Bar Thoughts: Part II

The Process

Bar Review Course Selection

It’s a grueling process studying and taking the bar exam. I decided to take the same bar review course that nearly everyone takes: a course put on by a company called Bar/Bri. So if you saw any of my away messages that said Bar/Bri, that was not a mistake. No, I didn’t mistakenly spell the name of the most famous American children’s toy (who, on a sidenote, apparently has competition now).

I’m going to qualify this by saying that I’m not a Bar/Bri representative nor have I been compensated by the company. The course isn’t necessarily for everyone. First off, “satellite” locations outside of LA, San Diego, San Francisco, and Sacramento have their lectures played by DVD. In addition, there is less “hands on” instruction. Essentially a lot of the learning goes on through listening to lectures then going to self study. But one thing I found was that this was really perfect for me.

I’m very self-motivated to study and I don’t need a lot of handholding along the way. I don’t need extreme analysis of everything I write. As long as what I have to study off of is really good, I’m usually going to be ok. Bar/Bri’s materials are really second to none. The outlines they provide, the volumes of sample essays, software to analyze your multistate scores, along with their website were things I really loved. In addition, you could always look back to watch any lecture that you missed on the website. There are video reviews for every sample test along with lecture videos on essay approaches.

One last additional thing about Bar/Bri and the reason why I took it is that about 70-80% of people in CA taking the bar also take it. When taking the bar, you don’t want to be different from everyone else. Different rule statements, different approaches, different definitions, and different mnemonics are not a good thing. If your essay looks like everyone else’s, its great because it “looks” passing. And if you screw up because you were told something wrong, chances are, everyone else got the same thing wrong. I mean, don’t get me wrong. I have nothing but good things to say about the quality of the course. But it’s very reassuring that I don’t need to be second guessing and asking, “Did Bar/Bri say this right?” Well…if I’m wrong, at least everyone else is too!

Taking the Course

I took my Bar/Bri course at Chapman University Law School. It’s a beautiful building, state of the art, and brand new. The library became my home for two months. The first day I walked in was like going for the first day of school all over again. Except, unlike my first day of kindergarten, junior high, high school, college, or law school, I had no fears that the kids would be mean to me or any of the natural anxiety of being in a new environment. Anytime you attend class, although there is open seating, there is an unwritten rule that you don’t sit in someone else’s seat. From day one, I chose a place right in the back. From that vantage point you can see everyone’s computer monitors and who’s paying attention or not.

It’s surprising how many people were just browsing the internet, playing games, or doing online shopping. One dude who sat in front of me played one of three games the whole time: Everquest, solitaire, or online poker. Another gal was actually browsing for bikinis and at one point took out her credit card to pay. I don’t know WHEN she was going to don her newly purchased swimwear, certainly not during bar exam season. At least her future clients can be reassured that she’ll have a good tan. A lot of the bar review class coincided with the World Cup in South Africa. Streaming video of the World cup through ESPN3.com is evil. There would be people watching it while taking notes during lecture. I must admit, I was tempted to start streaming. Fortunately, I had enough self control to limit myself to looking at “gametracker.” There were other people who had interned at different prosecutors’ offices during their law school careers in my class and we came up with a pretty creative joke (at least I think so) to describe the people distracted: “it looks like we have a lot of future PD’s (public defenders) here.” Haha…sorry PD’s it’s all in good fun.

The course started May 24 (two days after my graduation/birthday) and consisted of morning lectures starting at 9:00 AM. We would run until around 12:30-1. Every day, there were different areas of law covered and we would have assignments associated with each day. For example, June 1 would be a “Torts Day 1”. We would watch the lecture in the morning and then study torts in the afternoon/evening on our own time.

As part of the course, we are given a grip load of books. A couple of volumes of multiple choice questions and explanations. An essay workbook with essay questions and model answers. A performance test workbook with performance tests. Long outlines of all the subjects on the bar, along with a “conviser mini-review.” But my personal favorite is the 3-4 inch thick “in class workbook” that contained all the handouts for the lectures that we were to attend.

