It’s going to be hot this weekend. Head to to the beach.

Image From Wikipedia

Either the hay is in the barn by now or it’s not.

Whether the hay is in your barn or not – enjoying a day at the beach is a fine way to spend the weekend before the bar exam.

Or if you’re our friends at Sad City Hartford – go find some pay phones (there’s an awesome one on the second floor of juvenile court in Hartford).

Good luck. Some part of me feels like I should put a legal disclaimer on this post but that’d take effort.  If you think studying this weekend is vital to passing the bar or you’re neurotic – consider reading BarBri materials on the beach.

Six years later, I’d still only consider moving to a state where I could “waive in” without having to retake the bar.

The night before the bar exam, I packed my stuff. My bag was filled with everything I was allowed to bring into the exam (things like pencils). The rules on what one can and must bring into the exam are very specific. There was a checklist of items. I was sure I had every item I needed. I must have checked my bag and that list a dozen or more times. That’s what nervous energy will do to a person.

Entering the bar exam was an experience onto itself. I entered the CT Expo center and was confronted with hundreds of  white tables (the kind you see at parties from a rental store). Each table had two chairs. Seating was assigned. The first place most people go when the doors open is to the bathroom and that’s where I headed.  Said bathroom contained more people throwing up than you’d expect to find after a Dave Matthews Concert.

Anyhow as I arrived at my assigned seat, the proctor came by with the exams. I went to write my name.  Our names had to be written in a certain colored ink.  I opened my ziplock bag to take out my pen – only to find there was no pen my ziplock bag. My heart just about stopped. How could this be?!?!?!

I motioned to a proctor and asked to borrow a pen. The proctor  in a very stern voice (think the teacher on the Wonder Years) “This is the bar exam. How do you expect to pass it if you didn’t even prepare well enough to pack a pen? You’re not prepared. I’m not helping you”.  I’ll never forget it.  My heart just about stopped. I was going to be the first student to fail the exam on the account of not packing a pen.

Fortunately, I was sitting next to someone who was so well prepared that she had multiple pens.  She saw what happened and offered me a pen. In all of my years of school, I had never been so happy to have someone loan me a pen. I was grateful. Very grateful. She also offered some words to the effect of “that was rude of the proctor” which help put me at ease.

Over the next two days, we engaged in small talk. We wished each other well and went on with our post bar lives.

Fast forward a few months, and I’m making one of my first appearances in court.  I see the woman who sat next to me at the bar. It turns out she’s practicing at a firm in Manchester. Since then we’ve seen each other a number of times in court.

I have had a few matters where for one reason or another I’ve had a conflict. Twice in areas where she practices and twice I’ve sent cases her way.

Two things here: First, remember to bring multiple pens to the bar exam. Second, the person sitting next to you may be your colleague,  partner, adversary, or may one day wind up on the bench judging one of your cases – even under the stress of the situation – be nice to him or her.

I’m grateful Melissa Donahue was nice enough to loan me a pen. Othewise, I may not be practicing law, this blog would not exist, and someone else may be attorney general.

The division’s assembly adopted a multipoint policy resolution dubbed “Truth in Law School Education” urging law schools to improve post-graduate employment information provided to prospective students and ensure that information is prominently featured in communications.  ABA JOURNAL

Law schools have long lied about salary data of their graduates to game U.S. News and World Report Law School rankings system. It’s what amounts to an internet genitalia measuring contest. It’s thought that higher salaries for graduates improve a school’s rankings.

What’s wrong with the information as it is that even if law schools wanted to tell the truth they couldn’t.  Most of the data is self-reported by graduates. A certain number of graduates are going to lie about their salary while others won’t bother returning the survey at all. Such is the nature of self-reported data.

What’s also wrong is that survey is done some months after graduation. I filled mine out maybe 6 months after graduation. My salary now does not resemble my salary then.

There’s no way for a law school to require graduates to complete the survey. Further there’s no way for a law school to independently verify the accuracy of the data a graduate provides.

No matter what happens it’s crap in and crap out.

With the incentive to “massage” crappy data – no matter what the ABA does the information will always be inaccurate. Not by a little but by a lot.

There’s lots of information for prospective students about lawyer salaries available online. There’s no end to well-written articles about whether or not law school is a good investment. Truthfully, students should be concerned about macro-economic trends. For many students the investment can only truly be measured over the course of their earning lives.  Understanding how technology and globalization may impact the profession are far more relevant in the long term than earnings six months out of law school.

In truth, there’s no answer to the question about the economic value of legal education factoring in debt as applied to an individual.  What your salary is depends on a lot more things than just where you went to law school.

While everybody is giving themselves standing ovations over this new transparency resolution – someone in the room should have been shouting that law schools shouldn’t turn over the data at all because the data is useless at best and misleading at worst.

Schools who give false or misleading data to U.S. News should be punished.

Passing this motion does nothing more than to elevate this meaningless data to a position it doesn’t deserve. This resolution just gives more food to the monster.

Across the country, mostly sane people are trading their beach towels for contracts books. For many this is the first week of law school.  A person enters the legal profession the moment he sets foot in orientation.

Here’s the best advice I can give you: Your reputation in the legal profession starts taking shape in orientation. Guard your reputation with your life.

Your classmates will become your colleagues. You’ll need them for referrals. If you’re trustworthy, they’ll seek your counsel once you pass the bar.

Coming to class unprepared harms your reputation.  Doing so will follow you throughout your career.

There are limitless ways you can harm your reputation during law school.  Don’t do any of them.

Have fun. Enjoy it. Law school is a wonderful experience. Enjoy even the hard parts.

Across the country, mostly sane people are trading their beach towels for contracts books. For many this is the first week of law school.  A person enters the legal profession the moment he sets foot in orientation.

Here’s the best advice I can give you: Your reputation in the legal profession starts taking shape in orientation. Guard your reputation with your life.

Your classmates will become your colleagues. You’ll need them for referrals. If you’re trustworthy, they’ll seek your counsel once you pass the bar.

Coming to class unprepared harms your reputation.  Doing so will follow you throughout your career.

There are limitless ways you can harm your reputation during law school.  Don’t do any of them.