God finally strikes back at Loyola.

I knew I shouldn't have had that breakfast burrito!

Is L2L taking the exam?

Just a fat proctor falling down.

"Do I look like I care what people think?"
-- Hancock

Is it possible that Hancock caused it? What do the ATL commentators think?

On lunch break at century city site. Some pieces of the chandeliers on the ballroom fell. Some people freaked out, others kept typing. Some got under their desks. Most (myself included) sat and stared. Proctors just said to stay calm.

They did not stop the test or give us extra time even through we all lost about 5 minutes (except the crazy gunners who kept typing).

The earthquake reached downtown San Diego as well. Lots of bar takers probably felt it. Hopefully they will use their break time in between the morning and afternoon sessions to comment about it here.

THAT WAS A TRICK! If you do that, you are stupid. You should be eating lunch and intimidating other bar takers by talking loudly about non-existant "professional responsilibility" cross-over questions. It's the right thing to do. And let's face it, it's fun.

Dowtown San Diego. Not taking bar exam.

Riding in elevator when it hit. Scary.

My office is roughly 250 feet from Bar exam test taking center downtown. They felt it fer sher dude and it had some POP!

I was actually on the phone with someone and the line went dead. When I called back 5 min. later he said, "Oh yeah, sorry we just had an earthquake. What were we talking about again?"

Yeah, that just sucks, I'm sure everyone's fine physically but that had to fray a few already tense nerves. 5.8 is nothing to sneeze at.

It was only a 5.8! Get over it sissies.

Posting to a blog during the bar exam, No. 7? I can't help but question your focus and commitment. You're doomed to fail.

8 = Funniest comment all day.

Maybe California will do mainstream America a favor and finally slip into the ocean. I know it's not quite adjacent, but please take Seattle as well. OK THX

13 - an f'ing earthquake just hit and s/he's on lunch break. it's competely reasonable to post on ATL in those circumstances.

Judge Halverson is in town taking surf lessons.

what a perfect excuse for cali bar taker failures

Since when is the Cal. bar administered in Canada?

17 - great!

5.4 Magnitude. Weak.

Earthquakes only occur near TTTs.

Guys in my high school used to cause earthquakes during exams all the time, it was no big deal. Afterwards, they'd say "See you at the party, Richter."

Gosh, if only the clever people who made “A Lawyer Walks into a Bar” (documentary about 6 Cali bar takers spliced w/much witty commentary about our legal system) had filmed this year’s bar takers… It would have made an even more amusing film.

Judge Halverson just sat down on toilet after an all you can eat bean burrito buffet.

I'm already annoyed with bar-failing whiners blaming this quake on their inability to barf out the Rule of Perp.

There were no reported injuries. God needs to try harder.

We had a fire alarm go off for about 30 minutes during our very first law school exam. These types of things are a good way to cull those who crack easily under pressure.

It was a scary one... felt it pretty strong here in Century City/Los Angeles. Struck towards the end of the third question on the morning part of the bar exam. Most people actually stopped typing for a minute, and weren't sure what to do, but the earthquake was reasonably short (maybe 10 seconds or so). The bar exam is in the basement of Hyatt hotel - there is no way to get out even if you tried. It took a good 20 minutes to leave after the morning session was over. One of the elevators stopped working too (we were told that it needs to be reprogrammed). Overall, not a big deal and thankfully it was towards the end when most folks were done with their bar exam answers anyway.

CA Bar examinee: "I didn't pass because I am not smart enough."

Law firm partner: "Tough, you're out of a job."

CA Bar examinee: "I didn't pass because I partied too much and blew it off."

Law firm partner: "Tough, you're out of a job."

CA Bar examinee: "I didn't pass because I lost 5 minutes on the essays due to an earthquake."

Law firm partner: "Tough, you're out of a job."

Yay, California!

(Waiting for it to hit SF.)

February 2009 CA Bar exam essay number 1:

(1 hour, recommended)

Discuss any potential liability exposure the state bar examiner incurs for the following sequence of events:

Earthquake shakes examination site; no time provided to make up for interruption.

Consider any ethical and moral duties and how they are implicated.

(When completed, turn to Essay 2.)

19 -- Ontario is a city in California as well...

Ducking under your desk because of a little trembler during the CA bar.
Goood idea? Goood idea?

31- Why do you want an earthquake to hit SF? Because you failed the bar twice, and you were sent packing back to Alabama?

Guys at my high school used to take bar exams during natural disasters all the time, it was no big deal.

Anyway this earthquake = TTT of an earthquake.

K, new to this bulletin board thing. "TTT"?

K, new to this bulletin board thing. "TTT"?

K, new to this bulletin board thing. "TTT"?

K, new to this bulletin board thing. "TTT"?

33, no, Ontario is a town in Canada near Montreal. It is nowhere near California.

Umm all this while while I was living in Ontario, I thought it was a province near Montreal. Thanks for setting me straight 41.

