UCLA School of Law

Bar Review Diaries: Basking in the Afterglow

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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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Boalt Hall and UCLA Issue Scholarships To Cover Last-Minute Fee Increase

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Today there’s good news and bad news coming out of Boalt Hall (aka Berkeley Law aka WGWAG School of Law).

Let’s start with the bad news. The bad news is that the Regents, who run the show for the University of California (UC) system, approved an increase in system-wide student fees for the coming year. It’s for a shade over $1,000 — $1,068, to be precise.

The good news: Berkeley Law, at the behest of Dean Christopher Edley Jr., is effectively reversing the fee hike for its students. Boalt Hall is issuing an immediate “scholarship” to each student, in the exact amount of the fee increase.

Let’s take a look at Dean Edley’s email — which explains the situation, and has a cute and clever closing — and explore what might be motivating the administration….

UPDATE (7/22/11): Also note the update at the end of this post regarding UCLA School of Law. (We have added the memo from Dean Rachel Moran.)

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Bar Review Diaries: The Final Countdown

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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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Bar Review Diaries: Don’t Panic

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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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Bar Review Diaries: Confidently Rounding the Home Stretch

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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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UCLA Law’s Job Placement Numbers Strain Credulity, But Did You Read The Fine Print?

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A reader noticed the job placement stats at UCLA Law, the #16 law school in the country, for the class of 2010.

The stats are frankly unbelievable. UCLA is claiming that 97.9% of its class of 2010 was employed within 9 months of graduation, at a median starting salary of $145K. Japanese officials were more straightforward about the Fukushima Daiichi disaster than UCLA is being with these bogus employment figures. But whatever, as I’ve said many times: we’ve gotten so used to educators misleading us that the concept of one of them telling truth seems like we’re asking too much.

At least UCLA added some fine print:

Note: Employment statistics include full-time and part-time jobs. Salary statistics are full-time only for those who reported salary information. Second jobs are not included in these statistics. This report represents NALP categories only.

Translation: If a graduate received money for giving a half-and-half at a truck stop up in Berkeley, that still counts! But the salary numbers only refer to our highest performing graduates. Also, why are you reading this tiny print? Look at the monkey. Look at the monkey. Yes, you’ll probably need a second job. What?

Obviously, this “disclaimer” is woefully ineffective, and a reader has even more reasons why….

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Bar Review Diaries: The Bridge Is Out!

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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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Bar Review Diaries: Where Is My Motivation?

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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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Bar Review Diaries: Making Law From Fire Logs

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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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Bar Review Diaries: How Do We Deal With Stress?

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We have a definite theme for this week’s installment of the Bar Review Diaries: stress!

Big surprise, right? What’s not stressful about a multi-day test that culminates three years of study and kind of determines your entire future?

Our columnists are in the thick of their review, and by the looks of it, anxiety is starting to creep in….

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Bar Review Diaries: Discipline, Rural Peepers and Urban Jogging

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Memorial Day has come and gone. Hopefully those of you studying for the bar exam took a little time out for hamburgers and baseball. It’ll be awhile until you have such a good excuse for slacking relaxing. Graduation festivities are receding into the past, and the specter of the bar exam looms a little larger with every passing day.

For the second installment of The Bar Review Diaries, our esteemed contributors, Michael, Mariah and Christopher, report back as they settle into their surprisingly dissimilar summer routines.

Keep reading to see how meditation, jogging through Chinatown and Vermont peepers all prevent the Summertime Bar Blues….

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Bar Review Diaries: Of Sunshine and Studying

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June is just around the corner, the sun is shining, and many of our readers are hopefully enjoying their shiny new law degrees. Mazel tov! Unfortunately, the thousands of dollars you spent on three years of law school didn’t quite cover everything you need to pass that pesky bar exam.

The ink on your JD is still drying, but it’s already time to crack open the books again and sign up for bar review classes.

For the next two-odd months, three recent law school alumni will share their experiences with law school graduation, studying for the bar exam, and life in general. Welcome to Above the Law’s newest feature: The Bar Review Diaries.

Our illustrious contributors were chosen by Themis Bar Review. For their efforts, Themis has given them free tuition.

Let’s meet the trio of bar review diarists….

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