Louisiana Bar Exam Forum

[Napoleon]

Hi guys! I recently signed up to take the Louisiana bar this summer. I am a 3L at an out-of-state school and never thought I would take this bar. I plan on taking a prep course, but I have no exposure to any civil law courses.

I am seeking advice from someone who took the Louisiana bar from an out-of-state school or just general advice from anyone who took it recently.

Would you recommend Barbri or Kaplan? Also, was the prep course enough to adequately learn the civil law subject areas?

Any advice is much appreciated!

[gwuorbust]

I took and passed the La bar exam a few years ago. Search on here, there should be some good threads.

In summary, the La bar exam is totally passable. Unlike MBE juxs, the La bar exam is about 90% essay based. If you memorize what barbri tells you, answer all the questions, and regurgite the law -- you will probably pass. In La, know the rules stone cold is more important than elsewhere because getting all of the factors down on paper is very important. For example, if you do not walk in there knowing the twevle factors of the best interest of the child by heart , you are doing it wrong.

The questions themselves are often copy and paste jobs from previous years. And the La supreme Court releases all the essay questions. Thus while the "terminology" is different, if you commit the barbri materials to heart and study the previous questions, you should be good to go. Good luck.

Edit: sorry for any errors, on Mobile.

[timmyd]

Just passed the La. bar in July. Pretty easy IMO. While the non-Code subjects usually test the same topics (sometimes going as far as using the same question from the previous year) the Code subjects are more likely to variate. For example, my test did not have the best interest of the child factors. If you memorize the law and can write moderately well, you'll be fine.

[Tigerbait2015]

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[timmyd]

Yea, I used Kaplan as well. The above poster is correct in all aspects. Kaplan is awful. On the the civil procedure sections especially, they provide tons of useless, never-tested information, but ignore frequently tested topics. I think I passed in spite of using Kaplan. Barbri seemed to more fully exhaust all the material. It also provides many more practice tests with better answers, although I think all model answers will be subject to some variation. Put simply, the law is not easily distilled into absolutes--whether in terms of stating the law, or, more frequently, in its application.

[ConfusedOffer]

If any of you are (or anyone you know) is willing to sell their Louisiana Barbri books (particularly the essay model answers book), PM me.