The “outside” self study would involve a lot of review over the morning’s materials as well as studying black letter rules and outlines. I would make my own note cards and study outlines as part of the review process. We were also assigned different things within the course as homework. Bar/Bri is pretty comprehensive, so there are videos online that you can watch (how to write essays in different subjects, reviewing multiple choice questions, reviewing essays). We would also have to write and outline essays that were real bar exam questions from years past. And we would also have to work on multiple choice questions in review for the MBE.

One thing about Bar/Bri is that they make things super hard. The essays that we were given in the essay book in the study materials are always amongst the toughest ones ever given. The model answers that they give for essays are always perfect and are humanly impossible to write in the one hour that we’re allotted on the real test. The MBE multiple choice questions that they give you test either test on really obscure points of law, or purposefully try to trick you. I think this really helped me a lot in that I was prepared to deal with things that were a lot worse than what was given on the real exam. On the other hand, seeing such perfect answers and being butchered on super-challenging multiple choice questions had the unintended consequence of really being discouraging at times. I started thinking that I was really not prepared, when in fact, I actually was.

Bar Thoughts: Part 1

Introduction

These next series of entries will revolve around my experience taking the California Bar Exam (July 27-29). I finished taking the bar about a week ago. I write to inform of what this process looked like for me. A lot of you may know that I was “studying for the bar” but nothing else other than that. There is really no experience quite like bar-taking. I write this to share what my life for the last 2.5 months looked like and to illuminate some of the process of bar examination preparation. I have read a lot of things about the “tips” people have in “succeeding” with the bar. But I have never seen anything on the inside workings of one taking the bar. I write to explain some of m absence from socializing the last few months. I also share this to give some insight at some of the real struggles I went through during this time. And I write this also for myself as an almost cathartic experience writing things out and letting it go. In writing, I memorialize the memories of what will hopefully become the genesis of my professional career, but also to seek to let go of the stresses involved. It was a very long journey and a process where I discovered a lot about myself in terms of my mental and spiritual preparedness to be a lawyer. It was a very tough road, and one that I hope never to have to go through again.

The California Bar Examination

The California bar examination is a professional exam administered by the State Bar of California as a prerequisite to the practice of law in California. It is considered to be the toughest bar exam in the nation because of the breadth of the subjects, the length of the test, and the standard by which they grade it. It is stated that the exam is a test of “minimum competency.” If you pass, you are deemed to be minimally competent to be a first year lawyer in California.

The exam is three days long. The first and the third days are the “written” portion of the test. There are three essay questions in the morning (for three hours) and one three hour “performance test” in the afternoon. The easiest way to describe the performance test for non-bar takers is that you have to write a memo or something similar to what you would have to write in actual real world practice. Test-takers are given a “client file” with a task memo along with a “library” of cases and statutes. We have to prepare, research, and write what is asked in the task memo within the three hours. The second day of the exam is the “Multistate Bar Exam” (MBE) which is 200 multiple choice questions covering six subjects. Three hours 100 questions in the morning. The same thing in the afternoon.

So just to recap, that’s about 18 total hours of testing time over three days. We get there around 8, leave around 5. Have about 1.5 hours for lunch break. It actually sounds a lot worse than it is (but that’s for a later entry).

(to be continued)

Sports at its Best

Trust me, I am not a fan of figure skating. I don't understand its intricacies, its nuances. I just don't get what a "salchow," "flip," or a "lutz" is. Its hard for me to put it on the same level as other "sports" because of the subjective nature of the scoring, although that is now changing. In the old days, when one could predict the score based on old Cold War alliances (even as recently as 2002), its hard to see how it's unlike professional wrestling in its test of athletic prowess.

Last night, at least for one night, I became a real big fan of figure skating. Broadcast was the Ladies' short program and the competition encapsulated what makes sports great. Admittedly, it doesn't hurt that many of the competitors are pleasant to watch, but that's besides the point.

On one hand, there was Kim Yu-na of South Korea.

