• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Law School & Lawyer GAF

Ouch. So terrible career choice, then?

I think that a lot of people who go to law school don't actually know what a lawyer's life is like. Hell, law school itself does very little to show you that. I guess I am lucky that I found a niche and people to work with that are great and it's the type of work I enjoy.

Now back to Bar Exam flash cards...
 

MechaX

Member
After doing fairly well on Wills and Trusts, I tried to go back to do some studying for Commercial Paper and Secured Transactions after doing the lectures.

zgS1xlS.jpg


Holy fucking shit. I think this might be my "bar exam anxiety attack" starting now.
 

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
Oh man, I got a traffic ticket for driving like 5 feet in the wrong direction in front of the VA. Apparently this is a "Federal offense," e.g. a Class B Misdemeanor.

Should I go down with the ship, take a day off work and fight the Man? I got a notice of violation for disobeying a sign on VA property (I totally don't think I disregarded the sign since I didn't enter the intersection). But I'm worried the Magistrate will think I'm an ass for showing up with a three part argument why that's bullshit. Or maybe he'll find my series of diagrams charming and fun on Petty Offense day?
 

Bboy AJ

My dog was murdered by a 3.5mm audio port and I will not rest until the standard is dead
Do it. View it as professional development.
 
So like... when people say you need to get a "D" and to just "pass" the bar.... how much knowledge are we talking here? Can you get away with having meh knowledge of most of the subjects? Or do you need to have decent knowledge of almost everything? I'm trying to comfort myself by saying "oh, well, it's impossible to cram everything into your brain and you don't have to know everything to pass." IS THIS TRUE? ;_; I know you can make things up if you get stuck, but you can't just do that for everything. I wonder what the minimum scores are in each section you can get and still pass?
 

mre

Golden Domers are chickenshit!!
So like... when people say you need to get a "D" and to just "pass" the bar.... how much knowledge are we talking here? Can you get away with having meh knowledge of most of the subjects? Or do you need to have decent knowledge of almost everything? I'm trying to comfort myself by saying "oh, well, it's impossible to cram everything into your brain and you don't have to know everything to pass." IS THIS TRUE? ;_; I know you can make things up if you get stuck, but you can't just do that for everything. I wonder what the minimum scores are in each section you can get and still pass?

God speed.
 
Gotta love MBE questions.

A 14-year-old girl suffered from pelvic pain, but did not want to go to a gynecologist. Her 19-year-old boyfriend, who reasonably believed that the girl was 16 years old, told her that having sexual intercourse with him would cure the problem.
 
So like... when people say you need to get a "D" and to just "pass" the bar.... how much knowledge are we talking here? Can you get away with having meh knowledge of most of the subjects? Or do you need to have decent knowledge of almost everything? I'm trying to comfort myself by saying "oh, well, it's impossible to cram everything into your brain and you don't have to know everything to pass." IS THIS TRUE? ;_; I know you can make things up if you get stuck, but you can't just do that for everything. I wonder what the minimum scores are in each section you can get and still pass?

What state are you in? I'm semi-freaking here in CA, but I'm just plugging away at it every day with the hope that by the end of the month it's all crammed in there. Via con Dios.
 
Can someone help me out with something?

I need to find out what statutes in the United States impose liability on Directors and Officers of construction companies for workplace accidents during construction projects. Does anyone know off-hand if it's regulated federally, or by state law through occupational health and safety acts or similar?
 
What state are you in? I'm semi-freaking here in CA, but I'm just plugging away at it every day with the hope that by the end of the month it's all crammed in there. Via con Dios.

OH, so I know I don't have it as bad as you poor saps :( My prof told me I need to average a 4.5 on the essays and I think 125-135 on the MBE and a 3.5 or a 4 on the MPT. So put that way it doesn't sound so bad, with the exception of the essays... unless I do really well on some and whiff the Civ Pro and Property essays maybe it'll balance out?

I'm just so tired of waking up, studying, breaking my fast, then sleeping. It's a horrible existence :'( I'm looking forward to the bar because I just want this misery to be over. Even if I fail at least I'll be free.
 
