What Kind of Lawyer Do You Want to Be?

I’ve recently had a few changes in my professional life. Up until afew weeks ago, I was doing civil litigation at a relatively small firm.

At this job, I had quite a few cases where I pretty much did everything from going to court to drafting motions, etc. In retrospect, thiswas a lot of fun, but at the time is was causing me a little more stress than I would prefer.

So recently I got a new job a firm that is much bigger (although it’s not your typical “big law firm”). Here, I oversee about 150 cases that are going on all over the state of California. Believe it ornot, at this new job I pretty much work 9 to 5 and it’s a lot less stressful than my old job (no billable hours baby!).

However…

It’s also quite a bit more boring and more “formal” than my old job. I swear, when I’m at work I totally feel like I’ve sold out to “the man.” Ha ha.

All in all, I’m like where I work now more than my old job, but there’strade offs to everything.
I’m bring this up because being a lawyer will most likely be your next step after you pass the bar exam. Having that license to practice law will open the door to quite a few opportunities that you probably didn’t even know about.

Although it may not be high priority for you right now, it’s probably a good idea for you to think about what exactly you want to be doingonce you get that license to practice law.
There’s a good chance that your first job may not be exactly what you want to be doing out of the gate. Don’t worry about this. Justlike taking the bar exam, the practice of law is a journey.

Enjoy the ride.

Best,


Ron


P.S. Stay tuned for a BIG announcement this Wednesday. If you are taking the bar exam this July, you do NOT want to miss this!

Should You Take Barbri?

One question that I constantly get from prospective bar applicants is “Should I take Barbri?” If you’re reading this, the chances are that you’ve asked yourself this same question. As you're probably familiar with from you law school classes, the answer is "it depends."

The truth is, if you already gave good study habits and good essaywriting ability, the odds are in your favor that Barbri willbe "enough."

On the other hand, if you need work with law school type essays andyou're study skills are not top notch, then you'd be advised tosupplement your Barbri materials with other materials or possibly take a different program.

As for the MBE aspect of the exam, the key there is practice,practice, practice (there are definitely some short cuts to practicing the MBE that I’ll discuss in future editions of this newsletter)

Barbri’s MBE material is okay. So is PMBR and MicroMash. The best book in my opinion on the MBE is "Strategies andTactics for the MBE." If you don’t already have it, get it.

I would say the biggest “X Factor” as to whether you should take Barbri or not is your level of self-motivation. Probably about 75% of your class time when you take Barbri is spent sitting in lecture hall with a Professor teaching you the substantive areas of the law (which is not necessarily a bad thing, and Barbri does a great job of teaching you the law).

Once you’re out of class, it is up to you to discipline yourself to study the law and (more importantly) practice, practice, practice. As long as you can do this, and assuming you already have solid essay writing skills, Barbri would probably be “enough.”

On the other hand, if you have some specific challenges, there are other courses out there that you may find more helpful.

If you’ve likemore information on this,you can download my Report that goes into the detail about the 7 Critical Mistakes That Most Applicants Make When Choosing A Bar Prep Course -- And How To Avoid Them. You can download the report Here:

http://www.conquerthebar.com/download7CriticalMistakes.htm Download the report now.

It’s Free. No Strings Attached.


Best,



Ron


P.S. Was this newsletter helpful? Comments/questions are appreciated. Send them to Ron@conquerthebar.com

P.P.S. I’m thinking about doing either a Tele-seminar or online Video presentation in the next couple weeks with my latest bar examdiscoveries. Would you be more interested in learning test taking strategies (how to write essays, MBEs, etc) or the mental aspects ofbar prep (time management; how to stay disciplined, etc). Let me know.

Get Ready To Deal With Some Stupid People

Bear with me for a second. I have to get a couple things off my chest.

You ever get in situations where you feel as though everyone around you is crazy execpt you?That's how I've been feeling at work lately. I've been dealing with alot of dumb people, including a couple choice litigation clients and other attorneys (opposing counsel). Something about litigation gets people allriled up, that's for sure!

I know many readers of this newsletter are attorneys practicing in other states. Many of you probably know exactly what I mean.If you are not licensed yet, if a few months you'll be able to feel my pain.

I'm not going to lie, sometimes when I think back to when I was studying for the bar, One good thing about it was thatI was totally in control of my destiny. Whether I passed or not, it was up to me (for the most part). This is pretty liberating when you think about it.

Nowadays, I have to resign to the fact that other people, can often influence my circumstances more than I'd like.for example, if opposing counsel is a total idiot and is totally unreasonable, I can't really do much to control hisbehavior.

so from now on, I want you to be excited about the fact that your bar exam destiny is in the best hands it could possible be, your own.

No crazy attorney's are going to get in the way of you bar exam dreams (insert obvious committee of bar examiners joke here).

Now go kick the bar's ass,


Ron

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just thought I'd write you a quick a email to wish you a very happyThanksgiving.
It's true, no matter where you are in your life, you certainly have alot to be thankful for. We all do.

I got an email today that had a bunch of pictures of starving childrenin Africa. If THAT doesn't put everything into perspective, I don't know what does.

I definetly have alot to be thankful of. It's a cliche, but I am very thankful that I have a great family. I swear I don't know what I would do without my mom. Even as the years add up, I'll always be her "baby".We seem to never grow up in our parents eyes.

In addition to being thankful to your family and your circumstances,one person who you probably do not thank enough is YOURSELF.

I invite you to take some time this Thanksgiving to thank yourself for being such a great person. If you think back to your past accomplishments, you'llrealize that they really add up.

Keep it up. It's going to get even better. Trust me.

best,

Ron

P.S. It's been along time since we talked, but now I'm back on the computer.So be looking out in your inbox everyday (or almost everyday) for more!