12/9/11. Welcome to my blog. Thanks for visiting. Special thanks to my son, David, for designing it and to my wife, Janice, for letting us work in the dining room.
Since the February 2012 bar exam is in less than 3 months, I'll start the blog with a quick introductory note on how to prepare for it. First, however, let me introduce myself.
I taught high school and college for 30+ years, and earned bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees before matriculating in law school at age 55. Contrary to my expectations, law school was the toughest intellectual challenge I'd faced in all my years of education. Had I known then what I know now, I'd have taken a bar prep course or found a good tutor to help me learn the style of writing demanded by most of my law professors. Despite years of academic and professional writing, I discovered that I had to unlearn my carefully-honed techniques and relearn a whole new writing style. In fact, I was told by more than one of my law school profs that I had to learn to think and write like a law student, and not like a lawyer or a judge. In brief, they expected briefs.
After sweating bullets through most of my exams, it wasn't until I prepared for the bar exam that I found out the secret to writing the kind of essays that were required for good grades. Based on that bar-prep course and my own teaching experience, I designed a study routine that enabled me not only to pass the PA and NJ exams on my first take, but to do so without losing a drop of sweat. Friends from law school who weren't so lucky on the first try asked for my advice and found that it helped them understand the law, write better essays, save time studying and, best of all, pass! After helping friends and grading bar-prep essays for a couple of years, I began offering my services to the wider community of law students and bar exam takers. The majority of those I coached went on to improve their law-school grades and/or pass the bar exam.
For my first bit of advice, I strongly recommend taking a bar-prep course that prepares you to construct essays that get you maximum credit. The essay portion varies from state to state, so register for the course that focuses on the exam(s) given by the state(s) in which you wish to be licensed. The course should also provide instruction in the multistate (multiple-choice) portion of the 2-day exam, which is the same in all 50 states. If you'd like information about my tutoring services, please check the link in the bottom right corner.
Since we are heading into bar exam season, I expect to be adding to this blog on a fairly regular basis. Meanwhile, I you'd like to share a comment or ask a question, please feel free to contact me through my website. Thanks and come back soon!
