Don’t Be Afraid to Ask For Help!

If you have failed the bar, don’t despair. OK, you can despair a little. But you need to do a couple of things:

1. Order Your Results: No matter how bad you did, get the results and get some feedback.

2. See if You Have Some Other Options: Maybe you can appeal. Maybe you’re held up by Character & Fitness. Look at your letter close and see what the Bar’s hang-up is.

3. Plan to Take The Bar Again: You have far too much invested in school and in your future. If need be, take the Exam again. If you do, make sure what ever you are doing is going to work.

Easy? . . . . No . . . Necessary? . . . . Yes. Call our office for a read through of your test, your preparation for the test or other issues on your mind.

Tim Dinan, November 1st 2009 | Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Michigan Bar Appeals, Michigan Bar Examination

Why I Write Michigan Bar Appeals

The simple answer is for the fame and fortune associated with it.  But since this area of law offers neither, I have to fall back to my real reason.

A good part of my practice focuses on counseling legal professionals in transition.  This includes teaching bar examination prep classes, tutoring students, counseling applicants delayed in their application process because of Character & Fitness issues and helping young lawyers make the adjustment from law student to lawyer.  I am writing a book to help law students prepare for the examination and am getting ready to write another book on how to open a solo practice.  My own experience becoming a lawyer pointed up the lack of assistance during this transaction and the great need for guidance and advice.  Over the years, I have encountered so many people who needed advice about Character & Fitness, how to reapply for the Bar Examination or simply finding the motivation to retake the Exam.

At first, I began to offer advice to these new lawyers informally.  I mentored as I was mentored.  Generally speaking, this has been how the practice has been taught and handed down – a combination of mumbled advice and presumed osmosis from which we are supposed to base our career.  It was not very satisfying nor helpful.  As our practice grows, there are fewer of the familiar relationships in place that promote open dialogue and sharing.  Toughen up and put your shoulder into it.  Everyone else is fine . . . what is your hang up?  Ah, but I digress.

The thing is that the transition from law student to lawyer is difficult.  The dizzying mix of personal and professional demands is, at best, challenging and causes no small measure of stress that can cause other problems.  Even worse, some people discover that the practice of law is not like the brochures or Boston Legal.  Again, I digress.

No matter what, if you have taken the Michigan Bar Examination and not passed, you may be looking for help and advice.  I fully understand that feeling.  Back in November 1993, I waited for my bar results anxiously as my new job (and my government career) depended upon them.  On November 2, 1993, the carpet was pulled out from under me.  I missed by two points (actually 1.667 points but the Board of Law Examiners rounds up).  No, that was not the news I expected.  I worked hard on studying, sacrificed my summer and put all my chips on the fact I would pass.

I was stunned.  I did not know what to do.  I did not know who to tell.  I did tell my boss who was, at first, kind and understanding, but then told me the position held for me had to be filled by someone else.  I told my family and friends.  I heard all my friends passed and were making arrangements for get sworn in.  I felt like a total loser whose winter months were going to be devoted to studying for the Bar Examination once again.

I spoke to my professors and my sister-in-law who told me to appeal my score.  Appeal?  Appeal what?  I did not even know that was an option.  I assumed it was a test and a test is a test.  Well, it’s right in the Michigan Court Rules and tersely explained in the ‘failure packet’.  OK, now what?  How do I do it?  Can I do my own?  Pen or pencil?  does neatness count?

Thank God for the good advice I received.  With the help of Megan and Prof. Jack, I put my nose to the grindstone and knocked out my own bar appeal.  To say I obsessed over it would be an understatement.  I analyzed, reviewed, read and reread the materials:  my answer, the Model Answer, the directions from the Michigan Board of Law Examiners.  Draft upon draft until I had it just right.  Conservatively, I spent about 70 hours on the whole project.  I developed the basics for the same approach that I use today in writing appeals.  Of course I did not believe I was going to ever do it again.  I thought I would succeed, but after failing the Bar Exam and losing my job, betting against the house did not seem real smart.
(Read more…)

Tim Dinan, October 25th 2009 | Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Bar Applications, Michigan Bar Appeals, Michigan Bar Examination

How Michigan Bar Examinations Are Graded

The Michigan Board of Law Examiners promulgated, administers and grades the Michigan Bar Examination. It is offered twice a year. Each time it is administered, a company of legal professionals is enlisted to get you your grade.

The Multistate Bar Examination

The Multistate Bar questions are graded by the National Board of Law Examiners. That part of your exam is automatically graded and available to the Board soon after the Bar Exam is administered.

The Michigan Essay Examination

The Michigan Board of Law Examiners is made up of 5 members.  Each member is responsible for 3 of the 15 essay questions.  To assist in the grading, the Board member hires three graders to assist in the grading. Each grader is responsible to grade one question.  The Bar Examination blue books go between each grader where the initial grades are assigned.

