Themis Bar Review Hangout - July 2014 Exam Forum

[themis513]

This may help someone. It helped me because I hate mortgages from the depths of my soul.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/a1d88tvkkytf3 ... andout.pdf

Thanks

[dtl]

Did all of the lectures go down today for anyone else? Was all excited to finish my last "new law" lecture, and suddenly none of the videos will load on multiple different connections.

[iLoveFruits&Veggies]

Did all of the lectures go down today for anyone else? Was all excited to finish my last "new law" lecture, and suddenly none of the videos will load on multiple different connections.

YIKES! All of the Civ Pro lectures worked fine for me. I fell asleep, but they work ok. lol! Haven't tried the others today though. Excited to be about done with them too!! I like Jeffries, but I can barely keep my eyes open! Did you by any chance update anything on your computer? We accidentally updated our iPad the other day and it suddenly wouldn't play any of the Themis videos. Took a few days before we figured out how to fix it.

[dtl]

Did all of the lectures go down today for anyone else? Was all excited to finish my last "new law" lecture, and suddenly none of the videos will load on multiple different connections.

YIKES! All of the Civ Pro lectures worked fine for me. I fell asleep, but they work ok. lol! Haven't tried the others today though. Excited to be about done with them too!! I like Jeffries, but I can barely keep my eyes open!

Well shit! That is even scarier if they did not go down for you too. I guess it is time to contact Themis!

Yeah Jeffries is not bad at all. I was surprised to see so many complain about him on twitter. My favorite is still the Real Property guy, though, even though RP is a horrible subject.

[iLoveFruits&Veggies]

Did all of the lectures go down today for anyone else? Was all excited to finish my last "new law" lecture, and suddenly none of the videos will load on multiple different connections.

YIKES! All of the Civ Pro lectures worked fine for me. I fell asleep, but they work ok. lol! Haven't tried the others today though. Excited to be about done with them too!! I like Jeffries, but I can barely keep my eyes open!

Well shit! That is even scarier if they did not go down for you too. I guess it is time to contact Themis!

Yeah Jeffries is not bad at all. I was surprised to see so many complain about him on twitter. My favorite is still the Real Property guy, though, even though RP is a horrible subject.

Yep, Kramer from RP is a hoot!! lol! And I agree, Jeffries is good - it's just the subject that makes me fall asleep. Wasn't sure if you saw my "edit" but a few days ago the Themis videos stopped playing for me and it was due to an inadvertent apps update on our ipad. Did you update anything by chance??

[Genuine4ps]

I actually liked the commercial paper professor. Really likable guy.

[themis513]

Schott's abundant peppiness can't keep me from being totallllly lost during evidence :S

[Lasers]

evidence practice essay question id: 152 has one of the worst model answers i've read.

none of it makes sense; crazy conclusions and bringing in doctrines that are clearly inapplicable (and seemingly missing one that could be applied).

i think i'm using too much common sense when looking at these things.

[Tanicius]

On my very last substantive lecture. Thank the lord.

Very worried I haven't actually picked anything up from a single essay lecture.

[Lasers]

has anyone else encountered inconsistent answers in the the essay model answers?

"California is among the minority of states that do not require lawyers to report other attorneys' ethical violations to disciplinary authorities."

"Under the California rules, an attorney may not threaten criminal, administrative, or disciplinary action to gain an advantage in a civil case."

"Under the California rules, while Bertha may---and likely must---report Austin's conduct to the California State Bar, Bertha is nevertheless absolutely prohibited from using that fact as a threat to gain an advantage in this case."

am i taking crazy pills? this shit makes no sense.

[Tanicius]

has anyone else encountered inconsistent answers in the the essay model answers?

"California is among the minority of states that do not require lawyers to report other attorneys' ethical violations to disciplinary authorities."

"Under the California rules, an attorney may not threaten criminal, administrative, or disciplinary action to gain an advantage in a civil case."

"Under the California rules, while Bertha may---and likely must---report Austin's conduct to the California State Bar, Bertha is nevertheless absolutely prohibited from using that fact as a threat to gain an advantage in this case."

am i taking crazy pills? this shit makes no sense.

Honestly, I'm starting to view essays more and more as an area of law where you have to know what you're talking about, not concern yourself as much with why the outcome goes down on one side instead of the other. You will get points for spotting and talking about issues, and as long as they are not horribly wrong, you should prioritize spotting issues with the wrong law or conclusion statement over spotting fewer issues and getting the law correct. At least that's my sense of the California essay exam after talking to lots of friends about it and eavesdropping on the CA essay bitching that has gone on in this thread.

