Chemerinsky is a god.

This may be a minority opinion, but Paula Franzese was one of the WORST Barbri lecturers. I don't want to hear you sing. I don't give a shit about how your dad invented vodka sauce. She added at least half an hour to every lecture with all of her garbage.

Don't be mean to Paula. The fact that you remember all that stuff means she did her job right.

That Barbri music video is excellent.

My dear God. The Destiny's Child "Survivor" singing for joint tenancies was sheer pain.

The vodka story is a lie. Google it.

As I've commented before on ATL, I would (still) so plow Franzese's ass. Picturing yourself doing that helps you tune out her singing when she gets annoying.

Yeah you may be right, but I was cursing her every day that we had Property. I much preferred Schechter for Torts, Freer for corporations, and Whitebread for Crim. Law.

@3:51, it's a minority opinion held by at least 2 people.

@3:52, I don't remember any of the law she taught me, just her irrelevant anecdotes and annoying mannerisms.

I cringed throught the Fransizisisezi section, and her stories didn't help me remember anything.

On one level I really liked her, but I just thought the whole thing was annoying and juvenile. And she told us that same N Sync story a few summers back, and perhaps for years before THAT.

My favorite was the torts nerd....trying to remember his name. Short tubby guy if I recall. The only one that was actually funny.

I can't stand Franzese, her voice is so annoying and her tangents go on way too long. It's not helping me learn the material any better to spend 5 minutes listening to her talk about her kids or whatever.

Paula Franzese can defease my fee tail any time. I wonder if she's into equitable servitude.

Property did not have to be that long. She just drew it out and drew it out. It really goes on and on with no point. Though I did get an Orville Redenbacher question on the multistate so all that torture was worth a point.

I loved Schechter for Torts. He was the best.

The corporations guy was kind of funny, I liked him. The NY Practice guy was pretty good too.

Barbri is largely unnecessary, particularly the lectures. I skipped most of them and still passed easily.

Schechter, yes! The torts nerd. He was the BEST.

Wow, NYU Law's little law school variety show thing sucks ass. Talentless clowns. On that basis alone they should lose any comparison with CLS.

Does John Jeffries still teach BarBri?

"any luggage, package, or other container..."

Two years later, I can still hear Professor Whitebread saying that in his crazy voice--BEST Bar/Bri professor EVER.

4:04 - At least we have the guts to put our videos on YouTube and leave them up (unlike you guys, who take them down as soon as ATL links to them and people start critiquing you).

barbri=redonk

Any law school "variety show" is lame. Only the biggest losers in the school participate.

Those goofy songs and mnemonics will help you pass the bar. It's all part of the classic bar experience and gives you something to talk about with the attorneys at your new firm's welcome receptions -- because they will remember them, too, and be tickled pink that you share the same experience! Just go with it. You'll brain-dump it all soon enough.

Schechter is pretty good, but his lectures were unnecessarily long. I would sacrifice 20 minutes of entertainment for 20 minutes of my free time.

I like the video. Is it just me or is the BarBri girl approximately 29 feet tall?

Schechter rules.

If you need Bar/Bri to pass the bar exam, you're dumb.

In Fall of 1997 the annual Legal Follies show of BU Law included a song based on Barbie Girl. Nice to know that a T14 is copying us.

BU Law Grad

Was Schecter the guy who looked kinda like John Hodgman from the Daily Show and the Mac v. PC commercials?

Hey assholes who say mean shit about Franzese, she's not trying to cater to you. Barbri is to help stupid people pass the bar. The singing and other memory aids are proven ways to help people retain information. You might not have needed the singing, but I bet there are a lot more stupid people who did. She's just doing her job well.

whitebread explaining how he thinks about beastiality has the been the highlight so far.

4:10 - Ten years ago? The NYUers were still in high school back then.

GOOD IDEA??? GOOD IDEA???? (God bless that guy.)

3:55 is on the money. Whitebread, Freer, and the Torts dude were all way better. Chemerinsky is a perv, so I enjoyed that too. I wish I were studying for the bar now...

Whitebread: "MURRRRRRRRDERRRRRRRR"!!!

The Ken guy in that vido is kinda hot. You can sort of see the bulge in his pants in a couple of the shots.

ditto 4:10 - GW's show did this song in '99. I now expect NYU to do a Blair Witch parody this year.

Why is the book in the picture a 1L review? Can't Lat get a pic of the Conviser or something?

Whitebread was awful. I can't believe you people liked him. He was a jerk and didn't say anything memorable at all. I wanted to smack him.

Fortunately, my firm gave me a check instead of paying Barbri directly, so I just pocketed it. My buddy said it's mainly insecure people and/or dumb people scribbling down rather obvious information.

Epstein for contracts....saying in his Texas accent..."Epstein NO!"

Has anybody seen any actual payouts from the Bar/Bri class action lawsuits yet?

The 4 foot tall leprechaun lady who gave the essay workshop introduction gives me nightmares.

Anyone involved in the making, editing, or distributing of that video needs to be stabbed in the eye with a spork.

Carry on.

4:10 -- yeah, it's amazing how they still chose to "copy" BU given the wide-ranging publicity that BU's performance gained over the last 10 years. I mean, my God, everyone I know has been talking about it nonstop since 1997...

Great job NYU!!

Franzese is a monument to Plastic Surgery and Annoying incompetence.
When I wasn't dazzled by her MILF status, her god-awful accent and idiotic stories/songs had me cringing in my seat.
One more day of this i'm going to go nuts.

4:22- credited, I had a nightmare involving that leprechaun

Agree w. earlier comments...Freer is the MAN. Whitebread too....Hot Pursuit. How hot? REEAAAL Hot!!