After the initial grades are assigned, these scores are paired with the MBE scores to determine who passed and who did not. If the score falls between 130-134, those papers are re-graded by different graders to see if any more points will be awarded. After the regrading process is complete, the Board of Law Examiners ‘curves’ the test according to an unpublished formula.  In the February 2009 Bar Examination, this added, on average, 5.66 points.  Once the adjusted scores are recorded, the official letters are sent out to the bar candidates.

How The Answers Are Graded

As to grading individual answers, the graders are looking for answers that are 1) responsive to the question asked, 2) citing the correct law, 3) analytical as to key facts and 4) come to the right conclusion.  As the grader reads over 1000 versions of the answer, they usually spend no more than 60-90 seconds to grade the answer.  They’re looking for terms of art applicable to the question, organization comporting with the Call of the question and readability.  The graders do not use the Model Answer as a grading rubric, but a ‘checklist’ or ‘tally sheet’ published in-house to speed the process.  In as much as the grader reads the same question over and over, they are quite familiar with what should be present in the answer.

No one claims to get it right each time.  Subjectivity, fatigue and misreading an answer are all possibilities why an answer may not get the credit it deserves or gets greater credit than would be warranted.  The graders are trying to find the credit you deserve but more importantly they are upholding the integrity of the test.

Tim Dinan, October 8th 2009 | Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Michigan Bar Appeals, Michigan Bar Examination

Should You Do Your Own Bar Appeal?

If you are reading this before the results are released, you’re are too worried or just morbidly curious.

The release of Michigan Bar Examination results is a time frought with joy and anguish.  Not everyone gets the news they want.  But before you start reading though your study materials again, you need to consider your choices.  The Michigan Board of Law Examiners has a procedure that allows those candidates who did not pass the Michigan Bar Examination to appeal the results of their essay scores. This procedure is found in Michigan Court Rules 9.1 et seq. See http://coa.courts.mi.gov/rules/documents/7RulesForTheBoardOfLawExaminers.pdf  for the exact rules and procedure.  As of the publication of this piece, Michigan’s passing score is still 135 out of 200 (67.5%).

Assuming that you did not pass the bar, you first need to consider whether you should do an appeal or not. As a rule of thumb, if you need more than 10 raw points, a successful appeal will difficult. Raw points are the points derived from the essay scores before they are calculated with your MBE score. The formula used to equalize the MBE and Essay scores is as follows: Raw Score from all 15 essays x 4/3 = adjusted score. The adjusted score is then modified by the ‘curve’ determined by the Board of Law Examiners. In February 2009, this curve added approximately 5.66 points to the adjusted raw score. By the way, that formula is not disclosed to the public.  By calculating your adjusted score, you should be able to determine how many raw points (i.e. extra essay points) you need to boost your score to an overall score of 135.

If you are within 10 points, then you need to look at your individual answers to see if you were undergraded on any of them and, if so, by how much.  This requires you to objective review your own scores and determine whether you addressed the question and how well you did so.  You have to be critical and objective to do this best.

The next part is tougher. Now you need to look at the Model Answers from the Michigan Bar Examination to see what it was the graders were looking for. This is tough because sometimes, the model answers are not entirely clear on how points are awarded.

With your questions identified and your arguments ready, writing the appeal is more about substance than form. If you feel strongly about the questions you are appealing, make the best argument you can. Don’t make it personal, but focus on the objective arguments.
(Read more…)

Tim Dinan, September 30th 2009 | Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Bar Applications, Michigan Bar Appeals, Michigan Bar Examination

Take The Bar Exam Once

I have spent over 15 years in practice helping others pass the bar and over one year prior to that helping myself pass the Bar Exam. The question that always amazes me is, “Am I spending too much time studying?”  I was far too insecure to feel I was doing enough.  I felt guilty taking even an evening off.  My mistake: not planning ahead.  I only had a vague idea what I was doing day-to-day.  Even with a commercial service available to me, I needed more structure.  I have found this true among my students as well as among my clients.

Hmmm, too much time studying? Are you eating too many vegetables? Working out too much? It is pretty hard to over-study for the Bar. Rather, ask yourself, “Am I prepared for the challenge of the test, a test that will make a difference in my social, economic and professional status?”  You know you need to work hard; that’s a given.  How do you ensure that you take the test once?  Hard work + Organization = True Preparation.

What other test has been that important to you? I would venture to say that there is no other test that can have so much impact on your life. It needs to be prioritized. Take it once and be done with it. Get your ticket and start lawyering.  You’ll do it by being prepared.