OH, so I know I don't have it as bad as you poor saps :( My prof told me I need to average a 4.5 on the essays and I think 125-135 on the MBE and a 3.5 or a 4 on the MPT. So put that way it doesn't sound so bad, with the exception of the essays... unless I do really well on some and whiff the Civ Pro and Property essays maybe it'll balance out?

I'm just so tired of waking up, studying, breaking my fast, then sleeping. It's a horrible existence :'( I'm looking forward to the bar because I just want this misery to be over. Even if I fail at least I'll be free.

Yep, just a couple more weeks. You'll be fine.
But, I wouldn't be trying to game the system and plan to fail anything. You need to be doing the best you can at everything. Playing games like that seems like a recipe for disaster.
 

Pollux

Member
OH, so I know I don't have it as bad as you poor saps :( My prof told me I need to average a 4.5 on the essays and I think 125-135 on the MBE and a 3.5 or a 4 on the MPT. So put that way it doesn't sound so bad, with the exception of the essays... unless I do really well on some and whiff the Civ Pro and Property essays maybe it'll balance out?

I'm just so tired of waking up, studying, breaking my fast, then sleeping. It's a horrible existence :'( I'm looking forward to the bar because I just want this misery to be over. Even if I fail at least I'll be free.

I'll be taking the Bar in OH next year...so keep this thread updated lol
 
Yep, just a couple more weeks. You'll be fine.
But, I wouldn't be trying to game the system and plan to fail anything. You need to be doing the best you can at everything. Playing games like that seems like a recipe for disaster.

Don't let my desperation fool you, that's just me trying to comfort myself. I know if I aim for the bottom I will fail. :( Will do Pollux, here's hoping it's good news -_-;;. If my ass passes you know you'll be alright.
 

MechaX

Member
I'm just so tired of waking up, studying, breaking my fast, then sleeping. It's a horrible existence :'( I'm looking forward to the bar because I just want this misery to be over. Even if I fail at least I'll be free.

That's pretty much been my entire existence for the last week. Shit sucks because it never really seems like I know enough (or Kaplan is just really good at blowing smoke up people's asses). They still grade essays "well below standard" even despite spotting most of the issues, and the practice questions are just getting more and more zany. I know the Bar isn't about knowing everything, but knowing enough to pass... But sometimes it seems like you really do have to know everything, even the most insanely twisted minority rules (like, I swear I saw a 26th Amendment Question somewhere).

I'm putting my all into this now because I would really prefer not to take this a second time in my life unless I'm transferring jurisdictions. My state's bar exam is fairly easy, and like 92% of first time takers passed it last July (with about like 99% from my school usually passing it each year), but it's still something to worry about being that "one guy" even when doing all of the work and prep, you know.

Ah oh well, two weeks and this will be over (and more job hunting resumes).
 

exarkun

Member
So, I hear that like 70% of lawyers regret becoming lawyers...

How do you guys feel about this?

Not a lawyer yet, but have an offer and I dont regret it much. Love the peeps, and the work hours will be bad but I actually wanted to do this area of the law after 2L year. So no complaints.

The bar on the other hand...damn theres alot of info. What are you guys doing to prepare? Im going over essay questions while outlining answer flowcharts (from the barbri outline) to memorize. And bad idea? People who took the bar, how much of it did you just straight up memorize?
 

Jintor

Member
Man my results sucked this semester. Did good in the subjects I hated, did crap in the subjects I liked. At least I passed everything, yeesh.
 
as someone who has worked in law firms almost all my working *sob sob sob* life must I always remind you summer associates that I do not work for you only but for hundreds of other people and don't come to me panicking that so and so partner in litigation needs this at his house in half an hour and blah blah blah.

relax, I've seen half these people in their underwear at home, I've seen them drunk, and I've beaten them at fantasy football (well not really true about the fantasy football part but the other two are)
please learn to trust the staff, we have been here longer than you and know all the quirks and ins and outs of the firm, and it's people. you are here to learn not spew your neuroses at me. chill.
 

