BarWrite® Blog

BarWrite® Blog: Learn to Finish the MPT and Bar Exam Essays on Time

HOW ARE THE ESSAYS DIFFERENT FROM THE MPT? One obvious answer is that the bar exam essays are different from the Multistate Performance Test (MPT)--or the California Performance Test--because the essays require knowing a lot of law, which the MPT does not.But don't let that difference distract you. It''s easy to overlook key similarities. First, both the essays and the MPT require a bar candidate to stay in control of time. Second, both the essays and the MPT require a bar candidate to read

BarWrite® Blog: MBE Bar Exam Myths

"People always say that time changes things, but actually, you have to change them yourself."                                                                                          --  Andy Warhol

The bar exam season is here, and so students are asking me, "How many practice MBE questions should I do every day?" They expect me to give them a big number, like 33 or 50 or 100.

In fact, I take a totally different approach to the MBE.  Numbers have nothing to do with it.  My method for raising your score on the MBE is painful but effective, and it does not involve 33 or 50 or 100.  I say that the way to raise your MBE score is to learn more law and learn to do patient legal analysis.  That's right:  learn more law, do better on the bar exam.  What a concept!   But learning more law is painful.  Patiently applying the law to practice fact patterns, one element at a time, is slow and agonizing.  And on many days, you won't feel the progress you are making.

BarWrite® Blog: Michigan soldier in Iraq to be sworn as attorney in via live video conference

"The Michigan Supreme Court announced today that a recent Cooley Law School graduate serving in Iraq will be sworn in as a new attorney this week – with over 6,300 miles between him and Chief Justice Marilyn Kelly, who will preside at the swearing-in ceremony." So says a story by Margaret Lucas Agius in the June 30, 2009, Detroit Legal News Examiner, "Michigan Soldier in Iraq to be Sworn in as Attorney Via Live Video Conference."

Army Major Miles Gengler of Grand Blanc will take his oath and be admitted as an attorney licensed to practice in Michigan, despite being on the other side of the globe, thanks to a video conference arranged by the Thomas M. Cooley Law School.

According to the Detroit Legal News Examiner story, Major Gengler took the February 2009 bar examination in February 2009, which was "two days before he was deployed to Iraq."

Says John Nussbaumer, dean of Cooley's Auburn Hills campus, “I promised Miles that if he passed the bar exam, I would find a way to get him sworn in even though he would still be in Iraq.” Nussbaumer continued, “Miles is putting his life on the line for our country; arranging for his swearing-in is the least we can do to show our appreciation for his service.”

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And now a key hint for how to study effectively, from Bar Write Blog's sponsor:

SCORING HIGH ON BAR EXAM ESSAYS . This book "may be the best money you can spend on bar exam preparation." -- The St. John's Law School Forum. The BARWRITE® ALL-STATES MPT BOOT CAMP boosts your score on an often-overlooked source of competitive advantage, the Multistate Performance Test (MPT).  THE BARWRITE® TEN-DAY GROUP COACHING SCHOOL helps you pole-vault the bar. "My MBE went from a 126 to a 149!" Gemma Waananen Kenney (Member, New York and New Jersey Bars). Dr. Gallagher recommends that foreign-trained attorneys supplement BarBri or Pieper with BarWrite's TEN-DAY ESSAY-INTENSIVE GROUP COACHING SCHOOL.  THE BARWRITE® THREE-DAY NEW YORK ESSAY BOOT CAMP boosts essay scores. "Dr. Gallagher takes the mass of information studied and teaches her students how to apply it effectively in essays," says Christina Valentine, Australian solicitor (Member, New York Bar).