To ensure you take it only once, here are some simple steps:

1. Plan Ahead: Start scheduling your studies as much as three months ahead. This doesn’t mean studying everyday all day. Rather, you want to anticipate everything you can (personal needs, bar prep class, graduation, etc.) and make sure you get the study time into your schedule.  Balance elements in your life such as work, family and recreation when you set your plan.

2. Plan in Detail: Once you have allocated the time to study, know what it is you are going to study. Select individual subjects to study on each day. Write those in your planner. There are plenty of suggested courses of review you can follow. Whatever you choose to do, commit it to paper and follow the plan.  Don’t be a slave to your schedule but let it provide the wise guidance you need.  By the way, plans and schedules can be changed.  Do so as circimstance dictates.

3. Use Your Time Wisely: All time spent on bar prep has value. However, any study technique that engages more than one sense is deemed ‘Active Studying’. Active Studying means taking notes at a lecture, re-writing those notes later, making your own outlines and not just reviewing commercial outlines, practicing essays and not just MBEs.  Active studying has been repeatedly proven to increase retention of the matter studying.  Don’t Mail it in:  in other words, don’t avoid active studying.  This is the work part of the job.

4. Keep Moving Forward: Remember you will have bad days studying. Your scores may go up and down. So what? Every day that you practice is a good day. If you are doing well, you’ll feel good about your work at the end of the day. If you did not do well that day, you have now discovered a weakness; it can corrected BEFORE the test. This type of day will save you on the test later on.  No matter what, keep working through the materials.  You will feel better after the exam.  That feeling is priceless.

As you prepare to take the Bar, plan ahead. By planning, you will not only get ready for the test, but you find yourself feeling better in your day-to-day studies. You’ll see what has been done and what you still have to do. It is the difference between a boat with a rudder and one without one.

Take the Bar Exam once. You’ll never be happier putting it in your past.

Tim Dinan, September 13th 2009 | Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Bar Applications, Michigan Bar Examination

How Much is Enough Bar Prep?

For some, Bar prep is a monantic pursuit: isolated from others; living on MBE questions and Red Bull.  12 hours a day is just not enough time for them.  They will do more reviewing and reading than they even thought they could do.  Others claim two weeks was enough for them.  Intense, focused preparation, take the test and go back work.  No biggie, just a long quiz.  There is even a sizable minority that procrastinates to the end and then turns to prayer hoping for divine intervention when trying to remember the elements of a unilateral contract.  I am sure you fall somewhere in between these different extremes.  Probably you’re a little worried, not sure where to start and dreading the continuing drudgery or reviewing the law again and again until your dreams are a series of tort fact patterns featuring Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner (I’d sue Acme for every crazy anvil/rocket/bear trap I ever bought if I were Wile).

To me, it is situational.  You have to find your way to bring together 3 or more years of law school together for a 2 day test.  Even those who feel they could get away with only studying for two weeks, they wouldn’t do it; they’re too risk adverse.  On the other end of the spectrum, some candidates feel as if they’re cheated out of life’s sweetness by spending ANY more time than they have to on studying.  I am from the risk adverse school for Bar prep; I planned great things only to not always complete them.  But I tried hard to meet my study goals and always felt bad when I did not meet them.  I passed (not by much) so obviously it was enough.  Your situation is unique as you are unique.  You need to plan ahead to meet your preparation needs:

If you have to work during Bar preparation:  12 weeks, six days per week, 4 – 5 hours per day.  This early start should give you time to review the law, make your outlines, practice questions and make your own study guides.  Just make sure the 4 hours is quality time where you are not interrupted and you stick with the program.  Slow and steady wins the day.  This is an easier pace than more intensive studies.

If you’re not working during Bar preparation: 8 weeks, six days per week, 8 -10 hours per day.  This gives you a little more wiggle room for missedor partial days.  Same program as above.  You want to set weekly goals to make sure you’re getting in all of your study time.  Every week you meet your goal, do something nice for yourself.  Think triathlete style of study.  The advantage here is you can focus more practice on individual subjects as well as spend more time preparing outlines in a single day.

Quality v. Quantity:  I always vote for quality.  Better to do quality studying versus the false satisfaction of sitting through 8 ours of lectures and claiming to have studied all days.  It’s better that you spend two hours writing your own summaries of the substantive law than sit through lectures where you’ll ‘hear & forget’ what’s being presented.

Bottom Line:  Know thyself.  Set modest goals and go beyond them.  Own the law you’ll be tested on.  Study enough for this test and you’ll know you’ll be prepared for the real test – practicing law and making a buck at it. 

Next Time: Waht Qualifies as Quality Studying?

Tim Dinan, September 7th 2009 | Tags: , , ,
Posted in Michigan Bar Examination