from my apartment would suddenly be "bad", or that each of the next 3 that they tried could also be bad. After 2.5 hours, they gave up and told me their supervisor would be out soon to see if he could find the problem. If he couldn't fix it but knew what the problem was, he would apparently call the team right back to take care of it.

THREE HOURS later, at 5:45pm, I got a phone call from Comcast saying their supervisor was on his way. I asked when he was going to be there because I had been forced to sit around all day waiting for them and was leaving in 15 minutes. I told them I would be available from 2-5pm on Wednesday. Nothing better than letting Comcast keep you captive for an entire 10 hours.

The next day I was home earlier than expected from moving some more items over from my apartment when Comcast called. I told them the supervisor could come earlier since I was already home. He showed up around noon. It took him about a half hour to discover the cable lines had been damaged when the seller put in some additional drains in the yard shortly before escrow closed. He ran some new line, hooked up a new box and had it all working in a relatively short period of time. Why the team of 4 idiots did not figure this all out in 2.5 hours, I have no idea.

He called his guy who buries cable lines and I spoke with him and told him I did not care how he did it as along as any plants that were affected were replaced and the yard looked the same afterward. He asked me if I minded if he had his team come out on Thursday morning to do the work. I said no. First thing on Thursday, this team showed up and buried the line in my yard. They did a nice job and when they finished I could not tell they had disturbed any plants, so I was happy with that.

About 30 minutes later, my doorbell rang. When I answered the door, a man who appeared to be a country bumpkin greeted me. "Hi. I'm from Comcast. Did you order cable? I'm here to set it up for you." I kid you not. I wanted to scream. "Um, they have spent the last 3 days trying to get it installed and working. DO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING!"

How can a company be so disastrously poor in their service and survive? I have no idea. All I know is if there was another viable option, I would take it. Comcast sucks!

A Double Whammy Day

2008-12-03T09:54:00.000-08:00

I just received a phone call from my real estate agent informing me that my house recorded and it is officially mine. It had been set to close on Friday, but I did all my required stuff earlier in the week and asked if it would be possible to close early. As if an 11 day escrow wasn't short enough! ;) I got it down to 9, so very cool to have a bunch of efficient people working on that.

This afternoon, I will be sworn in as a member of the California State Bar. I'm also planning to take the oath to practice in the Federal District Court. When I think about it, I still have a hard time believing I passed the bar exam. I wish I knew my score!

Gotta run- too much to do!

My Degenerate Creature of Darkness*

2008-11-29T10:13:00.001-08:00

Of course, personally she thinks she is Rose from Titanic. She is available for modeling work for any interested budding artists. ; )

*You must go see Bolt. Completely hilarious. While the dog is the "star", the cats, pigeons and hamster do a great job of stealing the scenes. You will be laughing out loud!

My Advice to Pass the California Bar Exam

2008-11-26T18:51:00.000-08:00

Before you heed anything I say, keep in mind that advice is often worth what you pay for it. Ok, so let's finally write this post...

First, do NOT start studying the bar exam during your final year of law school. It won't help you. It will only lower your grades for your final year. Stay focused on your classes and doing well in them. If your school offers any kind of bar prep class, consider taking it, but do NOT freak out if one is not offered.

Secondly, sign up for a bar review course. I don't think there is a perfect one, so it's probably more a matter of deciding what you are most comfortable with. I took Bar-Bri, and while it had its faults, it kept me organized in my approach to studying, and covered all the needed topics and exam parts. If you do sign up for Bar-Bri, a few warnings. First, their web site sucks. So does their customer service. They do not clearly tell you everything you are entitled to, nor make all the forms for requesting things obvious to find. Secondly, not all their lecturers are as thorough as they need to be. The Criminal Law and Business Organizations lecturers condensed their material so much that they left out a lot of necessary information. Some of the lecturers are very amusing, most are not.

Next, give yourself a week off after finals. Don't read or do anything law-related. Take a trip, sleep, see movies, have fun. The next 8 weeks will be the worst of your life, so do something you enjoy that will help you make it through.

If the schedule of your bar review course doesn't start for another week after your week off, begin doing MBEs. Don't try to study first. Just start doing them. You can use a computer program like MicroMash (though that has its own set of problems, but it does help you to get through and grade a lot of questions faster than using a book) or a book. After scoring them, read all the explanations for all the ones you missed. Write or type out the statement of law for those questions and keep them organized, by subject in a binder so you can refer to them later if needed. Aim to do about 100 a day.

Once your bar review class starts, stick to the schedule they give you and do ALL the assignments. My Bar-Bri class was from 9am-1pm every day. After class, I came home, ate lunch and started working about 2pm until around 8-10pm each night. In those 6-8 hours every day, do each assignment for that day, whether MBEs, essays or Performance Test. In addition, type up an outline for whatever material you covered in class that day. If you finished a subject, edit your outline as needed and print out to put in a binder for your final bar review study outlines.

Don't plan on taking days off until after the bar is over with. Try to do something fun every weekend, like going out to dinner or a movie, but don't get lazy and don't talk yourself into thinking you deserve time off. You don't. You will later, after you take the exam. You're not there yet.

