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 p