Weekend Plans and Saying Goodbye

I like pictures.  This is why I felt compelled to visually track which essays, during the past 11+ years, I had outlined or written, to chart my progress.  The diagram, itself, is from Bar Bri's Essay book (2007 version) to which I have added my own updates.

I was fortunate to employ a private tutor for my beginning studies who set me on a course which I refer to as reverse engineering.  That is, as a repeater, while I needed to substantively review the law, my primary focus has been to "unpeel the onion" starting with the outer layer and working inward.  Translation:  I have downloaded and have now reviewed 111 essays finding similar patterns across many of them until the essays, themselves, have become familiar territory.  There have been some wild cards. For instance, the July 2004 Torts question included wrongful death statutes and a February 2010 business association question tested general partnerships and LLP's.  I now know what the bar examiners consider a "model" answer and that the answer, while well analyzed, does not always correctly restate the black letter law.  The answers, however, are well analyzed and the arguments are intelligently composed.  Having read numerous model answers published in THE RECORDER, I am also gaining an appreciation for the bar reviewers abilities to answer the exams, although most answers are clear, concise, and on point.

This weekend, aside from doing laps at the outdoor pool at my new (and temporary) abode, I will be concentrating on two complete reviews of my MBE journals and answering another 200 bar exam questions using the questions published on-line through the National Conference of Bar Examiners.  If I pass the July 2010 California bar examination, and receive a sufficiently high scaled score, I will be able to transfer the MBE score into another state where I plan to take the bar exam in February 2011.  I can no longer "hang tough" in California writing motions for just over minimum wage. 

Unlike my first attempt at the bar exam, I am unusually calm.  I felt this way when I sat for the MPRE the third time.  At that time, I simply studied the questions after one day of substantive review.  250 questions later, I walked into the exam and found my place with a yellow card laying on the exam table.  I studied the patterns of the cards and learned that the yellow card marked the spot of an MPRE repeater.  Aside from the sting of the repeater stigma, I brushed it off and noticed that the room was spotted with yellow cards; I was in good company. 

When the exams were given out to the test takers and the proctor called, "Time!," I marked the number of questions that I needed to do for every 30 minutes to keep me on track, and then I proceeded to calmly review and strategically answer the questions.  When I received the exam scores, I was shocked to see how well I had done.

Really, the approach to the Bar Exam that I have taken this time is no different.  It is strategic and focused.  I've learned that I don't know everything in Convisor.  I've learned that I don't need to know everything.  In fact, there's only a finite number of rules that I need to know.  The rest I can "logic" out.

The final night of the bar exam, I need to call the court to determine if I've been called to jury duty, or dismissed.  While I'd love to serve on a jury, now is not the right time.  I need to say "Goodbye" to California for now to say "Hello" again.

At the same time, I will be saying "Goodbye" to some people who I've come to know well during this long trek to the California Bar exam.  And, who have come to tame me, and I them, like the Little Prince and the Fox.  (From the book, "The Little Prince," by Antoine de Saint-Exupery.) An excerpt and a picture follow...

And [the Little Prince] went back to meet the fox. "Goodbye," he said. "Goodbye," said the fox. "And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."

So, you see, I have received gifts of friendship for which I am grateful.  When I leave California, I shall always remember my preparation for the California bar exam and the people whom I have come to know and who have supported me through this long journey and I shall miss them.

The Fox and I

If you look beneath the tree, you'll see the fox hidden among the grasses, almost imperceptible. I am reminded of "The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupery.

It was then that the fox appeared.

"Good morning" said the fox.

"Good morning" the little prince responded politely although when he turned around he saw nothing.

"I am right here" the voice said, "under the apple tree."

"Who are you?" asked the little prince, and added, "You are very pretty to look at."

"I am a fox," the fox said.

"Come and play with me," proposed the little prince, "I am so unhappy."

"I cannot play with you," the fox said, "I am not tamed."

"Ah please excuse me," said the little prince. But after some thought, he added, "What does that mean---'tame'?"

"It is an act too often neglected," said the fox. "It means to establish ties."

"To establish ties?"

"Just that," said the fox. "To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world. . ."

The Prince, after taming the fox, learned a great secret...

In memory of Reinhold, May 26, 1948 to Nov. 16, 2006.