CA Bar

Yep. The bad boy I am tackling this year is the California bar. Previous victims of this beast include Antionio Villagrosa (current mayor of Los Angeles)--failed four times, never passed. Former California Governor Jerry Brown--failed once and passed on his second time. Former Governor Pete Wilson passed on his fourth attempt. Former Stanford Law School Dean Kathleen Sullivan, prominent constitutional lawyer who has argued cases in front of the US Supreme Court and is licensed to practice law in two other states failed on her first attempt.

For those of you reading this who are not my law friends--welcome. And thanks for sticking with me for the past three years (I know it's been a bumpy ride and I apologize). But let me fill you in on some background. Each state regulates the practice of law in that state. I want to practice law in California, and so I have to take the California bar. The California bar is tough. It is three full days of testing (compared to two or two-and-a-half days of other lesser state bars). Out of all the takers (both current lawyers from other states and aspiring lawyers), the bar passage rate is under half meaning more than one out of two people will fail.

The California bar consists of three days. Days are broken up into morning and afternoon. Day 1 Morning is three essays in three hours. Day 1 Afternoon is a performance test. Day 2 morning is 100 Multiple Choice Questions. Day 2 Afternoon is 100 more. Day 3 is a repeat of Day 1.

The bar tests 13 subjects. Multiple Choice questions or (MBE) subjects are:

1. Torts
2. Constitutional Law
3. Contracts
4. Real property
5. Evidence (Federal Rules)
   
6. Criminal Procedure/Law

The California Essay subjects can come from either the MBE subjects above or these below:

1. Civil Procedure (Fed and CA--new for Summer 2007!)
2. California Evidence (in addition to the above--also new for Summer 2007!)
3. Wills
4. Trusts
5. Business Associations
   
6. Agency
7. California Community Property
8. and others I'm forgetting.

So, this is why my posts will be sporadic, moody, and stressful until this is over.