Barbie Girl?? That's some fresh stuff right there. Glad to see the NYU kids stay on the cutting edge.

Lame video, but then it's a law school show.

4:02 - critique is a noun. The word you were looking for is criticizing.

4:25- unfortunately there are 2 more days...

GOOD IDEA remains the funniest quote of all time.

For example, about 6 weeks out me and a bro got drunker than Mel Gibson at a baseball game and then drank till 2:30 a.m.; a session which included beverages such as jameson (neat, you sissy la la-s), guinness, Stone IPA, and gin (gin makes me sin).

Saw that kid next day and he quips, "Go drinking at a baseball game with ______ six weeks before the test, good idea?"

The whole room fell the f--k out. Dude had jokes.

Perhaps while they're stuck in 1996, these NYU students could alert their neighbors at the WTC that they're going to get qaedapwn3d in about 5 years.

Anyone else notice that Franzese wasn't wearing a ring? If I see her on the subway, I'm definitely going to get her phone number. Or maybe she'll give it out at the end, like Freer.

Whitebread and Faust Rossi FTW! Epstein has a thing for Sharon Stone and Chermerinsky is a machine.

Is Bar/Bri intended more for people from low-ranked schools (and those persons at high-ranked schools who tend to obsess over perfection)? It doesn't seem like something that would be needed for top legal talent. (T5-->V10)

Whitebread screamed! "PLAIN VIEW! ... PLAIN VIEW! ... PLAIN VIEW!!!"

Chermerinsky spoke in outline form without looking at notes- it wasn't human

"It's a Yellow Magic Marker Moment!"

... we call them highlighters these days.

"It's a Yellow Magic Marker Moment!"

... we call them highlighters these days.

Liability possibility!

4:35 -- BarBri is especially needed for so-called "top legal talent," given the emphasis on theory at most top schools. But by all means, don't take the class. Someone needs to fail the bar.....

Paula Franzese is sooo hot - but in that cheesy Jersey soccer mom sort of way.

She's sporting a new look from when I saw her:

http://law.shu.edu/faculty/fulltime_faculty/franzepa/franzese.html

ooooouuuuch!

My ears have been tortfeased by that video!

Franzese's voice sounds like Sarah Silverman.

4:37- Chemerinsky is not human. He is a machine

Is Yellow Magic Marker Moment some type of MILF code word for deviant sexual acts? just a thought

Franzese is only "hot" to people who think spending their summer "down the shore" is an acceptable vacation.

Michael I Spak = Highway Robber

BarBri is an asset for all of those who take it (especially for gunners who finally learn to shut the f*&k up for once). Epstein is great and Chemerinsky is godly.

"Is Bar/Bri intended more for people from low-ranked schools (and those persons at high-ranked schools who tend to obsess over perfection)? It doesn't seem like something that would be needed for top legal talent. (T5-->V10)"

Anyone from a top law school needs it more. Where the hell else are you supposed to find information necessary? Its not in your casebooks. You could pass just using the barbri books and lecture handouts with some effort. FYI, the only person I knew who failed the bar went to work for a V5. He failed cause he never showed up to lectures.

For fuck's sake, why hasn't anyone posted anything from Northwestern's Wigmore Follies Circa 2002-2006?

I see these lame ass videos, and they're not funny... at all...

Bar bri is not useless, unless, of course, your law school actually taught you law for 3 years. which they don't

the bar bri lecturers are annoying and grating. the materials are overpriced and the the barbri staff is a bunch on incompetent morons.

I passed. I sold my books on ebay. and now I'm suing them.

People should start suing their law schools, though, because preparing to be licensed for law by a law school is pretty much assumed by people who first apply.

Any current barbri students confused by the essay assignment? They tell us that if we try to start memorizing stuff now, our heads will explode. Then they assign us an essay that will be graded and we'll be compared with all of the other students. Obviously I'm not going to to know the rule, so how good could I possibly do on an essay? Is this just a ploy so we'll all get shitty grades and panic and want to take their essay advantage course?

4:35:

Would doing a clerkship with a Feeder Judge prior to taking the bar be a suitable substitute for taking Bar/Bri? I figure that being in the trenches of the law (so to speak) could help supplement my previous emphasis on theory with a firmer understanding of praxis.

Or do Feeder Judges typically require you to take the bar exam first? (T5-->V10)

Paula is married to partner at Paul Hastings... http://www.paulhastings.com/professionalDetail.aspx?ProfessionalId=983

What? Spak is great... at least he's actually funny.

the essay assignment are worthless unless you feel you are a bad writer. If your MBE is high enough, they don't even bother looking at the essays.

So only if you thought your law school writing was bad (or you received poor grades, whichever) should you even bother handing them in.

However, you should practice the essays on your own. repeatedly. in fact, get as many old essays as you can. that's a bit different--it prepares you for the exam AND helps you to memorize..

My plan:
1. Skip lectures
2. Do not buy more than the basic course.
3. Buy a PMBR used set for the MBE.
4. Read one MBE outlne per day.
5. Each day, Practice 50 multiple choice on one subject.
6. Do 1-2 essays per day.
7. Read 3 non-MBE (e.g. essay) outlines per day.

If you do this every day with no breaks, and then double your essays/multiple choices with 2 weeks left, you will pass. Memorize and run with it.

Unless you learn better from hearing a lecture than reading. But if you skipped class in law school, skip it here.

There is no hell greater than Salusa Secundus; all else is simply paradise.

You wouldn't last for very long, my would-be Bashars of the new economy.

4:16 is right- the Ken guy is hot. One might think his Cookie Monster voice would make him less appealing, but it kinda turns me on.

4:04: I don't think JCJjr still teaches BarBri. I'll bet he was excellent - he surely was in the classroom.

