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So, yeah, I'm worried about glaring gaps in my legal education for purposes of bar passage and resume. I go to a 40-50ish ranked law school, am in the top 10%, and will be doing an externship in the fall that prevents taking classes.

I like litigation and anything that involves bullying people under oath - especially torts, environmental law, and criminal law.

Current Bar Courses:
1L classes (con law, torts I & II, K I & II, Property, Civ Pro, etc)
Admin. Law
Evidence
Wills & Trusts
Crim Law
Crim Pro
Legal Ethics

Massive Gaps:
BA
Income Tax
Secured Trans

I have zero interest and attention span for business law and transactional work. Because of the externship, I won't get to take BA, income tax, and whatever other business law courses pop up on the bar (not offered in the Spring).

So, TLS folk, is this the end of all things? Any advice on course selection or strategy going forward?

I'm thinking about taking Property Transactions (on bar) and Secured Transactions. Unfortunately, my interest and ability to process business topics is laughably terrible, and I'd like to keep the ole' GPA where it is.

Other classes I'm considering: Trial advocacy, clinic, K drafting seminar, mediation seminar, and a few environmental law law courses.

Advice is treasured and appreciated.

That gap is nothing compared to people I've seen who focus on regulatory law, intellectual property, law and ____ courses, and other non-bar topics.

Who cares?

Definitely do BA (it is very easy) and Secured Trans if you can. Also property trans would be good because that is what most people struggle with on the bar. I'd also to Trial Ad if at all possible - it's really an essential class especially if you want to litigate. It was also probably my favorite LS class. Clinic is also good.

Did you take all blowoff classes 2L year?

BarBri

No one really cares what courses you take.

Best advice I have received from more than one person - Take whatever classes you want. BarBri will teach you the rest.

vamedic03 wrote:BarBri

+1

Also take evidence.

Of the 21 or so subjects on the NY bar, I think I had taken 8 I law school. Barbri filled all the gaps.

I haven't taken a lot of the bar subjects in law school either, and I am terrified I will fail the bar exam. I'm not sure 1 month of barbri will be enough for me to learn the nuances of the ucc and corporations. Does barbri teach conflict of laws and bankruptcy (never had those ones either)?

applejacks wrote:I haven't taken a lot of the bar subjects in law school either, and I am terrified I will fail the bar exam. I'm not sure 1 month of barbri will be enough for me to learn the nuances of the ucc and corporations. Does barbri teach conflict of laws and bankruptcy (never had those ones either)?

Yes if it's on your bar exam. Bankruptcy isn't test on my state's bar.

You sure Tax and Admin are on your state's bar?

In any case, you can learn any subject well enough to pass via a bar course. It sounds like you already have more bar courses under your belt than is typical. The ones I'd say are probably most helpful to learn in a regular law school class that you don't have are Evidence and Corps, but hardly fatal and you'll have plenty of time to study them. Secured Transactions you can learn in a day -- it's really not that hard.

I'm not sure 1 month of barbri will be enough for me to learn the nuances of the ucc and corporations. Does barbri teach conflict of laws and bankruptcy (never had those ones either)?

You don't need to know the nuances. You only need enough so that you can vomit something on the page. Conflict of laws will usually be very simple on the bar exam. Bankruptcy probably won't be tested.

conflicts of law is pretty easy, you could learn the basics of it in about 2 hours (that's all you would need on a state's bar exam).

Evidence is definitely a must. But other than 1L classes, it's the only bar class I took during law school, and I'm quite glad that I did it that way.

Otherwise, BarBri does a fine job of boiling things down to easy rules to memorize. You don't need to really understand the law for bar exam purposes. Instead, it's pretty much about memorizing checklists in your head of issues/elements/factors so that you have the ability to IRAC every possible tort/crime/issue implicated by the fact pattern.

BTW, what bar exam has all that on it (Admin, Income Tax, Secured Trans.)?

UCLAtransfer wrote:Evidence is definitely a must. But other than 1L classes, it's the only bar class I took during law school, and I'm quite glad that I did it that way.

Otherwise, BarBri does a fine job of boiling things down to easy rules to memorize. You don't need to really understand the law for bar exam purposes. Instead, it's pretty much about memorizing checklists in your head of issues/elements/factors so that you have the ability to IRAC every possible tort/crime/issue implicated by the fact pattern.

BTW, what bar exam has all that on it (Admin, Income Tax, Secured Trans.)?

Illinois claims to test on all 3 of those areas, but I don't think admin or income tax has been actually tested in decades. Secured trans is on the MBE.

Sounds like Bar Bri and I will become intimate lovers next May.

Thanks for the feedback; feeling better.

Nightsideclipse wrote:Sounds like Bar Bri and I will become intimate lovers next May.
Thanks for the feedback; feeling better.

I hope you like bottom.