Curve Balls

Sometimes one must make a hard choice, even though in one's heart one wonders how fair this choice is to other people in one's life.  In December 2010, I left the Midwest never to return again (or so I thought).  I left my ailing mother with a good insurance plan, and her paintings catalogued (for she is a fine artist).  She was frail but fiesty.  We had Christmas dinner together.  Mom told me, "Your mission is to pass the California bar exam.  This will be the last time that you take it.  Until July 2011, work hard, save as much money as you can, and then hunker down, study, and apply yourself.  You are so close, and I know how hard you've worked to become an attorney."

I turned my little car West, and headed cross-country, and I tried not to look back.  In March, I was called home to care for my mother after she returned from an emergency visit at the hospital.  After she was settled in, and I had hired private caregivers, I returned to California.  Everyday since then, I spent numerous hours coordinating with caregivers, instructing the insurance company, facilitating bill payment, ordering medical tests.  A family friend pledged to take care of Mom until the July 2011 exam was done.  And, I pledged to return to the Midwest to care for my mother after the exam was complete.

My mother was a brilliant artist, full of life, and loved by many people.  She was driven by her passions and goals.  Mom understood and supported me, even though I was doing this last push for me.

My mother died on Monday of cardiac arrest.  She asked the caregivers to leave.  She quietly laid her last will and testament on the living room sofa, and she lay down to sleep.  She never awakened.

Today I am sitting in California, having coordinated my mothers interment this Friday, and her memorial service in June, like a grand strategist moving the pieces according to my mother's last wishes.

I returned to the Golden State (whose sheen has worn off) on a mission.  And I hear my mother whispering to me, "Don't give up.  I am at home, free of pain, and at peace.  Move forward. Take and pass the California bar exam this time.  Do this for me."

Model Answer to be Published in Los Angeles Daily Times, New Lawyers Supplement

Model Answer to Feb. 2011 PT B?  See more information via the link below.

http://barexamguru.wordpress.com/2011/05/13/coming-soon-free-stuff/

Reckless Indifference and Criminal Law

If you are grappling with criminal law and the felony murder rule, this documentary will not only make the laws all too real, but also leave you wondering is the law, itself, just?

http://www.recklessindifference.com/

What It's Like to Pass - Inspirational Video Captures Moment

http://youtu.be/bI1m_uZfH3c

For those bar passers, CONGRATULATIONS!

(I hope that this is me this next time, too!)

For Those that Did Not Pass, Get Back on that Horse and Ride it Again

Good advice for those who did not pass. . .

http://barexamguru.wordpress.com/2011/05/13/bar-exam-tip-what-should-i-do-if-i-just-failed-the-bar-exam-2/

Good Luck Today to Feb. 2011 California Bar Exam Takers

Here's hoping that you PASSED this (frigging) exam!  But, if you are staring at a screen that tells you otherwise tonight, or this weekend, take comfort that there are other brilliant people like you that took a number of attempts to pass this exam.  (And, I'm sure that once they passed, they didn't look back either!)

http://abovethelaw.com/2007/07/the-bar-exam-a-list-of-famous-failures/

Blogger is Baacck!

To my former bar study partner, and to all other February 2011 bar exam takers, I sincerely hope that you receive passing results tonight!

(I would have sent my well wishes sooner, but Google had some technical issue which precluded me from blogging. But, I'm back!)

Also, One Timers has answers to the February 2011 California bar exam.  The State Bar will post model answers within a few weeks.  So, take a peak at a bar review company answer by clicking on the link below.  I did an answer to the Evidence question last week - it was TOUGH!

http://one-timers.com/blog

Good luck!!

Boning up on Evidence - Objection!

Blago judge warns against improper questioning

Getting Ready for Exam Day - Tips from ExamSoft

http://www.examsoft.com/main/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=24&Itemid=39

ExamSoft also appears to be more compatible with Mac's than it has been in the past.

Age Discrimination is Alive and Well in these United States

http://www.aarp.org/work/job-hunting/info-11-2010/older_workers_the_new_unemployables.html

Quick - what's the test?

Intermediate scrutiny.

Yes, I Am. . .

signed up to take the July 2011 bar exam.

It took working as a legal secretary, a document reviewer, and a law & motion writer to save sufficient "pennies" to pay the admission fee.  Now, I am (I think) assisting an attorney to develop and market an extension of his practice in federal court, with dollars expected to roll in in a month or two, and just in time.

I have no health insurance and am deemed so poor as to qualify for medical assistance.  I was shocked when I went to a community clinic for the first time, to learn that I am officially "poor."

And, aside from losing my corporate job in summer 2008, with my income now at the lowest since my undergraduate years, I have wondered if I should stick to the law.  And, then I think that at what great financial and personal experience it took just to get through law school (which I loved) and how much experience I have gained in the law since then.  And, the faith my now dying mother has in me to pass this time.  (In fact, I wonder if she is weathering her health issues just to know if I did take the bar exam, but I don't think that she will live until results are meted out.)  And, how my mother's friends, and my "surrogate" father are still pushing me to pass this exam.  And, how my friends are, too.

So, a few weeks ago, I removed my bar exam books from my car (where they have occupied my back seat for a few months) and dusted them off.  A friend gave me the 2010 Bar Bri set of books, and I am ploughing through Volume 1 of the MBE's (unable to afford MBE software, for now).  I've listened to my PMBR CD's on Con Law, Crim Law, Crim Pro, Torts and Evidence, done a few hundred MBE's, and reviewed or written a few essays with many more to go.  (I am planning to write 48 essays, and outline another 52.)

And, for the first time, the MBE's (my bug-a-boo) are clicking for me.  Perhaps they are "clicking" because a friend advised me to do a question, look up the answer, and if I got the question wrong, to read the long BarBri outline pertaining to that specific area and read the outline to the end of that area.  (For example, Admissions in Evidence.)  She said, you'll find the nuances at the end of the outline, and this is what you'll be tested on in the MBE's.  Her advice was far better than the pat answers I have received, "You don't know the black letter law!"  Perhaps this was partially true.  They should have advised, "You don't know the nuances and the exceptions of the law well enough to apply them to the questions asked."  Now, I am enjoying the proverbial "Ah hah!" moment.

Moreover, I am not doing MBE's under timed conditions.  I am, instead, following the advice of BarNone Reviews MBE plan of attack.  This works well for me, for now.  By May 13th, I will have reviewed all the MBE subjects, and, at that time, I will begin to increase the number of MBE's per day and by end of month, to work the MBE's under timed conditions.

http://barexamguru.wordpress.com/category/mbe-study-tips/

For fellow repeaters, and new test takers, here's to our future success at the bar.