When you get graded assignments back that rip your work to shreds, don't get discouraged. I think they do that on purpose to try to motivate you. Sure, take whatever you can from their comments, but don't let it destroy your confidence. My assignments, except for one, had failing grades and bad comments. I didn't focus on that. Not worth the distraction.

After your bar review course is done, you will have a week or two to finish your studying on your own before the actual exam. Continue with the schedule of assignments they give you, unless you can tell you have certain weaknesses. If you do, focus on those. Force yourself to not study the things you know perfectly. While studying those areas may make you feel smart, you know you really need to focus on your weak subjects. Just do it.

Arange your time so your last couple of days are only studying your outlines you made from the lectures. Make sure you go over every subject, again focusing on the ones you are weakest on, AND Professional Responsibility, since that is the only subject that is guaranteed to be on the bar exam.

When you sign up for the exam, consider the different possibilities for weather, distance, proximity of exam site to available hotels, your comfortable level with each city. Don't go to one city only because you know it is the "popular" choice for your schoolmates if you aren't personally comfortable in that city. Do not plan on staying with relatives during the exam if you are traveling from out of town.

If you are traveling out of town for the bar exam, get there about 24 hours before the exam begins. Check out the venue for the exam. Find out where you check in, see if you can locate the restrooms, drinking fountain, nearby lunch spots. Remember, by the time the proctors collect the exams and get you out of there, you only have an hour for lunch. You don't want to get stuck in line behind 900 other bar takers. Consider getting something the night before, leaving it in a cooler in your car, and eating there. If that doesn't work, find something close and quick.

Decide before you arrive what time you will cut off your studying. You NEED to do this! And you NEED to stick to it. My boyfriend and I had decided that once we got checked in at the hotel, looked at the exam site and stuff, we would study for a couple of hours, but once it was dinner time, that was it! No after dinner cramming, no getting out the outlines at midnight. Cut yourself off and then relax the rest of the evening so you can go to bed without panicking. Tell yourself that if you don't know something by that time, you aren't going to learn it. You will make it up and fake it. Just repeat that to yourself if you start getting nervous and want to grab your outline binder.

Make sure your hotel is within walking distance of the exam site. Even if you plan to drive from the hotel, walk it and time it, just in case, so you know how long you need. Ask for a refrigerator and microwave in your room, if possible. This will allow you to keep breakfast food in your room and save you precious minutes in the morning. If you bring food from home, that will also help you feel a little more comfortable going in every day.

After each day's test, don't talk about it too much, and don't beat yourself up over stuff you missed or forgot. Don't get freaked out and go back to the room and study. Just find a decent restaurant, eat a nice dinner, and relax. If you have trouble sleeping, take a sleeping pill by 8pm (not any later!) .

When the final day is through, if you are able, don't try to drive home. Find something to drink and celebrate there, and stay one more night. By the time you get out of the last exam, it will be about 5:30pm, and you don't want to have to try to drive for hours at that point.

You will then have 4 months to wait. Try not to think about it. It seems forever. It nearly is. Try to find projects to keep yourself busy.

If you are like me, and hate to be disappointed more than just about anything else, convince yourself you did not pass. Resign yourself to having to study and go through it all again. Plan for the worst, hope for the best. Realize it isn't the end of the world if you don't pass. But when you finally get the results, if you do pass, celebrate and tell everyone your secrets!

Back to Real Life...No Longer a Law School Zombie

2008-11-26T17:02:00.001-08:00

Life has been a blur since finding out last Friday that I passed the California Bar Exam. I had mentally prepared myself to begin the excruciating process of studying for it for 2 months again, so when I found out that was not in my future after all, I jumped right back into real life.

The first thing I did is send off 3 applications and resumes to agencies for which I would most like to work. I'm hoping to get at least one interview and offer out of those. (Every boss I have ever had has absolutely loved me, so I know whomever ends up with me will be very pleased.) If that doesn't work, I'll just see what else I can find. Family law had been my second choice when I started law school (and I took 3 electives in that area) so that would be another possibility. We'll see.

The next thing I did was make an offer on a house! :) After going back and forth on the price for a couple days, we finally agreed and I'm in escrow on it now. It closes December 5th! Yes, you read that right. NEXT FRIDAY! Yes, I admit I'm kind of psycho when it comes to getting stuff done, but really, it made more sense this way. I can be in, settled, and decorate for Christmas before my daughter comes home on the 20th. Plus, it isn't likely I would interview, get an offer, and start a new job that fast, so better to do all this now then after I start a job and don't have as much time.

I've been swamped with house stuff the last couple of days, as you can imagine with having a 10 day escrow which includes a long holiday weekend. The appraisal was on Monday and the inspection was this morning (by one of my law school friends!). This weekend I need to go buy a refrigerator for delivery on the 5th. Hoping that won't be a problem.

Next week I need to pack and get everything ready to go. Oh, and there's a little ceremony on Wednesday. Something about swearing. Yeah, can't forget to go to that...