4:49 - the answer to your final question: Yes

If you don't get a raw score of 155 on BarBri's in full-length, in-class practice MBE you will surely fail.

That picture of Franzese doesn't look even remotely like what I remember from BarBri. She was way hotter back then.

87th!!

87th!!

Nuh uh. I WAS 87TH YOU BASTARD!

shechter's family law lecture is the best lecture by far. if you disagree, then you obviously missed that day.

I did the home study. More expensive but you can skip over so much!

Schecter, was a fun teacher but he should have created outlines. Moreover, he barely covered much of the information on the domestic relations essay. I found that doing the practice tests in the yellow book was more helpful than his outline.

In general, the more boring teachers actually taught more had better outlines i.e. the contracts and evidence teachers were boring as hell but if you studied their outline you did well on those subjects.

Whitebread and Schecter were more entertaining and taught easy subjects but their classroom lectures were very unhelpful.

Speaking of videos, I enjoyed this Barbri spoof (mostly the first half of it):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWHRAg0MegA

Barbri is terrible. $3,000 for a taped class. Come on. Most of their professors are mediocre professors at 2nd tier schools. Barbri, despite their claim to the contrary, does not seem willing or able to replace bad teachers.

Erica Fine, is one of teachers in history and she looks like a man.

Spak was horrifying.

I'd like to give that giant Bar/Bri girl a pearl necklace of a different sort if you catch my drift...

Freer and Whitebread were good.

3:51, I took the course at NYU and that was a majority opinion. I took and passed the July 2007 Exam. I especially liked how she told us how commercial paper was not important and how she covers almost nothing on mortgages in her outline, considering they are almost eight questions on the test. Use the PMBR outline for property. Franzese, is hot but not much else.

Most of her stories were distractions. Her singing New York, New York and doing impersonations was not really helpful. I could remember stupid acroynms like WOSSUP. A lot of the letters in her acronyms did not fit and it was usually just easier to remember the law.

Her singing sucked and the vodka story is disputed. She should not even be allowed to tell that story in class since it is unlikely to be true.

Luckily, everyone is in the same boat.

Sorry, I meant to say mnemonics and not acroynms.

4:49, that is exactly correct. DO NOT LISTEN TO ANY OF JOSEPH MARINO's ESSAY PREDICTIONS, IF YOU TAKE ESSAY ADVANTAGE. HE SUCKS...

4:44: TITCR

I'd say Spak and Conviser were the best

450 is flame, no? If you think clerking for any federal judge (feeder or not) will teach you the stuff on the bar exam, you do not deserve said clerkship.

I would also bang Ken. Hard.

Also, 5:20 is credited on the 07/2007 Commercial Paper issue.

P. Franzese: "CP is unimportant and is almost never tested; also, this one narrow issue in CP is very unimportant and I won't bother with it in my outline."

NYS Bar: "CP will constitute the first multi-part essay question and several MC questions. The one narrow issue will be very important and will be a huge part of the essay."

Me: "Awww, shhhhhiiiiiii..."

Of course, I passed anyway. You can skip all of barbri and still pass. It's the damn bar, not an appellate brief.

someone told me this morning in barbri that TTTT schools use the barbri books as their textbooks....can anyone confirm this? i can tell that some of the people proudly wearing their TTT law school t-shirts are into it hardcore. those of us from t-14 are lost as hell.

The stuff from UVA's 100th Libel Show was much funnier than this. Plus they got Scalia and Ted Kennedy to introduce it. Must have been the brain tumor.

I agree with 5:23. I went to UMICH and graduated in December. I took and passed the Feb. Bar, no thanks to Marino. Predictions: No dom. rel., property question, anticipatory repudiation for contracts, evidence question, no prof. resp., trusts wll be in the wills question.

Look on BOLE and see how accurate his predictions were. Luckily, I got in the 160's on the MBE.

Glad I'm in NY. Pieper rocks--no need to crack a book or deal with lecturers of varying quality. Just write down and study the dictated outline.

Lat..... NYU Law Revue (not Review)

No payouts for the class action settlement yet...

"Conviser" sounds like some made-up corporate crap-word, like "accenture" or "convolve."

He's probably an android

5:08 - "Best interest of the child" That is also Schechter taught me on domestic relations and that is all I needed to know.

The reason BarBri even claims to work is b/c if they can brainwash more than a majority of the people taking the Bar with their nonsense then the examiners are forced to take the shit b/c they certainly won't fail more than 60%+ of test takers (I don't know the exact percentage of test takers who use BarBri). Therefore, don't stress about it because if you look around at the fools in class with you, you should have a rush of excitement because you know they won't succeed outside of the class

My firm paid for PMBR, so i took it.

Remember how shady that dude was?

Semi-useful lecture. I would not pay for it myself, but if its "free" its worth it as a change of pace from the library and Starbuxx.

I think he got sued for copyright issues related to copying actual questions from actual exams.

(IPgeek notes that copyright is not on the bar. I suppose that explains it)

Professor FranCHEESY was awful! Her songs did nothing but annoy, and her stories failed to amuse or to educate.

To the contrary (is this a brief), Professor Schechter's stories -- the barrels, hunting, etc. -- are memorable and actually help explain the law.

Finally, one word to describe Professor Chemerinsky -- genius! He has his outline memorized and cross-references the page numbers.

Chemerinsky's con law hornbook was the bomb.

Franzese is totally hot, and I just saw her for the first time today. I loved her songs and I remember everything she said. So screw you guys (who complain about her). I think I'd transfer from my T10 to Seton Hall if I could guarantee myself front row seats in all of her classes.

However, accord 4:22, the essay troll was something. Especially compared with Franzese.

5:36: I took Pieper and enjoyed it as much as anybody can enjoy bar study. It's also not nearly as popular as Barbri, so the classes aren't overcrowded.