What's great about athletic competition is that it brings the best out of people. It encourages hard work, perseverance, and training. She's someone facing incredible pressure outside the sport, carrying the hope of a nation on her shoulders. Expectations are sky-high and anything other than a gold would be deemed a failure. Pretty heavy for a 19 year-old! But she brought it and skated beautifully with a performance that was interesting, technically sound, sophisticated, and subtly flirtatious. Sports is a test of will and mental toughness. The ability to perform your best when your best is needed is such an admirable trait.

On the other side, what I also love about sports is that the experiences that athletes go through are just so human and relateable. They representideals and hopes and dreams, yet when they are brought down to earth, they can also represent pain, grief, and sadness. When we see athletes battle through injury, sickness, or personal issues, we admire them for their performance, but more importantly we admire the mere fact that they do not allow such circumstances to change them. It gives us hope and inspiration that we can also battle through such circumstances and not let such pain overcome us.

Such was the case of Joannie Rochette of Canada.

Her mother flew into Vancouver to watch her perform on Saturday night. On Sunday morning, Joannie received a phone call that her mother, only 54, died from a heart attack.Just two days later, she goes out and gives the performance of her life. At the end of the performance, the grief she felt finally took hold and she burst into tears. I have to admit, I had some tears starting to well up in my eye.

There's something about sports that is very symbolic and which is why all civilizations and all countries engage in competition. Sports serve as a microcosm and is representative of the human condition and the wide range of experiences that it brings. Whether its being at the pinnacle and the joys of victory, or bottoming out and feeling the agony of defeat, such emotions are universal. And the themes of the sport experience carry over into life as well. That's the beauty of sport and why I love it, even if it is ladies' figure skating.

America's Exceptionalism

I was watching some highlights of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) that was held in Washington last week. Of the speeches made, two of the most notable ones were by Marco Rubio, U.S. Senate candidate from Florida, and Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts and presidential candidate. One thing that was a big theme in both of their speeches was the defense of American exceptionalism. In short, that America is not like any other country, it stands above all others and has a special place in the world. Rhetoric like "greatest country ever" and "special place in history" was used quite a bit.

I'm not dismissive of the fact that America has great power and has a special role in this point in time. And I'm very proud of my country. The United States has been a great force for good in this world throughout its history. However, there's something about American exceptionalism's ideas that reeks of arrogance. There's something about it that leads to a tendency to sit on our laurels and forget about working hard and looking introspectively at what we as a country need to improve upon.

I love my country enough to recognize that there are things that it must change and injustices it must cure. We are not exceptional enough not to have any problems. One of the principles of American exceptionalism is that the world will take our example. This, I can agree to a degree: the world needs some more American humility.

Living in the End Times without Being Dramatic

"Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away. But of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. Take heed, keep on the alert; for you do not know when the appointed time will come."
- Mark 13:31-33

In my Christian walk, I have heard it said quite often through Bible studies and messages that we are "living in the end times." I have also heard that we should live our lives in view of the end times. There is a great amount of support in the Bible for these general propositions. There is mention meeting together as "see the day approaching." There are verses that mention that the day of the Lord coming soon written to awake Christians from their spiritual slumber.

But such recitation and repitition of these general propositions has always left me with the "ampersand" problem. What is next? Yes, we who are redeemed by God are eternally secure and can expect God's redemptive to be complete in the not-to-distant future. Yet, I really have no clue as to what such a life lived should look like. Are we to be desperate and almost in a kind of "rush" to do all we as Christians think we "should" do? Are we to bring about change in the world which we think will prompt the return of Christ? Or are we to do nothing? And if we are to radically change how life is lived, how does that come about?

The message this past Sunday was an "ah-ha" moment for me. We are to live our lives if Jesus could either come back tomorrow or 100 years from now. We are to have the acute awareness that Christ could return imminently, but not idly speculate when that date is and to take extraordinary measures in trying to ascertain when that date is. Rather than focusing solely upon the apocalyptic thoughts that so often grip us when we think about Christ's return, we must look to how Christ is transforming us in the interim between now and His return. We must focus on His redemptive plan for the World and how we may fit into that plan. In short, "living in view of the end times" is something that can be brought about by the recognition that the world as it is today will not be the same tomorrow nor in the future. It is a moving target. In addition, we as people will not be the same. The fate that both we as individuals and the world at large share is the completion of God's plan in the future. When that future is, no one knows.