AstroLad

Hail to the KING baby
haha that was always one of the funnier partner quirks was the guys that needed docs printed out and delivered to their homes.
 
haha that was always one of the funnier partner quirks was the guys that needed docs printed out and delivered to their homes.


yeah and I swear I always show up because I have nothing better to do with my life and there he is mister former US attorney general, ex DEA, his building off 7th avenue looks pretty on the outside but my god it looks like the projects on the inside.

and then his kids answer the door and it was just weird mang..... and the other guy is wearing wife beaters and is all chummy with me but next day looks at me like I have shit smeared on my face. YOU"RE WELCOME! I think I've gone to his house at least 5 times.

and has Madeleine from marketing (cute girl but batshit insane) have me go during a snow storm near union square not once, but twice from the same crackhead.

wait, I think I got PTSD from work.... aah, it's all good. I still love the place.
 

MechaX

Member
Almost one week until the Bar Exam, but I'm not even nervous anymore. I'm not burnt out, but the past three weeks has just been a perpetual haze of "Wake up, outline material + do MBE Practice Questions + Outline Essays for 8-12 hours, maybe browse GAF + play a game for 30 minutes/hour tops, go to sleep, have legal dreams/nightmares" repeat. I'm more of a zombie than anything else right now.

MBE... I dunno. I'm still hovering around the range of 65-75%, and it just seems like I cannot do well when some of the questions throw inane curveballs. I also have yet to write out a full essay (but doing that seems like a waste of 30 minutes when outlining the answer at least makes sure I'm going to hit on the big points). Plus, I've heard from some people that you need to do like 2,000 MBE questions to even have a shot of passing (which may be an extreme hyperbole), and I've only done about 1000 when counting all the quizzes, MBE practice questions, and practice exams.

God, I just want this to be over at this point.
 
I feel the same way. I'm not stressing too much, just doing the biz every day. I'm only spending about 8 hours a day studying though, I'd go crazy if this was all I did.

I think 65%-75% on the MBE is about passing, so you should be fine. I'm scoring between 70%-75% nowadays. I think that on test day, when we are super focused and concentrated, we will do better than our averages on the practices, because so much of getting the right answer is simply reading comprehension.
 

stn

Member
So I had a very average year in 1L. Had one great mark and three average/mediocre. I hope I haven't already ruined my future work prospects. I've pretty much been bummed out all Summer because of it.
 
So I had a very average year in 1L. Had one great mark and three average/mediocre. I hope I haven't already ruined my future work prospects. I've pretty much been bummed out all Summer because of it.

Depends on what kind of work you're looking to do. Biglaw or crim and family stuff?
 

stn

Member
Not sure. I mean, I'm still not done my degree so I can absolutely improve next year. I'm doing pro bono work in September, I've volunteered with rights awareness campaigns, was CFO for a student group, and run a non-profit with a friend of mine.

I'm hoping my well-rounded nature can make employers forget about my first year, and I've accumulated a significant amount of life experience. I'm aiming to wreck shit up next September. :)
 
as someone who has worked in law firms almost all my working *sob sob sob* life must I always remind you summer associates that I do not work for you only but for hundreds of other people and don't come to me panicking that so and so partner in litigation needs this at his house in half an hour and blah blah blah.

relax, I've seen half these people in their underwear at home, I've seen them drunk, and I've beaten them at fantasy football (well not really true about the fantasy football part but the other two are)
please learn to trust the staff, we have been here longer than you and know all the quirks and ins and outs of the firm, and it's people. you are here to learn not spew your neuroses at me. chill.

Ha. I think most of my class seems pretty comfortable with the fact that staff knows way more than we do (save a few summers, potentially).
 

MechaX

Member
Four days until the bar exam. I'm start to freak out over the fact that I'm not freaking out.

Same. I've gotten to the point where I accepted that I can't memorize everything.

