Raging Bitch*

1/21/2012    It was high noon. I was leaving a first-year lecture, shaking my head in disbelief over what had just happened. The professor stopped on his way to lunch to inform me that I had a problem common to many older students, namely, I thought like a lawyer, not a student. Then he stuck his head back in the clouds and walked away. Hello! Now what do I do?

I’d taught high school and college for 30 years before law school. If I noticed a student with a problem, I took time with him or her to figure out what we could do to move ahead. Why didn't this guy just ask me to come and see him sometime to talk instead of merely dispensing his dime-store wisdom? Maybe that’s the difference between professing and teaching.

I’d asked a question in class that day to which the prof replied: “How can you not know that?” Three strike-backs came to mind: 1) "Asshole!" 2) “If I knew it all, I’d be teaching the class!” and 3) “I must have slept through that lecture.” I chose the compromise reply (#3). That pretty much characterized my early law school experience. (Remind me to recount the horrors of my legal writing class sometime.)

So is it for many older students. One reader, GP, who entered law school at 45, commented: “both law school and the bar exam are raging bitches!" Like so many older students, GP “worked full time for two years,” taking classes part time. He “never really grasped the ‘correct’ way to write an essay.”  GP “got passing scores in school, but [has been] unable to modify [his] writing style to the requirements of the bar exam.”

            GP began his legal studies after a long career that required him to “break problems down into their smallest component elements,“ treating “all issues, both minor and major, equally." After several cracks at the exam, he’s well aware that “the bar graders want something different.”

            Yo, GP and other friends, the graders do need the elements broken down into their component parts, but only the elements that they consider relevant! See my 12/13/11 posting, paraphrased here: “THE GRADERS ARE SECOND GRADERS!!! They need it simple, like kids in second grade. So explain in simple sentences and WRITE ONE PARAGRAPH FOR THE RULES AND A SECOND ONE TO APPLY THE RULES TO THE FACTS. Assume nothing except that the simple-minded graders won't give you credit for two paragraphs' worth of essay if you don't separate the rules and application to the facts into two paragraphs.”

            I wish I’d learned that basic lesson in law school, but it took me years of suffering through Law School Hell and two rounds of BarBri to finally get it. Like my carpenter friend says: “Measure twice; cut once.” The Scouts remind us to "be prepared." Students and bar exam takers, if this sounds all too familiar, please check out <www.PaBarCoach.com> or comment on this blog. Good luck and thanks for reading!

*Thanks to my wife, Janice, for editing this post.