J.D. from Columbia University School of Law, litigator with Cahill, Gordon, clerked for Justice Alan B. Handler of the New Jersey Supreme Court.

And otherwise hot and bada$$.

Thank you for singing to us, Paula.

Love,

Columbia 3L

Lat-

Where is my money from these guys?

5:34 - at least one TTT school in NY, my alma matar nonetheless, not only uses bar review material in class, but in fact offers a "bar review” class taught by none other than John Pieper (the barbri "competitor" in NY). Also, in hopes of increasing the bar passage rate, the school automatically enrolls the bottom 75% of the 3L class in the course. I for one cannot speak to the material covered since I fell outside that inverse grade cut-off but I’m sure you get the picture. Hope this helps!

Update: The BarBri Girl in the video is gorgeous, and she moves so well for being such a tall woman.

Suggestion: Come see me, BarBri Girl. I'll give you my deposit.

6:15(1) - NYLS?

PS- Franzese today, for the first time in my life made me feel absolutely ashamed of being a Brooklyn native! Literally had my head down on the table crying listening to her lecture, and sign, and attempt to impersonate random Hollywood figures.... can someone please make her stop!

6:21 - not nyls... getting warmer though
HINT: recently bumped to teir 2, but fear not i'm sure it'll find its way down to TTT in '09...

"Anyone who thinks that a gun with one bullet in it is not a deadly weapon . . . will NEVER own their own home." - Prof. Whitebread.

Yes, the beastiality bit was priceless too.

I'm also partial to Schechter's bit about the oversized Pampers and a bottle of Wesson. That and the unforeseen victims of the digital camera revolution.

Epstein was wonderful.

Does the warning at the beginning of the BarBri lectures strike anyone else as odd:

1) Cell phones are prohibited.
2) If you do choose to have a cell phone, put it on vibrate.
3) If your cell phone rings, you'll be kicked out and possibly barred from future lectures.

WTF? If they're prohibited, then why are the other two rules needed?

Barbri's website has been atrocious in the past two weeks...unresponsive for many hours of the day. It's not like this is the first time they have done this whole jig...or is it?

I went to a T4 school. They worked a deal with BarBri several years ago - 3L's get BarBri (by video) lectures on MBE topics for free during our final semester. They're offered three times a week (including Saturday) to anyone who wants to participate.

We knock out MBE stuff in advance of the summer, which makes focusing on the other subjects (we have a three-day bar instead of two like some other states) a bit easier during the summer.

It worked. My class, for example, had a 98% pass.

What does Richard Epstein teach for Barbri? Or is this some no-name Epstein?

Not Richard Epstein, but David Epstein. He teaches Contracts at SMU. He was a good Bar/Bri lecturer.

I hated Bar/Bri so much I wanted to jump off a cliff. I complained about it every day for endless hours to anyone who would listen. I did, however, study, and have now passed two bars on one class. So I guess it really wasn't that, that bad. But I did hate it a lot, and I couldn't wait for it to be over with.

I liked the Bar/Bri girl skit. At least it wasn't poking maliciously at other classmates because they have bigger breasts than you and slept with your boyfriend who is a total looser (like HLS). Goodness, but it's nice to see women who don't attack one another at every turn under the guise of parody. And I thought it was funny.

Don't you mean NYU Law *Revue*?

Also, Lat just likes this because the guy in the video is cute.

i love it when they leave the video thing with the bar up during the video. but its so agonizing when its so close to the end..

7:10 - I hope you don't speak/write like that when you're . . . well, doing just about anything. I have no idea what you're trying to express.

The contracts guy from UT created a great outline and all in all covered every issue that appeared on the exam. Did Barbri replace him just because he was boring?

Bar/Bri is the best time of your life. It's done at like 1. If you go to the classes, you don't really need to study. Well, that true if you are smart, like me. If you are dumb, then maybe this advice doesn't apply.

"If you don't get a raw score of 155 on BarBri's in full-length, in-class practice MBE you will surely fail."

I got a 84 raw on my practice MBE, and passed. Stop scaring the current test-takers.

Y'all should do the patent bar too if your so smart. THAT was an awesome time.

The saving grace is that the guy who teaches the (more popular) PLI course pretty much IS Norm McDonald.

IP Geek, didn't you do one of the prep courses?

I listened to the 30 PLI CD's and sat through the live course, then passed the first time. The patent bar seemed almost like a recreational exercise compared to the state bar. I had almost enough time to look up every answer for the USPTO exam, and it was nice to walk out of the room knowing I'd passed.

To all of the people currently studying for the Bar:

1. Do not listen to those people who encourage you to blow off studying, the Bar is easy, etc. People from every single law school FAIL. Failing is hugely embarrassing and is potentially a massive career setback. No matter how smart you think you are, the Bar Exam is not something to f- around with.

2. Do NOT blindly rely on BarBri or any other test prep company to get you through this. What they teach you is barely adequate. They are frequently wrong about their predictions of what will be on the test. The Bar Exam committee actively tries to figure out ways to test what BarBri does NOT include in their course. I took (and passed) the Feb. bar exam and my BarBri class was filled with people who had failed the previous July. I can't count how many times people told me that if you show up at the lectures you don't even have to study. The question I never asked (but always wanted to) was: How'd that work out for you last time?

3. My advice is: study your *ss off. It is less than 2 months. Push yourself. Life isn't going to get any easier when you're actually an attorney, so start putting in the hours now. Study everything-- even the stuff the BarBri people tell you is unlikely to be tested. Yes, you cannot memorize it all, but if you've never seen it, you can't even begin to write an essay on it (a common complain on the Exam I took). You will have time to rest up when the test is over.

