BarWrite® Blog

What Was the Supreme Court's Holding in the Obamacare Case?

The Supreme Court's decision in the case regarding the Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare"), National Federation of Independent Business v. Sibelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services, No. 11-393 (June 28, 2012), is now out. Read it here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/documents/supreme-court-health-care-decision-text.html  See the bottom of this note for early analyses pro and con. Pending a reading of the full opinion, here is a brief analysis from the Washington Post:

How to Get Maximum Pay-Off From Every Minute of Law or Bar Exam Study

Here are three more tips from Dr. Mary Campbell Gallagher, president of BarWrite^®, to help you get the maximum pay-off from every minute you spend preparing for law school exams or the bar exam.

1. Before you read a set of notes for the first time, ask yourself what you already know about the subject. Write down three questions for which you will seek the answers as you read. When you are finished with that days reading, make sure you have answered your questions. BE AN ACTIVE READER.

2. The bar exam graders are looking for evidence that you know the black letter law and can apply it in

Read "Five Tips for Faster Bar Exam Essays"

I am delighted to report that this week The Lawyerist blog published my latest guest blog post, called "Five Tips for Faster Bar Exam Essays." Here's the outline. Fill it in by visiting the blog. http://bit.ly/KOrm5R

1. Use time as your structure. Write down what time you will start and finish every essay and every paragraph.

2. Always use principles of law to make your outline, not facts or conclusions.

3. Once you have your outline, think the essay through quickly, and then start writing immediately.

4. Treat each paragraph as a separate, timed, task, like a short-answer question.

5. Before the exam, train yourself to write concisely. Then use your self-editing skills on the bar exam.

If you can use Twitter, you can learn to write the bar exam essays!

There's a lot of meat on those bones in the blog post. Read all about my tips on The Lawyerist blog, here. http://bit.ly/KOrm5R

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Tips for Faster Legal and Law Exam Writing

You can speed up your writing, whether you are in practicing law or you are still in law school or you are taking the bar exam. 

My observation from more than 20 years of teaching legal writing is that people who write slowly are not just slower people, with slowness in their DNA. They are actually doing different things.

So here are some things not to do if you want to write faster, followed by some things to do.