Ontario is also a city in California. It's the largest location for the bar exam in southern California.

wow you mean there could be two cities in two different countries both named Ontario?! that's just too much.

41: are you seriously that ignorant?

37-40, welcome.

"TTT" = Third Tier Toilet, originally referrin to law schools in the third tier, now (over-)used as ridicule for anything the poster believes to be of poor quality, commanding no respect, or otherwise bad.

"After submitting a comment it may take several minutes to appear. Please only submit your comment once." = After submitting a comment it may take several minutes to appear. Please only submit your comment once. Illiteracy is TTT.

The year I took the CA bar, someone died (at a different site). Two people gave CPR to the afflicted and then were denied extra time to finish. The one guy died and the other two failed.

The year I took the CA bar, someone died (at a different site). Two people gave CPR to the afflicted and then were denied extra time to finish. The one guy died and the other two failed.

54, run to the bookstore- but do so QUICKLY. The new Random House dictionary came out and the word "gullible" was erroneously omitted. Buy a copy- it will undoubtedly become a collector's item.

Best Wishes,
41

41....Ontario, Canada is not a "town," it is a province. If you're going to make wise-ass comments at least get the facts straight.

TTT = TTT adjective. I feel so TTT when I use it. I spend half of my TTT life reading this TTT board because my TTT firm gives me TTT work and my billables are at a TTT level. I'll probably get canned because of this TTT recession, but that's OK because I'll take my TTT severance, sit on my TTT ass on my TTT couch and watch TTT daytime television.

TTT = TTT adjective. I feel so TTT when I use it. I spend half of my TTT life reading this TTT board because my TTT firm gives me TTT work and my billables are at a TTT level. I'll probably get canned because of this TTT recession, but that's OK because I'll take my TTT severance, sit on my TTT ass on my TTT couch and watch TTT daytime television.

28 - it's the Rule AGAINST Perpetuities, not the Rule OF Perpetuities.

MD bar added 3 minutes this morning to correct a stupid inconsequential typo in one of the questions

No, 35, I don't *want* it to it SF, I just fear (know) that it inevitably will.

Love,
31 (who lives and works in SF)

Which is harder: California or New York?

I'm working as a summer associate at the Century City office of Simpson, Thacher, & Bartlett. The conference room shook for a little bit and all the Ivy League kids freaked out, while the UCLA and USC kids just looked at each other and shrugged.

41 - Ontario is a PROVINCE in Canada, not a City. Ass.

Umm. I'm pretty sure everyone knows that Ontario is a city in the Toronto province of Canada.

Anyone take NY?

What'd you think of the secured transaction question?

I'm not taking the Bar in Vegas (took it in Feb 2008 & passed!) but we felt the earthquake a bit in the downtown area near the courthouses.

The secured transaction question was a total breeze. anyone that thought otherwise is in deep trouble.

To the idiots who are trying to "educate" 41: Please don't become litigators. Opposing counsel will mess with your head like there is no tomorrow.

59: No! Ontario is a city in the Canada province of the nation of Toronto.

"Which is harder: California or New York?"

California, if for no other reason than it takes an extra day, although all those same people who never shut up about how NY is the center of the universe also never shut up about how hard the bar exam is. We California lawyers just smile and count ourselves fortunate that tools like that usually stay in NY.

Ontario location is in a huge convention center hall with at least 2-3K in one room on their laptops. About half the people got under the table, some with their laptops. The other half just kept typing. Proctor claims to have given us 2 more minutes but not according to my clock.

Ontario is about 10 miles from the epicenter of the quake, in Chino Hills.

Wasn't too bad, overall

anyone care to discuss that long ass PT1?

PT1 was a nice race horse which I suspect will mostly depend on organization and clarity of writing as the elements and facts are laid out pretty clearly for you.

I had to rush a bit of my defense analysis, but I think I did okay.

I was taking it at the Ontario site. At first, everyone thought it was just a truck or something. I had my earplugs on, so it was hard to discern at first, but it's not like the Convention Center moves that easily with the simple passing by of a truck. Then the ceiling started to shake and, no joke, pieces of the ceiling started falling down, and dust began to fall on desks. One of the security camera got dislodged and was hanging by a cable. At this point, people were under their tables and most of the non-California ppl were freaked out. Our proctor, though, stayed eerily calm and, when it was over, everyone went back to typing. I don't think we lost more than, say 5 minutes to it, but boy, was it scary!

I had to rush through the end of PT1. It was sloppy, but I think I got it all in there. At worse, it was a fail, but not a catastrophic fail, which I was concerned about.

Why do I have such a hard time with the performance tests?

I have taken and passed the NY, California and New Jersey bar exams. NY tests more topics so is arguably harder to study for than California, but the California exam is harder.

You Ontario d-bags better not have gotten two more minutes.