I know this might not be the most comforting thing to hear. It sounds too good to be true in a way. But I'm starting to realize that essay grading on the bar is still just as arbitrary and capricious as essay grading in law school. And think about it -- there is so much material for the essay exam portion of this test, in every jurisdiction but especially yours, that almost no one can properly memorize the law sufficiently to allow them to just puke the correct answers out on the paper when they have to. Most of the examinees are just as confounded as you are.

[Lasers]

has anyone else encountered inconsistent answers in the the essay model answers?

"California is among the minority of states that do not require lawyers to report other attorneys' ethical violations to disciplinary authorities."

"Under the California rules, an attorney may not threaten criminal, administrative, or disciplinary action to gain an advantage in a civil case."

"Under the California rules, while Bertha may---and likely must---report Austin's conduct to the California State Bar, Bertha is nevertheless absolutely prohibited from using that fact as a threat to gain an advantage in this case."

am i taking crazy pills? this shit makes no sense.

Honestly, I'm starting to view essays more and more as an area of law where you have to know what you're talking about, not concern yourself as much with why the outcome goes down on one side instead of the other. You will get points for spotting and talking about issues, and as long as they are not horribly wrong, you should prioritize spotting issues with the wrong law or conclusion statement over spotting fewer issues and getting the law correct. At least that's my sense of the California essay exam after talking to lots of friends about it and eavesdropping on the CA essay bitching that has gone on in this thread.

yeah, that sounds about right. hopefully that's how it is, because my rule statements are going to be mangled and ugly.

but as to what i was saying earlier, just to clarify in that essay: the rules are correct (no duty in CA to report others' ethical violations and can't threaten disciplinary action for an advantage in litigation) but it's just that the conclusion was wrong?

[Tanicius]

Conflicts Lecturer:

"Now I'm going to be doing something unusual for the bar. I'm not going to ask you to memorize all seven elements. Seven is just too many things to remember -- I can't even remember the names of all seven dwarves... Dopey, Bashful... Okay fine, maybe I can remember them."

[Lasers]

the ca civ pro outline is over 100 pages...did you people actually read it?

[Lasers]

"Later that evening did you speak with anyone else on the phone?"

maybe i'm slow, but i don't see how that's a leading question.

[kapital98]

the ca civ pro outline is over 100 pages...did you people actually read it?

The NY Civ Pro outline was 140 pages. It was the first time I skipped an outline.

[jigglypuffdreams]

Yeah, even Michigan Civil Procedure is 120 pages or so. I think they're so long because they combine federal and state civil procedure. I skimmed the big outline, but for reviewing I might just try to focus on the little boxes for the Michigan distinctions since that's the new stuff for me.

[northwood]

how are you all tacking the last few weeks ( I don't finish leactures until July 9)? memorizing your notes and flashcards and doing 50-75 mixed MBE questions per day and then just writing down the rules as issue statements and doing one subject per day, or drilling essays? do you think this plan that I have tentatively scheduled for me is wise, or should I just disregard it and go with essays on essays ( I am still not confident I have the material down pat just yet)

[whirledpeas86]

This federal tax lecture is fucking terrible and the guy isn't following the handout at all. I want to throw my laptop out a window.

[Kiwi917]

"Later that evening did you speak with anyone else on the phone?"

maybe i'm slow, but i don't see how that's a leading question.

I didn't find that one to be particularly leading, but I think the point they are getting at is that it suggests too much info in the question, mainly that it hints there was another phone call later that night. I wouldn't worry about it, though, because only one of the two CA model answers mentioned it, and it was barely a sentence. The more important part seemed to be the form of the answer and the relevance analysis.

[BrendanD]

[Nevermind]

[Gotti]

All I can say is THANK GOD I took evidence in law school.

[kapital98]

This federal tax lecture is fucking terrible and the guy isn't following the handout at all. I want to throw my laptop out a window.

I'm so happy NY doesn't test on tax. It was probably my least favorite class during law school.

[northwood]

This federal tax lecture is fucking terrible and the guy isn't following the handout at all. I want to throw my laptop out a window.

I'm so happy NY doesn't test on tax. It was probably my least favorite class during law school.

I hate the thought of doing my taxes each year ( and by doing them, I just go to a tax specialist and provide him the forms that he asks for) so I purposely did not take a tax class. If tax was on the bar exam, I honestly would consider taking thebar in another state

[Lasers]

"Later that evening did you speak with anyone else on the phone?"

maybe i'm slow, but i don't see how that's a leading question.

I didn't find that one to be particularly leading, but I think the point they are getting at is that it suggests too much info in the question, mainly that it hints there was another phone call later that night. I wouldn't worry about it, though, because only one of the two CA model answers mentioned it, and it was barely a sentence. The more important part seemed to be the form of the answer and the relevance analysis.

thanks.