Bar Review Diaries

It’s that time of year again. Graduation, graduation parties, beer, beach parties… and studying for the bar exam. Fun times. That being so, it’s finally time for us to unveil the three winners of the 2012 Bar Review Diaries Contest. Our winners will receive free Themis bar preparation in exchange for providing us with weekly updates on their lives as they study for the bar.

Without further ado, let’s meet Andrew, Jeanette, and Nathan!

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The deadline for entering the 2012 bar review diaries contest passed on Friday. We received close to 200 submissions and will announce the winners early next week. To hold you over until then, we checked in with last year’s student columnists. And we have some updates!

Where are Mariah, Mike, and Christopher now? Did they pass the bar? Let’s see…

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Well, it’s that time of year again. Where 3Ls don gowns, walk down the long carpeted aisle, take photos with their families, get drunk, and then a few days later arise from massive hangovers… and head straight to the library to study for bar exams for the next three months.

But Above the Law — along with our sponsors at Themis Bar Review — want to help. That’s why we are holding our second annual Bar Review Diaries contest. Our three contest winners will receive free bar prep from Themis, as well as the opportunity to earn fame and fortune (or, fame at least) blogging about their experiences studying for the bar on the pages of Above the Law.

Sweet deal, right? For contest rules and entry instructions, keep reading…

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If you took the bar exam last month, you might be trying hard to forget the experience, or you might be flying far, far away on an exotic vacation. Maybe you are counting the days until results come out in November, or maybe you’re frantically searching for employment before those organ bill collectors start knocking.

This is the final installment of the Bar Review Diaries. We hope you’ve enjoyed this peek into the lives of three recent law school graduates as they prepared for the bar.

Let’s check in one last time with Mariah, Christopher and Mike, to see where they are headed next.

And if anyone has cool bar trips coming up or strange end-of-summer plans, please share them with us in the comments….

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The bar exam has come and gone. Our esteemed Bar Review Diarists have lived to tell the tale, and thank goodness none of them fainted or had a baby during the test.

But as usual, Mike, Mariah and Christopher also had their fair share of adventures. Keep reading to see how a soggy sweater and lines to nowhere are just normal parts of taking the bar…

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For all our readers and friends starting the bar exam tomorrow: Good luck! You can do it!

Keep reading for a few last-minute tips. And let’s see if any of the many readers who have already passed the big test have some advice…

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This is the Final Countdown. Exactly a week from now, many of you will be stuck at desks for upwards of two days, working to finish that little formality they call the Bar Exam. This is the last time we’ll hear from our Bar Review Diarists before they cross the threshold.

They are leaving behind their anxiety, fear and anger about the test. They are starting to accept their fate — whether that means proudly entering laywerhood in the next few weeks… or sometime next February.

Let’s check in on Mike, Mariah and Christopher one last time before they leap out of the nest, hoping to fly on wings of truth and justice…

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Well, we are just two weeks away. The bar exam looms. Our columnists have given up discussing country life and making fake advice lists. They are putting their noses to their respective grindstones.

This week at the Bar Review Diaries, we hear some crowd-sourced opinions about studying for the bar, we learn the secret to not feeling stressed (hint: spell it backwards), and we even get a little immigration policy lesson.

Let’s check in with our bar-taking correspondents….

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We’re closing in on the main event. The holiday weekend may have been your last excuse to slack until the bar exam is over. But here at the Bar Review Diaries, our columnists are at peace. They know they need to buckle down, but they are confident.

After the jump, we learn that Mike has decided to lock himself inside for the next three weeks, the countryside is becoming unnerving to Mariah, and Christopher is coming to terms with all he still wants to learn…

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Thus far into the Bar Review Diaries, our intrepid columnists have been strangely in sync with each other. Last week, motivation was the hot topic. Another time, it was simply stress.

But I’m not going to lie, this week Mariah, Mike, and Christopher are all over the map. And that’s OK. They don’t plan this stuff together, and nobody’s telling them what to write. (Not even Themis, contrary to what some commenters might believe.)

Without further ado, keep reading for Mariah’s treacherous rural journey, Mike’s advice on screwing with your law school frenemies, and Christopher’s barroom environmental debate….

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Are we sick of studying yet? Do you just want to get on with your life — make money, change the world, put in the hours at the office — as long as it doesn’t include more video lectures?

Well, sorry. Here at the Bar Review Diaries, we are still about five weeks away from the big test. As our columnist Michael Dulong says, it’s still too far away to start freaking out, but it’s too close to keep slacking off.

Keep reading to see how Mike, Christopher Curran and Mariah Ford are trying to stay motivated…

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I’m not sure how to say this, but I think some of our columnists are starting to get a little unhinged.

This week on the Bar Review Diaries, we’ll start off with some wood-piling hallucinations and imaginary Kiwi exchange students.

Let’s join Mariah in Vermont, a.k.a. the 1860s, after the jump…

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