With that said, a lot of these Kaplan test questions are getting more and more bizarre as to the extent they are willing to make multi-paragraph questions on exceptions that only had at best a one-sentence blurb in their big outline (and never actually mentioned in their lectures or anywhere else), or are just willing to word the question as poorly as possible even though you know the right answer because you know exactly what law applies, but can't find said answer because all of the choices are shittier than the average MBE selection, and that's definitely a bit discouraging.

On one hand, I'm not nervous. On the other, I'm still like "if the entire exam gets this pedantic, I have no fucking clue how I'm going to pass unless I was just born with encyclopedic memory."

On the other... pass rate for first time takers is 90%-92% in my state and I'm in the best school in the state (and I would like to think that quality of education at least somewhat prepares us for the one exam that will make all of this schooling worth a damn)... But then again, people have fai-AARRRGGHHHHH
 

exarkun

Member
Same. I've gotten to the point where I accepted that I can't memorize everything.

With that said, a lot of these Kaplan test questions are getting more and more bizarre as to the extent they are willing to make multi-paragraph questions on exceptions that only had at best a one-sentence blurb in their big outline (and never actually mentioned in their lectures or anywhere else), or are just willing to word the question as poorly as possible even though you know the right answer because you know exactly what law applies, but can't find said answer because all of the choices are shittier than the average MBE selection, and that's definitely a bit discouraging.

On one hand, I'm not nervous. On the other, I'm still like "if the entire exam gets this pedantic, I have no fucking clue how I'm going to pass unless I was just born with encyclopedic memory."

On the other... pass rate for first time takers is 90%-92% in my state and I'm in the best school in the state (and I would like to think that quality of education at least somewhat prepares us for the one exam that will make all of this schooling worth a damn)... But then again, people have fai-AARRRGGHHHHH

Im in a similar situation. Buuuuut the best bar passage rate belongs to the second and third best schools so...lol?

Im really calm. I dunno why. Other people around me are still freaking out everyday. I've also, just like you, acknowledged that I can't remember everything. Though, if I don't pass I will prolly not be seen by my family for a year or so. If we can't pass after two months of crappy vids/classes and questions...then god help us.
 
Congrats dude!

Bar exam in two days, feeling confident but I have a sneaking suspicion that Obama is going to somehow fuck this up for me.

I'm freaking out a little. My MBE scores are 65% if I'm lucky. This is terrible. Gonna do more practice over the next few days. I swear I never learned half of these exceptions, though. Like negligence with a team of surgeons...learned it in class but not in bar review. Ugh.
 
Res ipsa!

Just do as many practice problems as you can, write down the explanations on the back of flash cards, and then drill them into your mind. I find that I memorize the answers I've gotten wrong really well, because they annoy me, and after a while the same rules and exceptions and formats of questions keep repeating themselves. So if you just do as many practices as you can you can get your scores up. Even so, I'm pretty sure 65% is good enough to pass (Themis tells me the target is to score 120 raw score at the minimum, at least for NJ where the MBE is worth 50%), and depending on what bar study program you are using, I've heard that sometimes the practice MBEs are tougher than the real one because they remove most of the "easy" questions.

I'm averaging 75%-80% right now, just from doing the method I described above, for what it's worth. I was also in a rut stuck around 60% before I started doing that.
 

exarkun

Member
Got a permanent offer, now I just hope OBAMA doesn't fuck it up!

Congrats man!

And these MBE questions on barbri can go fuck themselves. I did a 36 question section of only advanced questions and...I will fail the bar if I keep missing em like I did. The real questions in their practice books (I wish they would just give us straight up old tests) aren't as bad so Im hoping.
 

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
Good luck to anyone doing the Bar today (California, don't know about other states)
 
Finished day 1 today, in NY. Currently on the way to Atlantic City from Albany -- helluva drive.

Feeling pretty good so far. I only had to bullshit about two sub-questions. The MPT threw me for a complete loop though, it was a format that I've never practiced (redrafting a contract and explaining the changes.) I did it in standard legal memo format, hope it was okay.
 

Sol1dus

Member
Good luck everyone, let us know how it went!


PS. Do you guys recommend the Kaplan study guide for the LSAT in addition to the LSAC Superprep?
 
Top Bottom