0L Preparation: A Lawyer Walks Into a Bar...

Law students, in general, tend to be high-strung overachievers with slightly neurotic tendencies. You think I'm kidding, but I'm not. And in a majority of cases, future law students are desparate to find a leg up on the competition, even before getting to the hallowed halls of their chosen institution. They try to prep for law school before ever setting foot in a classroom.

This is like trying to learn to fly an airplane JUST by reading the owners manual for a Cessna. It's just not possible.

Unless this 0L has had a LOT of legal experience in the past, odds are that they are not going to know how to brief, or even how to read a real case. And so ordering casebooks and hornbooks and sitting down with them is going to be like a 6 year old sitting down with War and Peace. Odds are they're NOT going to get it, and just end up more confused than ever.

As a 0L, I have these same tendencies to try to get ahead. But I know myself, and I know that trying to slog through a commercial outline or a casebook without going to a class where they're explaining it is just going to make me even more neurotic and depressed about the challenges I have to face in a few months. So I'm trying to stay away from the actual prep work for 1L by preparing for law school in general, as well as an eventual career in law.

Every so often, I'll read a book or watch a movie and file away some information for future use. And now I'll share some of that information with you. A movie that I recently streamed on Netflix was particularly interesting (and anxiety-inducing), and I felt compelled to share it all with you so that you, too, can feel this particular brand of fascination mixed with panic. A Lawyer Walks Into a Bar... is a documentary film following 6 California law graduates all attempting to take and pass the July 2006 bar exam. We follow them in their daily lives and studies for a 12 week period leading up to the exam in Ontario, CA.

So who do we get to know on this journey? Well, two subjects (Cassandra and Megan) both graduated that year from Loyola Law School, one (Tricia) had just graduated that year from UCLA, one (Sam) had graduated two years earlier (also from Loyola, I believe), one (Magda) believed that she had just graduated from People's College of Law, and one (Don) had graduated from Western State College of Law in 1980, and was taking the bar exam for the...are you ready?...42nd time.

We follow these six subjects through their bar prep courses, while the 4 new grads prepare for the 1st time, Sam for his third attempt, and Don for his (I still can't believe it) 42nd go. They relay their fears and anxieties, the stress of studying for an exam that's not just knowledge-based but also a competition (only so many can pass in a year), and address the sacrifices they've had to make in order to prepare.

They show the cameras where their hair has literally fallen out in clumps, fall into fits of laughter to keep from crying, and express what the massive amount of caffeine is doing to their nervous system. Cassandra's young son falls ill and has to go to the hospital, and she has to wrestle with her feelings on inadequacy when she chooses to stay in and study rather than spend another day with him during visiting hours.

I think every person considering a career as a lawyer should take a look at this film. Aside from just following the six exam takers, there are also interviews with famous trial lawyers, law professors, and television personalities about the type of person it takes to be a serious litigator, which is VERY interesting.

This movie shows a potential law student what they can realistically look forward to after graduation. The stress, the drama, the anxiety...it's all worth it if you pass, but what if you don't?

SPOILER ALERT: For those of you wondering, Cassandra and Megan both passed the July 2006 exam. Tricia failed, but passed in July 2007. Sam and Don both failed (again) and have yet to be admitted in California as of today. Magda was unable to sit the exam because it was determined she didn't have enough credits at the law school to be able to take the bar. However, a Cal Bar Attorney Search shows that she was admitted to the bar in 2009.

Only 1/3 of our subjects passed the exam in July 2006. This is about even with the pass rate for California over all, which was (I believe) 36% for this exam. That's so crazy when you think about it!

It's important to know, as a 0L or a 1L, that this is what you really want to do, and that you'll be committed and see it through to the end. Being aware of the end goal (namely, passing the bar exam) from the start will help you see the light at the end of the law school tunnel, and hopefully get through the next 3 years (and the exam) with a steady head.

You can make it into law school, but can you pass the bar?

So, the 2010 Bar Exam results for the state of California are pretty interesting.

You can see a break down by school, which is the best way to judge similar schools in the same state.

Personally, I find it a little disheartening. I also think that the only reason that the overall pass rate is so high is ONLY because Stanford has a 98% pass rate. And when you look at the TTT and TTTT schools and the number of people who have to retake after graduating (and the percent of retakes that pass!) it's pretty scary.

I work at my local Bar Association (after being laid off during a round of budget cuts at a mid-law firm here in town...the legal field is DEFINITELY not safe from the economy, people!) and so I get to meet a lot of attorneys and support staff from all over the city, in all sorts of jobs and practice areas. If you're interested in getting some good advice about law school and the bar exam, start attending events through your local bar association, or with the local Young Lawyers sections...it's pretty great, and often free for students.

Recently I had a lot of contact with someone identifying themselves as a law clerk at a well-known firm in town. Being that it's the middle of the school year, and that there aren't any law schools here in my fair hometown, I was a little curious about him, and so at a recent event where I met this person I thought I might pick his brain a little.

He went to a T4 law school in California a few years after his undergrad, after working at a law firm for a year or two as a legal assistant (sounds familiar). He figured he wouldn't have any problem getting a job, so the fact that he didn't have a good GPA or a great LSAT didn't bother him, so he went to law school anyway.

Honestly, with his connections (the legal market where I live is pretty insulated, and if you work for a few years at a firm and make a good impression it doesn't really matter where you go, you're in like Flynn), he probably could have gotten a decent(ish) job post-grad.

If he had been able to pass the bar.

I felt sorry for him when he told me he's taken the exam 5 times since graduating six years ago, and hasn't ever been able to pass. And then I realized that it's probably a pretty common story. I mean, it's obviously common enough that Grey's Anatomy worked it into their story line. I remember that there was an episode about a girl who had taken the bar 4 times and failed each time, and then when it came time to take it for the fifth time had some sort of breakdown and couldn't subject herself to failing yet again, so rather than just give up she pretty much mutilated her hands in order to have a legit reason to skip out of the test.

Can we say cray-cray?

Ultimately, you have to go somewhere that not only teaches you the law, but will also prepare you to pass the bar. You can take as many bar prep classes as you want, but if you don't have a solid foundation upon which to build, you'll never be able to make it through the two-day endurance test/hell that is the bar exam.

I know that this is a MAJOR case of crossing a bridge before you come to it, or counting your eggs before they hatch, or whatever, but it's definitely something to think about when choosing a law school.