BarWrite® Blog

Harvard Law Review Launches Online Version of The Bluebook

Bluebook users rejoice! Harvard Law Review has now launched an online version of The Bluebook! That frustrating, maddening, vital authority on legal citation form had, back in my own time at

Celebrate National Grammar Day

March 4 is National Grammar Day. Are you ready? Are you careful to keep who and whom straight, as you should? Maybe a visit to the website of SPOGG, the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar, here, is the ticket.

Bar Exam Essays Made Logical: Why Can't Jane and Johnny Lawyer Write?

NEW YORK, September 2008. Lacking a template, law students often fail to structure legal arguments efficiently and logically. According to bar exam expert Dr. Mary Campbell Gallagher, students no longer enter law school knowing logic, nor do the

Expert Says Foreign Lawyers Can Often Write Better Bar Exam Essays Than Americans

FOREIGN LAWYERS CAN OFTEN WRITE BETTER BAR EXAM ESSAYS THAN AMERICANSBar Exam Expert Says, at the Global Legal Skills Conference, Chicago, May 4-5

NEW YORK, NY. April 2007. If you think foreign lawyers must be at a disadvantage when they take the New York bar exam, think again. On May 5, 2007, at the Global Legal Studies Conference at the John Marshall Law School in Chicago, noted bar exam expert Mary Campbell Gallagher, J.D., Ph.D., will explain why some foreign attorneys are able to write better New York bar exam essays than Americans.

How to Format Legal Memos on the MPT for Higher Bar Exam Scores

MEMORANDUM

To: Bar Candidates

From: Mary Campbell Gallagher, J.D., Ph.D., President,
BarWrite® and BarWrite Press

Re: How to Format a Legal Memorandum on the MPT (Revised 4/2/07)

Date: April 2, 2007

INTRODUCTION

The Multistate Performance Test (MPT) allows bar candidates an extremely short time in which to research and write a legal memorandum, only 90 minutes. This memorandum will help you to use correct memo format, organize your memo, write powerful topic headings, finish on time, and earn a high score.  We do not deal here with other important aspects of your legal memorandum on the MPT, including persuasive writing, argument from supportive law, distinction of or attack against unfavorable law, and skillful

Bar Exam Candidates Become Cheerful and Self-Confident After Full Day of Writing Practice Essays: BarWrite® Expands Group Coaching School to Ten Days

Bar candidates who spent a full day in February 2007 writing practice bar exam essays under exam conditions became notably more cheerful and confident, says BarWrite® president Mary Campbell Gallagher, J.D., Ph.D. "Students reported a tremendous boost to their morale."

The experiment was so successful that starting with the new bar-preparation class that begins on May 19, 2007, bar-preparer BarWrite® will include a full day of writing practice bar exam essays as a regular part of the "Ten-Day Group Coaching School."

Can Lawyers Write Simply? Bar Exam Expert Says "Maybe, if . . . ." at Rocky Mountain Legal Writing Conference

LAS VEGAS, NV. If you think lawyers' writing has to be confusing and hard to read, think again. On March 10, 2007, at the Rocky Mountain Legal Writing Conference at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, noted bar exam expert Mary Campbell Gallagher explained her simplified system for legal writing, called Under-Here-Therefore(TM). Her system can help lawyers write more simply and quickly and pass the bar

Law Student Journal Praises Scoring High on Bar Exam Essays

According to a review of Scoring High on Bar Exam Essays in the November 2006 online Law Student Journal, in Scoring High on Bar Exam Essays, unlike some other popular books, the bar candidate is "actually taught how to write analytically." The review says that Scoring High, by Dr. Mary Campbell Gallagher, "should be a book that flies off the shelf each and every bar exam."

The review begins:

Dr. Gallagher's book on bar exam writing, Scoring High on Bar Exam Essays, is a superior book, and more than just a collection of essays with model answers. Plenty of books like that litter the shelves of law bookstores across the nation. Happily, Scoring High is back in the bookstores, now published by BarWrite Press, after several years of being out of print.

In Scoring High, unlike some other popular books, the bar candidate is actually taught how to write analytically.

Strong Students Have Strong Habits, Expert Says

STUDY SKILLS AND STUDY HABITS OF STRONG STUDENTS AND WEAK STUDENTS (Reprinted from the California Law Student Journal, October 2006) By Mary Campbell Gallagher, J.D., Ph.D. In nearly 20 years of preparing bar candidates and helping law students write better final exam essays in our BarWrite® Schools, I have noticed big differences between strong students and weak students. Strong students don't get better grades by accident. They don't get better grades just because they are smart. Strong students are remarkably different from weak students in the way they study. This is partly

Wikipedia Covers the Blue Book

For everything you ever wanted to know about the blue book, and critical and historical commentary, to boot,