The End is Here

Yesterday was my last day attending Chinese Christian Family Church (CCFC). As of today, my search for a new church home begins.

Leaving is the culmination of a difficult past few years for me as I have pondered my own spiritual life, my role in the church, the church’s direction, and the work that God has planned for me in my service through a local church body. And I feel, as this period of uncertainty and constant questioning closes, a great weight has been lifted from my shoulders. I do leave with a sense of sadness and a fear of the unknown. Church-searching is a new experience for me. Having counseled friends with their own church struggles and decisions to leave their home church, it is weird to be on this side.

I expect in the next few weeks and maybe months, there will be some questions as to why? This may seem awfully sudden and shocking to some, but for those who do know me and have been aware of the going-ons in my life, the theme of desiring to leave has been an all-too-overplayed tune. For years, I have only been delaying the inevitable, and the result has not been good for me, and I believe the church as well.

But I realize, that this still does not explain my departure. I believe that I have adequately informed those who need to know on the “why.” This decision has been made carefully, prayerfully, and after an (all-too) prolonged period of reflection and methodical consideration. Out of awareness that going into much detail may serve as a discouragement for those who do remain, I have chosen to be particular with those I have shared with. Just know that I find leaving a local church, especially when being at one for so long, is not something that should be taken lightly and should be a rare occurrence. Before one leaves, one should attempt to exhaust all possibilities that could effectively address concerns.

With that being said, there are fundamental disagreements that I have with the church. These disagreements run up and down all levels of the church, and are not merely limited to generational differences with “the old guard.” And many of these concerns, I believe, run to the foundation of what need to be addressed in order for a church to have a healthy future experiencing growth in individuals and corporately as well. Such issues are serious and wide-spread enough to conclude that a clean break would be best.

I have spent my entire adult life at CCFC. It is a place where I have gone from boy to man, physically as well as spiritually and as I leave, I have had time to reflect on what I am grateful for regarding my years at CCFC. In thinking about the past, I cannot help but smile and reflect with fondness. There is a library chock full of memories. Going to China on missions after freshman year of college. The times during retreats just staying up in…interesting…conversation (what’s said in the cabin, stays in the cabin!). Playing sports where we end up saying, “I really need to get into shape,” all too often. All through the laughter and the heart-felt words, I have grown spiritually and been blessed through my membership and association in this local church body.

In the church experience, people tend to come and go. Through the years, I have had opportunity to meet and develop relationships with some really cool people. What I am incredibly grateful for is that these relationships have come to the point that they go beyond being “church friends” and where we can enjoy friendship and fellowship transcending church involvement. And these are relationships I desire to continue, nurture, and deepen.

In addition, I am very grateful for the leadership and friendship of Pastor Elton. Through the years, I have come to really respect him for his character, leadership, and his example of a life lived in a Christ-centered manner desiring to live for the glory of God. Both he and Wen-Yean are extremely generous with their resources, time, and energy, and I am eternally grateful for them in the impact that they have made on my own life. Of all the things that made it difficult to leave these years, my relationship and respect for Pastor Elton was by FAR at the very top. The English congregation has it incredibly good with Pastor Elton at the helm, and I hope that those that remain at CCFC realize that.

As I enter this new period in my life, I do so with a sense of nervousness, but with great excitement was well. I will be deliberate in my decision to settle at a new church home and take my time and cast the net out wide. I do have a set of criteria and preferences, but am open. And as I enter this season in my life, I ask for two things: accountability and prayer. Accountability to ensure that I am staying diligent in my search and discouragement from entering in to “church-dating” mode. And prayer for me as I see where God would take me and He would guide me all along the way, ultimately to a place that the preaching is Word-centered, people are God-centered, church structure is Christ-centered, service Spirit-Centered, and where I can grow in my love for the Lord and constantly challenged to live my life more and more for the glory of God.

A New Disease

I basically chewed gum all day and now the muscles around my jaw are really sore. Is this what they call "jawthritis"?