You can study all you want, but come test day, everything you learned will come rushing out of your head and you will be a panicky blank mess. You will undoubtedly fail.

Love, 7:15

What about people doing clerkship summers, working at a firm and also taking the bar? Proof you don't n eed to study all the time to pass

7:58

I thought the patent bar was more difficult, though it has less matierial and I put maybe 1/4 of the time into that as i did the NY bar. State bar stuff was stuff I was familiar with from law school largely, and you get way more instruction. Patent bar, other than 102/103 stuff, its almost %100 new and picky and procedural.

Remeber, the patent bar pass rate is like %50, and has been lower than that some years. Though granted, most people dont get 2 months to study for it full time.

I walked into the NY bar %100 confident I would pass. The patent bar I was bracing for possible failure.

ALso, anecdotally, I know a chem major + Cornell Law grad, with several years patent litigation experience, that failed the patent bar the first time. And he took like 2 weeks off to cram for it too. Was a smart guy generally as far as I could tell.

The Jolly Roger - Roger Schechter - rocks. Epstein was hilarious too - He inspired me to buy my first Kinky Freidman CD. Franseze - well I just nut on her boobs.

why don't you guys comment on this board after you pass the bar exam?

I'm well aware of the high failure rate, but the penalty for failure isn't as extreme as failing the bar exam.

You can take the patent bar again in just over a month if you shell out the cash. With the real barzam, you must wait half a year.

I am a big fan of the "instant results" provided by the patent bar. If they did that for the multistate or the NY multi-guess section, it would alleviate some of the bar exam anxiety.

I was really shocked by Epstein's heavy Texas accent when he started speaking.

Schechter was really hilarious.

Sokolow is the current TX barbri contracts lecturer from UT. He is a great prof so I'm looking forward to him. Also the Yale prof Easely/veasey(?) for property was good because his outline was clear and focused. I have been unimpressed by the profs from lower-ranked schools, but that may be because I dont get their organization styles.

I was just planning on studying according to the barbri paced program. Is that gonna work? You people are scaring me.

NYU law review is consistently not funny.

Kaufman is the MAN.

Freer for Corporations is awesome.

I heart Erwin C. and every goofy pun.

Thanks 8:08.

This is 8:08 again.

In my view, following the BarBri paced program is the minimum you should do. Yes, some people pass while doing less, but why take chances with this thing? No matter what, the period prior to the bar is going to suck. I say go all out and pound as much knowledge into your head as possible.

You can study in ways that are not on the BarBri program that you may have found to be successful methods in law school. I found that making flash cards and meeting up with a partner to quiz each other on Saturdays was helpful. Also, writing and continually revising outlines for each subject area helped. One of the biggest obstacles is retaining the knowledge you gained in prior weeks even as you learn new topics.

Above all, study every subject area that is covered on the bar. Do not blow off an entire subject area simply because some schmuck at BarBri says it won't be on the test. 2 of the 5 essays on my exam were from these so-called fringe subjects.

What is this BarBri all the kids are talking about? Does it involve pirates?

First time poster, long time reader. Whitebread, Epstein, Schecter and yes, Franzese were by far the most entertaining professors. Paula drove me crazy at the time, but she managed to teach me property law in three days (something my property professor failed to do in three months). At least well enough to tackle the landlord/tenant question that started my morning. I will never hear the song "It takes two" without thinking of Paula!

Franzese was retarded today. Just shut the hell up and teach us what we need to know. Your stupid stories don't help because we can't relate to your bimbo, botox juiced mind. And we don't want to waste 30mins listening to your nonsense.

Isn't eating sunflower seeds (with shells) during a BarBri lecture completely disgusting? There are at least 3 people around me doing it in my class - the whole 4 hours. Piles of saliva covered shells, cracking noises, slurping noises (the worst part). I'm looking around wondering, isn't everyone grossed out and annoyed by this? I just want to listen to my funny torts lecture in peace.

I'm glad Barbri instituted a no cell phone rule. While taking the taped Feb. 2008 winter lectures, this chick's phone just rang and rang and rang. I would have grabbed her phone and hit her on the head with it myself, but as we all know, that would have been battery.

Instead, the civilized part of my head told me to round up the troops and complain to the Barbri folks - we even demanded that they return our money if they didn't police the cell phone thing. The usually inept and useless Barbri drones actually started making announcements before class (both verbally and wrote it on the chalk board) and the ringing STOPPED... it was great!! Too bad there was no way of getting back all that I had missed because of all the darn noise!

Sunflower seed person ... I suggest you complain to the Barbri folks directly - get a couple of your annoyed peers to complain as well, otherwise, you will have to put up with that annoying crap all summer ... and you probably paid around $3k to hear the lecture, not some idiots chew like cows.

Bottom line, be a little whining by**ch about it ... say it is distracting and that you can't hear over the cracking ... tell them that you'd like a refund if it doesn't stop - that'll get their attention. Barbri is a business and the Barbri personnel should get off their lazy butts and do something about this. Geez, they get the course for free, the least they can do is make sure everyone can hear the lecture and a certain few don't distract everyone else at such a pivotal time.

Good luck Sunflower person.

Chemirinsky (sp?) has the WORST tone of voice. I hate how he talks really slow and then ends his sentences fast. I wanted to strangle myself after a few hours of having to listen to his excruciating voice.

