My son is taking the bar Tye and Wed
He’s a sressed out mess
And advice from those who have been through it?
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The most important thing right now is just to trust himself. With the amount of prep work he’s done by now, it’s all in there. It’s not about last-minute cramming at this point, its about stamina, it’s about getting a good night’s sleep, eating a good breakfast, and keeping his cool during the test. He’s got this.
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It’s not a hard test, it’s just a long one. Get a good night’s sleep, eat a good breakfast, and just put points on the board.
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And to that point: during the two days there will be plenty of times he’ll encounter a question he doesn’t know. That’s fine, nobody knows everything. Just answer the question and move on.
Hell, when I took the bar there was an essay question on day three where I was so exhausted I didn’t even know what subject it was asking about. Was it a commercial paper question? A secured transactions question? I just started writing. I don’t know if I got any points on that answer at all. I still passed with plenty of room to spare.
Just to say plenty of things will go wrong during the test, and that’s fine.
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During the short essay section, one of my friends misinterpreted the half hour left call for the five minutes announcement. He decided he just wasn’t going to get to the commercial paper question, and walked outside to light a cigarette and then turned around and wondered where everyone else was. He missed the last question for no reason, and passed the bar exam by two points.
Amazingly the MPRE was his biggest impediment to being licensed.
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Bar? What’s the bar? Good luck to him, and the hard part is waiting on the results.
My father-in-law likes to say that when taking the LSAT, he got frustrated with one of the sections and simply put his pencil down and said to himself that it must be the ungraded experimental section and he just wasn’t going to do it. He did pass, so he must’ve been right.
I saw a number of good students trip themselves up on the MPRE by not taking it seriously. It’s something everyone can pass, but you can’t not study. A few good students figured it’d be a breeze, didn’t study, and ended up having to re-take it the week after the bar. Oops.
When my dad took the Bar exam he misread his watch and thought he only had five minutes left when he actually had one hour and five minutes. He blasted through a last couple of answers and turned it in. Only when he exited the exam room did he realize he had an hour left.
He still passed, but it was closer that one would have liked.
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My son is a year away from taking it. But to join the proud dad parade - he got a job offer from one of the firms he has clerked for the last two summers so he is walking into 3L with a nice job lined up at a firm he wanted to be at. And momma is happy he will be about 90 minutes up the road.
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My son is weighing a few offers “contingent on passing”
Eventually he wants to get into immigration or civil rights law, but he has decided to bite the bullet and take the highest paying offer that makes sense and work there 5ish years until he has an establushed rep and some experience. Oh and to pay down the mortgage and debt he as accumulated over the past several years.
One of his offers is in the office of a city about 60-75 minutes away in central Washington. Aparently they pay significantly above the local norm and have a van pool from Spokane because nobody wants to work in central Washington.
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I knew a guy who was pretty smart, did well in law school, and failed the bar five times which I think was the most you could take it in his state. I always wondered what happened there. He ended up going into real estate.
Didn’t JFK Jr. fail it a few times?
For anyone who has followed this and/or contributed w/ advice or other communications:
My son Devon won’t know until the 13th if he passed the bar, but he did accept a job offer today (contigent of course)
He will be working as an advocate for parents “in the system” helping them fulfill requirements to get their children back and making sure they get the resources and benefits they are entitled to.
He says:
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state sponsored with nearly endless client base so no recruiting.
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salary was higher than expected.
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less than a block from his wife’s office (she’s a city planner) so they can travel together and have lunch periodically.
He is very confident in his performance on the exam and asked me to thank those of you that offered advice. When he read it, he said he was “blown away” and it was “very cool”.
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That’s fantastic, Jim. I’m always in awe of attorneys who devote themselves to public interest work.
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Anyone who would start their career helping people who can’t necessarily help themselves is worthy of much respect.
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What a terrific thing to do. Does that involve courtroom advocacy or more navigating the bureaucracy? Either way, that job will give him invaluable experience and insight into the human condition.
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My understanding is that he will be representing them in legal matters, including possibly court, but only as it relates to parental rights. No criminal matters.
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For the court system to work well, we need good attorneys on both sides. As someone who has spent over 30 years in child welfare, what he is doing is incredably valueable. His job will be tough and filled with hearing about the some of the darkest and most broken parts of humanity. Both in some of his clients and in how the system often works (or doesn’t).
There are people who call themselves child centered who a very quick to terminate parental rights. IMO - Termination of Parental Rights is the family court equivilent of the death penalty. Hince it should be done very carefullly with all parties having quality representation.
You should be very proud of him!
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For anyone who has been following or interested.
Devon passed.
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WooHoo! Congrats to Devon.
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