Tags
Bar exam, Bar examination, Law, Law school, Lawyers, Professional Exams, Sharon Stone, Studying for the bar, Test Preparation
Please excuse me while I indulge in some self-pity. For anyone who has studied for/taken the bar exam before, I hope you appreciate this. For everyone else, maybe you can just feel a little better about your own life right now?
1. I shouldn’t need to do this. It’s not just that I went to law school and practiced law for almost four years. Because let’s be realistic: law school is too theoretical and practice is too, well, practical. Neither is particularly helpful for the bar exam. But come on! I already studied for, took and passed the bar exam once! I hate that I have to do this again. Advice to new lawyers: once you’ve passed the bar, don’t move. For real.
2. Everything that matters to me has been relegated to “after the bar”. As Adeline stood on a chair and “helped” me cook dinner tonight, I thought that she could really use that play kitchen I’m planning to make for her. And then the usual refrain popped up: “I’ll do it after the bar”. Everything is “after the bar” these days: workout more, edit my latest story, write a book review, go see my elderly grandma… the bar seems to have taken over my life. And that’s just not cool.
3. It’s really boring. If Epstein on contracts doesn’t make you want to stab your eyes out with a dull spoon, I don’t know what will. I’m sorry buddy, but your shower fantasies about Sharon Stone do not make this any more entertaining. They just make me throw up a little in my mouth. Please just get the lecture over with and get out of my life. And please, for the love of god, can you talk more quickly??
4. I don’t have time for this. I mean, really, I don’t have time. When I took the bar before I thought I didn’t have time. Which meant, I didn’t have as much time as I would have liked to do things like cook dinner, go out for drinks with friends, lay out by the pool, go to the beach, go to a friend’s bbq, watch a movie, read, sleep. Sure, I spent three hours a day in class and probably five hours a day studying, but that left a lot of time for other things (including, to be fair, a fellowship I did while studying). Now, when I say I don’t have time, I really mean it. If I even attempt to study when Adeline is around she starts screaming and throwing a fit. That means I can study for an hour while she naps, as long as I can stay awake at night, and the few hours a week she’s at daycare. And that’s it. Needless to say, studying is not going well. Shit.
5. I don’t even want to be a lawyer. Studying for and taking the bar costs $3000 and requires immense amounts of time. I hate that I’m doing all this when I’m not even particularly excited about practicing law. I wish I knew what else to do with my life. Sigh.
So lawyer friends, what am I missing? What else really sucks about studying for the bar?
Why are you taking the bar? If you don’t have to practice why would you? Being a lawyer sucks.
I want to work and just don’t know what else to do. I know that sounds pathetic. I hate myself for it sometimes. To be fair, there are some things I liked about being a lawyer. I’m trying to remember them. I’ll get back to you on that
Do you live near a law school? Have you considered admissions or career counseling or teaching legal writing? Taking the bar a second time suuuuuuuuucks. You don’t have the same level of anxiety, so it’s just annoying.
So true! I’m not quite motivated enough to make myself study, but I know I need to… so annoying!
I’ve thought about legal writing… I don’t know, it’s not terribly appealing to me, but maybe I’m just being overly self-indulgent?
I guess it depends on why you want to work. I distinctly remember your lack of love for the law, and I share that. I do, however, love working in law school administration. Frankly, I liked law school. It was just the practice that was unappealing. So, are you working just to get out of the house or find fulfillment? You might like teaching, or at least it might be more palatable than practice.
Oh I can totally relate to #5…kind of. I don’t have a law degree, and I’m just starting my time off work. But I know there’s going to be a day down the road when I’m applying for engineering jobs I don’t want because I don’t know what else to do. Why not become a writer? (Whatever that means.) You’re a really good writer.
Life’s too short to do things you don’t enjoy. The studying is a means to an end, so if you’re excited about the end result, keep on making sacrifices and do what you need to do. If you don’t even want to be a lawyer, why stress and spend all that money? You are obviously a very intelligent woman with lots of options. If you’re smart enough to be a lawyer, you can do anything! I would reconsider career options, but that’s just me.
My husband took an exam in his field a few years ago. Life really does get put on hold. Hang in there!
My husband has to take the February bar too so I totally feel how annoying this is for you. I’d also add that it’s annoying that Barbri has such a monopoly they can charge whatever they want. If it makes you feel any better my husband hasn’t even started studying yet. I don’t think anyone taking it a second time treats it the way they did the first go around. What a pain! I’d be interested to hear if you explore law school administration or legal writing or other non-law firm jobs. Good luck with the bar and your job search! I’m sure you will do great.
You – Yes You! – have been awarded a Versatile Blogger Award!!! http://ahimsamama.com/2012/01/who-me-the-versatile-blogger-award/ Congrats!
I truly feel for you, but best of luck! I just started back to work fulltime as an attorney last week, after staying home for the first year of my son’s life. I am so happy I am back to work!
O-M-F-G I don’t know what I would do if I had to study for the bar again!! This post made me quiver with horror. I, too, am not sure what I want to do so I default to being a lawyer but it’s so awful. I went back after two years of being home and I lasted a year – 365 days of pure torture. Being home is way harder, but at least it is far more rewarding work.
Oops, this is probably not the motivation you were looking for. You are going to ROCK that bar!!!! Seriously. I mean it.
PS – can Lindsey (from Skadden) counsel me too? Signed Carinn (once from Kelley Drye and Greenberg Traurig).
ugh, right there with you. kids, BE SURE YOU TAKE THE BAR WHERE YOU WANT TO PUT DOWN ROOTS. or, in the alternative, take a bar that gets you into other places if the sh*t hits the fan and you have to move. i took and passed NV in 2007 and then practiced for 4 years, during which time i had two kids and decided i wanted to move back east.
the first time was such a miserable experience i said i would never do it again, but here i am. i’m realizing i somehow managed to get through a bajillion years of schooling and another whole bar exam without really learning how to study effectively. i’m pumping myself full of caffeine because this sh*t is like printed ambien. i couldn’t really afford to do barbri again this time and thought the lectures were not super helpful the first time, but now i’m second guessing myself. i literally found your site with the following google search: i hate studying. i’m so ADD i’m actually wasting quality sleeping-kid time reading blogs about other people studying rather than studying. what state are you taking? i’m taking VA, which has a liberal looking pass rate, but tests 24 different possible subjects. blerg.
Oh my god: “this shit is liked printed ambien” YES! A thousand times YES. I cannot stay awake when I’m trying to study.
I’m taking CO – they have the uniform bar exam, so luckily I don’t have to learn any Colorado specific law. But honestly, that just makes it even more annoying that I passed the bar and practiced for four years and still have to do this all over again. One more year and I would have gotten reciprocity. Damn it!!!
Good Luck! I feel like you were describing me. I practiced law in Florida for almost 4 years before moving to KY. FL has zero reciprocity. What is horrible is we know we won’t use what we are tested on.