I passed Mass and NY in 2006. The trick to passing is:
1.take a day off here and there up to 2 weeks before the exam. When I took the bar the 2006 scoccer world cup was on. I watched a few games, went to the beach a couple of days and never studied after 10pm as I did not retain anything;
2. You will almost certainly fall behind the Barbri study schedule but do not freak out, everyone does.
3. Crank up the studying in the final 2 weeks after lectures conclude.
4. Do the things that work for you and do not be influenced by others. For me that meant consolidating my barbri notes, reading Conviser and doing lots of questions. I did not do any of the Barbri essays....it was too early and not helpful IMHO. I don't think I opened their detailed law books...just Conviser.
5. PMBR questions are not like the MBE questions that will appear on the exam. Worth doing for more questions though.
6. Do not listen to the douchbags that will be at the Barbri lectures that try and psyche everyone out by proclaiming their high scores on practice tests and essays.

Yeah, I figured out by like the 2nd day that it wasn't really possible (or necessary) to do EVERYTHING BarBri assigns you for homework.

That said, only going to class and doign nothing else at the beginning is a dangerous move. The only people I know who failed did that.

You may think your pretty smart, but you will avoid July anxiety and generally tempting fate by doing a good amount of work the whole time.

Use flash cards, but save 'em for July.

worst dido impression EVER! for god's sake woman, STOP!

Jesus, I do NOT want to hear about your first honeymoon and the hurricane that smeared your ungodly caked makeup!

PS no wonder it was a short marraige

Yay Kinky Friedman! Epstein has to be his #1 referral source - I met Kinky and told him where I first heard about him and he said he hears it all the time. Too bad he didn't get elected governor of Texas...

Attended ALL my lectures and was 100% attentive in class. However, I did not consolidate my notes as Bar Bri recommended. Suffice to say, I did not do anything after class, except sleep, have fun, and pretend that I did not have to study.

HOWEVER, 4 weeks before the exam, I actually started doing some multiple choice questions in the night, AND carefully reviewing the answers And when lectures ended, I buckled down, and studied my ass off (8 hours per day for 14 days before the exam). I did not do any of the essay questions - guess what, 2 weeks may seem like a lot, but it is not. Had no time for essay Qs. However, I did a LOT of practice PMBR and Bar Bri multistate questions.

I took the NY bar, and passed with a 176 on the multistate. ( I firmly believe that doing the practice multiple choice questions helped tremendously.)

Do I wish I could have anything different? ABSOLUTELY. I wish I could have explained how anxious I felt 2 weeks before the exam. I felt I was toast because I did not do anything that Bar Bri recommended, and having done minimal work.

My recommendation for everyone. Please do not do as I did. Have fun during the summer. But please please consolidate those notes. You do not want to be the person studying from the lecture handouts (which I did). It is PAINFUL, and a lot more work for you when you are trying to study for the last 2 weeks. I watched with envy as my friends studied from their consolidated notes (between 100-150 pages).

If I had to do it over:
- Attend ALL lectures. Pay attention, and take good notes. (Which I did)
- In the evening, consolidate your notes. (I did not do this).
- Each evening, do 10 multiple choice questions, and review the answers. ( I did not do this).
- 4 weeks before the exam, start getting serious. Actually study. (I did, but did not get serious).
- 2 weeks before the exam, serious studying from your lovely consolidated notes. Do LOTS of PMBR questions, and review the answers.

My biggest regret was not consolidating my notes. Life the last 2 weeks would have been so much easier.

It is not hard to pass the bar exam with minimal work if you were a good law student. However, some studying during the summer will make for less fear and anxious moments.

I thought Franzese's Dr. Evil routine was pretty good. However it's pretty ridiculous for her to tell completely non-law related stories about Justin Timberlake and vodka sauce. It's one thing if they just happened to come up on the spur of the moment but the fact that she seemingly does it EVERY YEAR should be kinda embarassing.

I loved studying for the bar via bar/bri- wake up at 11:30 roll into class at 1:00 stay until 5 ish, study until 9:30- go out drink, get laid, sleep-repeat... I have never pulled as much ass as I did during that glorious stretch of time where my only concerns on earth were passing the bar and getting laid... I miss it.

6:26- Both Fordham and St. Johns hired John Pieper to teach that class. @ Fordham, it was the bottom 30% that was in the class by default...the other 10% were gunners.

6:26- Both Fordham and St. Johns hired John Pieper to teach that class. @ Fordham, it was the bottom 30% that was in the class by default...the other 10% were gunners.

Does anyone else notice how Franzese leads her lectures through the use of long winded sentenced chalk full of obscure and arbitrary synonyms to common everyday words when describing already dense and antiquated property legalese? This is all the while she hypocritically admonish that her lecture is not an exercise in “intellectual elitism.” I say bullshit – Paula, sorry but using words like “modicum” when describing some archaic real property vocabulary (i.e. dominant and servient tenements) not only flies in the face of your pedagogical method but also hints of intellectual insecurity on your part. I’m glad you can use a thesaurus, but please save your linguist treasures for your unsuspecting student at Seaton Hall. A good professor of law is not measured by the amount of nonsensical mnemonics he or she invents or the absurdity of the anecdotal stories used to impart some nugget of legal knowledge. No, Paula, some of the best professors I had in law school, took very complex, abstract and inaccessible legal concepts and broken them down into simple terms a lay person could easily understand while maintaining the integrity of legal idea they were trying to convey. Reciting a treatise is not the hallmark of a good professor, but taking that dense idea and breaking it down into manageable chunks a high school graduate would understand without sacrificing any of the legal comport – now that’s gold! Perhaps next year you could spare everyone the vodka sauce story and actually giving teaching a shot…

Second that 1:35

1:35- You are not a high school graduate, you are a law school graduate. You can suck it up and learn what "modicum" means without too much effort.

And the irony of it all is your use of the phrase "legal comport" in a comment about Franzese using the $100 word when a .25 word would suffice.

(Suffice means "would have been fine" in case you didn't understand that.)

That story about Fordham is bullshit.

For July 2008 Bar-takers:

Don't follow anyone's advice in these comments. Just do the Bar Bri work and use your common sense. You'll be fine.

