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!
Monday, April 28, 2008
Thursday, April 10, 2008
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.
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.
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