It’s time for my annual (or semi-annual, if it’s a must to take the February bar for no matter purpose) rant in regards to the bar examination. I gained’t say a peep in regards to the disaster that was the February California Bar Examination. That prompted the resignation of the bar’s government director. Suffice it to say that the drubbing the bar has taken from each nook about its misfires would appear to make sure that the assorted FUBARS gained’t occur once more, no less than hopefully not any time quickly.
I’ve just one rule for bar examinees: STFU. What do I imply? Precisely that. Gag your self in case you are tempted to get into any sort of dialogue about any a part of the examination and the way you answered the questions, whether or not they’re multistate or essays or efficiency. It’s laborious sufficient simply getting by the examination with out questioning your self as to the way you answered, whether or not you missed points, or noticed points that others didn’t.
Don’t underneath any circumstances talk about the examination or any a part of the examination with anybody else, whether or not that particular person graduated on the prime of your class or someplace beneath. And I imply anybody else. The worst factor is to have somebody talk about very confidently how he answered a query or noticed a difficulty in a selected method and also you didn’t. Don’t assume that he’s proper and also you’re mistaken. Braggadocio doesn’t equate to bar passage.
STFU throughout examination breaks (no want to extend your insecurity degree which is already near exploding) and positively STFU after the examination is over for apparent causes: it’s too late to do something (not that you possibly can have essentially performed any extra learning throughout these breaks), and also you don’t have to spend nevertheless many months you’ve got till the leads to deep despair. The die has been solid.
If you happen to occur to be within the presence of anybody who begins to debate the examination, run, don’t stroll, in any course. There’s no approach to know that he’s proper and also you’re mistaken, and isn’t it a case of assuming details not in proof? Let it go. Don’t perseverate. Even these of us who took the examination a long time in the past can nonetheless bear in mind the rampant insecurity felt as soon as the examination ended. Simply ask any dinosaur lawyer.
Keep in mind after we have been youngsters (no matter when that was) we have been advised to play properly with others, “no kicking, no slapping, no biting.” Most of us have remembered that admonition though it’s laborious when opposing counsel tries our persistence. Nonetheless, we chorus. However one Biglaw summer season affiliate didn’t. (I’m most positively not making this up.)
It’s laborious to fathom how and why this girl determined to get her tooth (actually) into the summer season affiliate program. WTF? If you’re making a constructive impression within the hopes of touchdown a Biglaw gig after legislation faculty, this was a really unusual approach to go about it. This was not only a single chunk, however within the double digits. Was the affiliate pissed as a result of there weren’t sufficient snacks? Was she irritated as a result of she didn’t have sufficient probabilities to be wined and dined? (Even Biglaw corporations are apparently chopping again on the same old summer season frolics.) Was she a actually ravenous legislation scholar who salivated at alternatives as a result of her undiagnosed hypoglycemia? Has anybody ever heard of this earlier than? The place does this conduct fall within the panoply of bizarro summer season affiliate tales?
So, in a basic case of 1 who had bitten off (actually) greater than she might chew, she was let go. Ought to she obtain a breakfast of “chompions” award? (Sorry, Kurt Vonnegut. I couldn’t resist.)
Lastly, what struck me most in regards to the horrible tragedies within the Texas Hill Nation was not simply the dreadful lack of lives and of these nonetheless lacking, however how folks got here collectively to do what they may to assist in so many diversified methods too quite a few to depend. I don’t assume anybody requested about political affiliations, how they’d voted in 2024, whether or not they have been Republican, Democrat, MAGA, or some other persuasion of no matter variety. Individuals from throughout the border, skilled firefighters in addition to volunteers, helped as well.
There was one aim that all the folks had on this tragedy and that was to assist in no matter methods doable. There have been no litmus or loyalty assessments, simply neighbors, buddies, and strangers who noticed the unimaginable want and pitched in. Is there a lesson on this for all of us?
Jill Switzer has been an energetic member of the State Bar of California for over 40 years. She remembers working towards legislation in a kinder, gentler time. She’s had a various authorized profession, together with stints as a deputy district lawyer, a solo observe, and a number of other senior in-house gigs. She now mediates full-time, which provides her the chance to see dinosaurs, millennials, and people in-between work together — it’s not at all times civil. You may attain her by e mail at oldladylawyer@gmail.com.
The submit The Bar Exam, The Biter, And Borderless Acts Of Kindness appeared first on Above the Law.