1:35 -- top notch work

2:44 ... what a hater - let me guess you look like the Essay troll ... Don't hate on Paula just because she looks like a how successful female lawyer should...face it - pretty people rule the world and the ugly ones just grunt in jealousy... grunt away

I found consolidating my notes to be time well spent. You retain more and have a good study document for July.

1:35 boohoohoo...Paula uses big words correctly and sounds smart while doing it...stop whining and own up to the fact that you don't understand 1/2 of what she says because your vocab is stuck in 8th grade. Also, BTW work on your verb usage, and it's Seton not Seaton...Also, who cares about whether a lay person can understand inaccessible and complex legal terms? Isn't that what we LAWYERS are for?

1:11 = never has actually had sex.

1:51 -
No, not a HS grad but if I was I wouldn’t have a clue as to what she was trying to say half the time. This is unlike some of the lectures I had in law school, where the professor (unlike Paula these last 2 days) would take a novel and foreign legal concept and make it assessable to anyone listening, regardless of educational background and without reducing the concept to a broad overgeneralization. Avoiding unnecessarily colorful language in explaining the law is just a tell-tale sign of great professor and brilliant academic.

Also, if you notice, I never said I didn’t know what "modicum" meant; regardless, my complaint lies with her persistent use of "$100 words where .25 words would suffice" (as you so eloquently put it) while trying to teach me the meaning of words like "dominant and servient tenements." The point I was trying to get across, is that she simply tries to sound smart without adequately explaining the topic that I and everyone else that forked over $3500 are paying her to explain. She needs to quit trying to sound smart and say something that reflects her intelligence, which I don’t doubt she possesses.

Oh and as for that irony you seemed to have uncovered in my post, it seems as though you’re overlooking a key distinction between my purpose here and the purpose of her lecture. The purpose of my post was not to try to explain to you some area of the law, I was merely commenting on her inaptitude. Therefore, whether I use $100 or .25 words is fairly irrelevant.

2:08 –
I don’t hate Paula. In fact I love her - I’d love to make her shut up to save us all from the agony of listening to her mindless recitation of a pre-scripted lecture. Why not hand out a filled in outline and save us the time. We can all read for ourselves. But I do appreciate your strategy in defending her - if only personal attacks at my expense would make her a more proficient lecturer I would voluntarily submit myself to your berating.

But, you are very right on one point, hot people do rule the world. Thankfully intelligent people manipulate and control them - how else can you explain the fact that an “essay troll” like myself is banging a pinup model… We can all appreciate that she is a very attractive woman and using those “big words” may make her “sound smart” but neither of those equate with being great professor. And by great professor, I mean someone who is able to turn a difficult legal concept and into a series of simple concepts while preserving the integrity of the original. Sadly while Paula may be the paradigm of a “successful female lawyer” in your opinion, she falls short as an academic. And paying $3,500 for eyecandy seems a bit overpriced in my opinion.

Ok, she's definitely hot - and funny in that crazy girls are hot kind of way - but is she a good teacher? Don't know about that one...

Ok, she's definitely hot - and funny in that crazy girls are hot kind of way - but is she a good teacher? Don't know about that one...

3:07- Look around the hovel you study in tonight. See those thick green Bar Bri books? They are FILLED with the "filled in outlines" that you would prefer Franzese handed out instead of distilling all of the information down into a simple and easy to understand 98 page outline.

And arguing that the level of language in the comments section of a blog is expected to be higher than the language a professor uses in a bar review class is utterly laughable.

Perhaps you are just sad that you are studying for the Bar exams all summer. Allow me to call you a waaahmbulance.

Epstein. "damn microphone wont stay put. It seems that I will have to fondle Sharon Stone a little more." He was wearing a t-shirt with Stone's image on it and was clipping the microphone close to the image. Hilarious!!

3:07 Wow.. "paying $3,500 for eyecandy seems a bit overpriced in my opinion," eh? I wonder how much you're paying for that pin-up model you're banging... probably more than that. Also, you say Paula's a bimbo but you're "banging a pin-up"...wonder what's beneath bimbo in the slut hierarchy...probably pinup..yet I digress.

You claim Paula falls short as an academic, yet I doubt you've ever had her academically as a professor - your only exposure to her seems to be from Barbri, which is not academia but a commericial quasi-academic construct designed to encourage a rapid understanding of a variety of legal topics to a wide variety of law graduates. As a result, the material presented during barbri needs to be dumbed down so it works for the masses. BTW, Paula's an excellent professor because she embodies all a professor should be...she genuinely cares about her students, gives of herself wholeheartedly and enourages others to strive for excellence. Her little quirks are purposeful tactics she uses to encourage rapid memorization during the few months that is bar review. And while she uses some of these same devices in her classes, she has high expectations of her students and her exams are difficult. Yet most of her students leave her classroom understanding the material despite it being arcane and complex.

So there. Shove that up your pin-up model and smoke it. Oh, and btw, who uses the term "pin-up model" after 1950? Are you banging that old chick from Gilligan's Island who got busted for a DUI? B/c really today, they're called "Maxim chicks" or "Centerfolds" or "hot pieces of ass" - anything but "pin-up model" unless of course you're literally able to pin her up on your wall, in which case she's probably made of plastic and your rant on plastic surgery and botox makes sense, as plastic women are already perfect.

Signed, Pretty and Smart

10 bucks says 3:07 fails the bar because the bar examiners won't have a friggin idea what he's trying to say...

Paula day 3 highlights:

Describes an “after acquired collateral clause” in a mortgage as “a veritable monopoly, a drag net…” Black’s says: “A mortgage provision that makes any later-acquired real estate subject to the mortgage” …

Describes the substantive law of foreclosure as “Obtuse”?

