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June 27, 2005
The Bar Exam Can Take My Soul, But Not My Innocence
Bar exam fact patterns -- or at least the ones in our practice materials -- are often salacious. The bar exam is, apparently, meant for mature audiences only. Rating: BE-MA. Before evaluating the finer points of constitutional law, torts, and criminal procedure, we often confront narratives about sex, drugs, sex & drugs, torrid affairs, spouses finding one another in flagrante delicto (nudge, nudge, know what I mean), and so on. We're all adults.* It's appropriate in part because a lot of the jurisprudence was actually formed in cases dealing with these matters, but the stories also help to keep us awake.
But this runs into a problem. In order to prevent every narrative from sounding like "P sues D" or "A sues B", the examiners either invent completely ridiculous names that no one in their right mind would give to their children, or the usey names from pop culture.
They cross lines, those bar examiners do.
There is something fundamentally wrong -- wrong, I tell you -- about a fact pattern involving 16 year old Pebbles seducing Barney in Fred's garage. That just shocks the conscience in so many ways. It's far from acceptable (unless you're Barney. But even then, you're facing 3-7 on statutory rape, so you're probably not thrilled).
* Exception noted for the one person in the country who complained about the naughty parts of Prof. Epstein's Contracts lecture, taking what little fun there might have been out of the subsequent two days of class.
Posted by buddha at June 27, 2005 07:23 PM
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Comments
"completely ridiculous names that no one in their right mind would give to their children"
You have an awful lot of faith in the public at large....
Posted by: jubro at June 27, 2005 08:40 PM
Me thinks you missed the point of the story.
But I'm rarely accused of overestimating the general public.
Posted by: buddha at June 27, 2005 10:26 PM
This Bar Exam stuff really has got you riled up, jubu. I'm loving it.
Posted by: shoepal at June 27, 2005 10:32 PM
How could it not get one riled up?! The system is ludicrous and it occupies all of my time.
Plus, Pebbles and Barney? Is nothing sacred?
Posted by: buddha at June 27, 2005 10:44 PM
viva la Bar Exam!!!
Posted by: aaron green at June 28, 2005 11:51 AM
Isn't Hosinberg phenomenally awesome? He's like a wind-up doll that never quits! I'm a fan, BIG TIME!
CHECK out question 49 on the Simulated MBE. I laughed out loud when I read it. The guy sitting next to me looked my way like I was crazy, which isn't half false.
Posted by: Fool at June 28, 2005 08:25 PM
I'm not such a big Honigsberg fan, to be honest. He's very cheerleader-ish, which does nothing for me. And he has basically told us that the Performance Exam is easy, as long as you follow directions. Unlike the other parts of the test, there's nothing to actually study or prepare,, and no way to predict the substance, so what am I supposed to be getting from the lectures? "Pass!" this.
Besides, Honigsberg and Sakai are the tag team responsible for BarBri's codeine-and-speed motivational system. Feh.
Posted by: buddha at June 28, 2005 08:54 PM
Don't like Hosinberg??? Good ideeeeeeea? Good idea to publicly speak badly about Professor Hosinberg? No. NEVER! It's NEVER a good idea!
I agree with you substantively, but I've actually learned how to try to tackle the performance exam. I'm so far behind on substantive stuff that the odds are starting to look bad. Grrr...
Posted by: Fool at June 28, 2005 11:23 PM
I paid a fortune for the privilege of having him give me pep talks, and he doesn't hold any sway over me in terms of a grade like a law school professor would, so I don't actually feel that bad about giving my honest opinion of him.
As long as I PASS!, I don't really care. He gave one tip I found very valuable, but other than that, it seems like the key to the performance test is reading and following the directions.
Will I eat these words later? Maybe.
Posted by: buddha at June 29, 2005 03:46 PM
But what about Question 49 on the practice exam!
Posted by: Fool at June 29, 2005 07:36 PM