Postcards from the Bar Exam (circa 1988), Up At An Associate’s Mind

In anticipation of a trip up to Ithaca, New York (more on that later) where I attended law school and studied for the bar exam, I decided to take another trip down memory lane and rifle through an old box of writings from that time in my life.  I uncovered an essay that I’d written, long forgotten, entitled Postcards from the Bar Exam, a collection of humorous reflections about the utility of the bar exam.

Though I wrote the piece 22 years ago, much of what I wrote remains timely and I wanted so share my blast from the past with recent grads now prepping for July’s exam.  After a shout out on Twitter in search of a law student blogs that might publish my piece, I found Keith Lee, a 3L at University of Alabama, Birmingham who authors An Associate’s Mind.  Keith has cleverly serialized my “postcards” for his blog, with the first installment up here.  To get you started, here’s the opening paragraph:

This summer as I study for the bar exam, I can’t help but think of my contemporaries, the graduates from various professional and undergraduate schools who are spending their summers cavorting through Europe. Oh, how I envy them, healthy and tanned, hopping cross-continent from London to Paris to Rome savoring every highlight, while I, plow bitter and frustrated, slog from Contracts to Property to Criminal Law; where the only highlights worth savoring are my pale pink and chartreuse fluorescent pen markings which cover my endless pages of notes. Yet, in its own perverse way, the bar exam is like a European holiday.  And I’ve jotted down some postcard notes to make myself believe it even more. [read more]