Webster’s online says:
ob•tuse
1 a: not pointed or acute : BLUNT b (1)of an angle : exceeding 90 degrees but less than 180 degrees (2): having an obtuse angle — see TRIANGLE illustration cof a leaf : rounded at the free end2 a: lacking sharpness or quickness of sensibility or intellect : INSENSITIVE, STUPID b: difficult to comprehend : not clear or precise in thought or expression

Assuming, she didn’t really mean foreclosures are a type of triangle, why reach 5 means deep in the dictionary instead of just saying “difficult”?

Why say: “recording system looks dubiously if not contemptuous on the wild deed…” As much as I love her personification of the recording system what’s wrong with just saying: “recording system ignores the wild deed.”? Same point, fewer words.

Less is more!

S. Goldman is teaching Crimes in LA and he does not rock...I want some Whitebread...

When I say obtuse, that's what I mean. That's because I'm an attorney, not a mathematician. What's your deal?

This whole studying for the Bar blows. What should I do if I am three weeks behind in doing assignments? Is Tina Post effective?

I was getting between 65's and 75's on the barbri graded essays, always taking them closed book and under time pressure.

I just got out of her lecture in West L.A. Barbri and I have two words: Sheer pain. The anecdotes were long and off topic. The singing was just plain stupid and does not make any law memorable. The only good thing about her is that it appears that she has gotten some pretty decent face work and overall makes for an attractive cougar. Rawr!

re my previous post I am referring to Professor Franzese

Kaufman is annoying, but unlike Franchese, he's actually effective.

But the best is Epstein. Who can forget such great quotes as...

"Now I know I talk funny and look like a goober, but my name is Epstein with all that entails..."

"Now any loss of grits is regrettable..."

The constant Kinky Friedman references.

"Damn son, you're the best painter I've ever seen, but I'm not going to pay you. You see, I'm one of those guys who makes deals with no intention to pay..."

Franzene was difficult to listen to in the morning, but ok in the afternoon.

That's probably because Franzese got some action during lunch. And it's my guess that it was double the fun with the entire hour.

Haha. Can't believe that lady only wanted to give half an hour to grab lunch. By the way she does remind of Mariah Carey . . .

Maynard property. 'Bout as fun as eating glass.

There's nothing funnier than self-righteous assholes from "top tier" law schools. But I digress...

As an apparently retarded rube from a big midwest law school, here's my experience. I went to the classes, made a halfhearted effort to stay on the study schedule, then memorized the hell out of notecards in the last two weeks. I passed just fine, and so will you. The people who don't pass either are a) just plain retarded, b) don't study at all, or c) mentally freak out on test day and blow it.

It sucks, it's only 2 months, and you'll probably pass. Don't half-ass it, but don't consolidate your notes every night either (seriously, who does that?)

Bigger question - where the hell is my settlement check? Does anyone know the status of the class action at this point? Even the settlement site hasn't been updated in a year.

Oh, and Spak is awful. He strikes me as a child molester, and he taught me absolutely nothing about either contracts or commercial paper.

BarBri is a scam... at least in Washington. If you sit down and look at the questions and the correct answers to the bar exam... you will realize that a chimp can pass this test. It's nothing like law school exams and closer to high school exams, but everyone and their cousin buys into the belief that you have to take BarBri to pass. Of course BarBri is happy to play to your fears and egos. They take a ridiculous amount of money and pile on unnecessary work. If you keep up with the work, then you probably will pass. If you don't and pass. Great. If you don't and fail... well... it's because you didn't do all the work. Shit... I can start a company like that. It's like a diet company that requires that you follow their "program" to the letter otherwise you don't get your money back. Just make the program very hard so that you will probably lose weight, then if you don't it's your fault. Most law students will buy into that crap. Nothing more than a bunch of sheep.

Erica Fine for Wills is nothing short of a nightmare. Not only does she get the law wrong, but half the time you won't even know what she is talking about. The lecture has minimal structure, she swallows words, is all but impossible to follow (since she was clearly never taught to speak English properly), and her incessant repetition of "This is what you tell the bar examiners" is annoying as hell. The only thing you will learn from Erica Fine is that 1,000 is denoted by "k." Why does barbri even let this lady teach? I'll bet it's because she is an eastern regional director. How SHE passed the bar -- any bar -- is beyond me. Must've been the Kentucky bar.

Is anyone using the outlines off the seperac web site? they are from 2005 but I'm guessing they are pretty accurate. I haven't done anything other than go to all the lectures and was wondering if its worth
using those outlines or if they are different enough thats it would be dumb.

Are actual MBE questions like the Barbri questions? Are they easier? Harder? HELP!!!!

Ah, Paula Franzese. I'd like to establish a petting zoo on her rear acreage.

I could have used a little more "brevosity" out of Erica Fine, to borrow her word.

About Paula Franzese, the comment that one ought to know what the word "modicum" means misses the point. The problem with Franzese's continual use of about half a dozen or so favorite words of hers--e.g., modicum, aegis, ordain, wherewithal--is not that those words are too "big," it's that her use of them is entirely nonsubstantive. Franzese doesn't go to the store and buy some hot dogs, she "ordains to buy a modicum of hot dogs." She doesn't eat them at a picnic, she "has the wherewithal to eat them under the aegis of a picnic."

Another typical ATL thread: a bunch of semi-literate assholes accusing other semi-literate assholes of being semi-literate assholes. And the topic of conversation? Some other stupid assholes.

Same poster as above. I didn't mean to include the last few posts. That poster is a genius. Okay, it was me.

anyone want to post marino's/pieper's predictions for the july 2008 ny bar?

there are just so many possibilities for funny property comments about paula.....to easy.