Terms of Encouragement
The time draws near. I thought some guidance would be appropriate, but in what style? Something like Churchill's defiant beaches speech? FDR's admonition about fear? It occurred to me: the most appropriate guidance for Boalt students would come from that sage old salt, two-time skipper of the Cleveland Steamers, Jesse Jacobsen. In his style, I dedicate these words to all Boalt exam takers of the summer of 2007, including one Mr. Bundy and my appellate mentor, TL:
"Ok guys. Go out there. It's a pretty hard test. Actually, it's a test that's tougher than we are. We probably can't beat it, but I guess we should try to make it look respectable. Riley, no cursing after you popup a softball question. Armen, we'll have a towel waiting at the end of the first morning's essays. Glasser, you're too old to take this exam. Martin, you're a bar exam cancer and you're bringing everyone down. Beat it."
"I mean, think about it guys. This is a test that humbled the dean of Stanford. So don't take it too personally. Now bring it in, and let's steam it up."
--
I strove for authenticity. Feel free to suggest additions or corrections in the comments.
"Ok guys. Go out there. It's a pretty hard test. Actually, it's a test that's tougher than we are. We probably can't beat it, but I guess we should try to make it look respectable. Riley, no cursing after you popup a softball question. Armen, we'll have a towel waiting at the end of the first morning's essays. Glasser, you're too old to take this exam. Martin, you're a bar exam cancer and you're bringing everyone down. Beat it."
"I mean, think about it guys. This is a test that humbled the dean of Stanford. So don't take it too personally. Now bring it in, and let's steam it up."
--
I strove for authenticity. Feel free to suggest additions or corrections in the comments.
Labels: Bar Exams, The Red Menace
posted by Tom Fletcher at 1:20 PM
13 Comments:
Prof. Bundy is taking the bar exam? huh?
apparently you weren't at graduation?
No, I wasn't. And, he is?
Are you stressing out alot right now?
Good Idea????
NO!!!!
EVERYBODY PASSES!!!
Good morning. In less than an hour, [students] from [Boalt] will join others from around the world. And you will be [taking] the largest [test] in the history of [the law]. "[The law]." That word should have new meaning for all of us today. We can't be consumed by our petty differences anymore. We will be united in our common interests. Perhaps it's fate that today is the [Twenty]-Fourth of July, and you will once again be fighting for our freedom... Not from tyranny, oppression, or persecution... but from [failing the Bar]. We are fighting for our right to live. To [practice law]. And should we win the day, the [Twenty]-Fourth of July will no longer be known as [the first day of the Bar], but as the day [law students] declared in one voice: "We will not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight!" We're going to live on! We're going to survive! Today we celebrate our Independence Day!
Actually, I prefer to directly quote Skipper J in his e-mail to us during 1L year IM softball.
"Steamers,
Tomorrow night at 10 pm on Maxwell field, we will play the most important softball game of our season. We will face the third place Feynmen for the fourth and final playoff spot. If you guys want to play next week, we have to win tomorrow. Gentlemen, tomorrow will be one of the greatest days of your lives, up there with the day you found out you were accepted into Boalt and the day you first saw Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. Destiny is calling; will you accept the charges...?"
Anybody have any fun plans for tomorrow?
I think that I am going out to dinner at Boulevard something of a last meal of sorts
Has anyone vomited yet?
I kind of feel like Nicolas Cage in "The Rock" when they tell him that he has to go out to Alcatraz to diffuse the VX rockets. He immediately runs to the bathroom and throws up.
But then another part of me feels that all that's left is for me to do my best.
good luck all.
(hijack)
who knows anything about Robert Cole for First Amendment? no course evals online . . .
I keep thinking of the scene in saving private Ryan when the marines are in the amphibious vehicles crashing through the waves en route to omaha beach.
We all have some of the best training in the world, but some of us aren't gonna make it.
We are storming a heavily fortified enemy position (Cal Bar) and the shelling over the past few weeks (Bar Bri) can only soften the defenses so much. I just hope that by the end of day one I'm not hiding behind some concertina trying to held my bowels inside my abdomen with one arm, while I'm drafting interogatories for the performance test with the other arm.
Hey, my Grandpa failed the bar when some Nazi thug gutted his practice books. I don't appreciate you making light of that situation.
Deep breath 5:01. We're going to make it.
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