I was in the Century City location with the big chandelier and the only people I saw go under the desk were the ones sitting directly under the 50 ft x 20 ft chandelier since pieces were falling from the chandelier onto their table. I wonder if they would have been more upset if the glass woud have hit them or hit and destroyed their computers.

And as for 29, it happened about two and half hours into the test and I assure you that most people were not done with their tests at this point. Not that it matters since it wasn't a big quake and most people just went back to typing.

California bar taker, here. My computer crashed and i had to write out half of essay 2 and part of essay 3. When writing essay 3, after writing on page 1 i accidently wrote on the last page (page 12) then made a note of that on page 2, and continued writing the essay on page 2,3,4, and so on.

My question is, do they type up the hand written essays? And if so, what will be done about my essay, since it was written out of order (will it be typed up 1,12,2,3,4,etc or 1,2,3,4....12). If anyone knows the answer to this, please post.

Agree with 73, it happened halfway during the third essay. It shook for about ten seconds. A chandelier piece fell next to me. I stared around unsure of what to do but kept on typing without ducking under the table like other people. The proctor actually cheated us out of four minutes (regardless of the quake) in the morning. She denied it, but several of us started out watches at 12:05 to give us a five spare minutes at the end, and we had to stop at 3:00. Oh well...

74 - Don't worry about it. I'm sure they don't have the time or the manpower to type up people's essays. I bet they give to the graders as-is which means they can follow your notes.

I was in Ontario. I was actually shocked by how calm people were. I think people are so scared of failing that earthquake did not cause nearly as much of a reaction as I would expect.

I saw a couple people jump under the table. I looked up and realized that stuff really could start falling from the ceilings. If it kept building, it could have been really scary.

There were many earthquake virgins, so I can't believe nobody ran out the doors and tried to run outside.

It was very strange to have 1500 people jump under tables and then get right back to typing away.

I think it broke the tension of the first day, especially after our absurd Con Law question.

hey 34, i totally cracked up at your comment. i will never forget two lines from barbri study-- "goooood ideeea?" "AND!!!!!" good times.

Hey 7...if you lost 5 minutes to the earthquake then you're an idiot that wouldn't pass the bar even if they did give make up time.

We're talking about 10 seconds of moderate shaking. Why in the world would you need 5 minutes to recover? Did you need a hug? Did you get one?

As for those of us that kept typing being "gunners," it's completely asinine that you think using every moment available to pass arguably the hardest bar in the nation should be mocked.

I feel safe predicting that when you fail the bar, and based on your post I'm confident you will, you'll go around blaming the earthquake and the lack of make-up time, while failing to recognize that it's your own lack of focus that's to blame.

rofl @ 34

NEVER!

I was in San Diego, it was just a rumble that went up the length of the really long convention center, for like 10 seconds. Everyone just laughed, like "i'll die in a quake before i run out of the room and fail the exam."

Like 5 minutes later someone from the Convention Center security office announced "you have just experienced an earthquake. please return to your regular activities." everyone laughed again.

one of the rooms in Ontario got 5 extra minutes according to people in there. The proctor apparently decided that on his own.

I was taking the test in Anaheim, second-closest location, and it screwed my whole test day afterwards. Only finished half the peformance test because it was about . . . FALSE IMPRISONMENT. !!!?!?!? Oh, the irony. And I was handwriting my exam so the last one I wrote is written in chicken scratch as I sat there freaking out and not allowed to leave a basement with cement lighting. It's not about the five minutes, it's the fact that they evacuated Disneyland but didn't give a s___ about people taking the bar...not only did we not get extra time, but while geologists didn't know if it was a pre-shock or not, the proctor clearly felt qualified to make the decision not to evacuate. I am so disgusted by this profession. This is how they introduce people to the profession? And they want a statement of moral character from ME?????

I took the exam in Century City and was seated under that big central chandelier. I didn't give a second thought to immediately ducking under our table. Broken neck or an extra couple minutes on the bar exam? It was a no-brainer. Good thing we did duck because pieces of the chandelier fell on our table. For those who didn't, I hope they continue to have the psychic ability to distinguish between earthquakes that "deserve" a protective response. Good luck with that.

For those of us taking it in Ontario, I must say that, even though the earthquake was bad, and driving and staying in Ontario was worse, it still beats having CA Civ Pro and Evidence on the bar, or as a crossover. I think it's a pretty good trade off.

I was in Ontario. I understand that the shaker only lasted 15 seconds or so. Thats not what bothered me, it was the fact that my hands kept shaking or the ceiling debris that landed a foot in front of me. Its the continuing thought in my head about what if the next tile lands on my head. The pressure is hard enough without the drama. I think its absurd to grade then end of my exam equally compared to someone in Sacramento who did not have to endure the experience without considering the effects of such a situations. Im not asking for a guarantee past. Im not even demanding more points. I just want the Bar to look into it and make a fair decision about how to deal with this.