Bar Application, Graduation, MPRE & Moral Character Stuff

In case you missed it, here's a summary of today's lunch session with Dean H*rshen about applying for the Bar and going through Moral Character Determination. I'm sure I missed a few things, so if you have anything important to add, do so in the comments.

First, there were handouts. You should read them. Additionally ...

Registration and Bar Application

• It's really important that you register as a law student before you apply for the bar. Those are two separate steps that take time to process, so you can't just do both in one go. The law school told us to register during our 1L year, but if you're unsure about your status, you can check it out here.
• If you're taking the New York bar (or any other bar for that matter), let the Registrar know! The law school will automatically certify graduates for the California bar, but students from other states will need to submit a form to the registrar by a certain deadline. You may also need to submit other forms, like a handwriting sample for New York. You should get all of this to the registrar as soon as possible.

Graduation

• If you have IP grades ("in progress"), talk to your professor soon to get those taken care of. It's bad if you can't graduate because the professor you need to sign off on this is on sabbatical.
• Writing requirements should be done by this semester.
• The registrar will start sending out individual e-mails to students about any missing graduation requirements, starting next week.

MPRE

• If you are taking the MPRE this November, John St*ele will be holding an MPRE review session at 5:30 on Thursday, October 27, in Booth. See K. H*lmquist's e-mail.

Moral Character Determination

• You can fill it out at this link.
• Fill it out now! It takes a long time to complete and to process. Technically, you don't need to have this done until you take your oath in December, but it's best to get this all done before you take the bar, so you don't have to worry about any of this while studying for the bar.
• At least 4 people asked this, but yes, LLM and international students need to go through the Moral Character Determination process as well. If you want to sit for the bar, you have to go through moral determination.
• You need to have your fingerprints taken. Boalt doesn't do fingerprinting, so ask the bar for locations
• It's OK to have a few "youthful indiscretions" on your moral character determination, but it's better to be upfront about this rather than try to hide it. If you fail to mention something, and it comes up later during the moral character review, that's bad.
• Similarly, if you have anything that might impact your moral character determination, like a bankruptcy or criminal record, that you did not mention to Berkeley, you should talk to Dean Hirshen. It's important that information the Bar has about you match the information the school has.
• Even if you've taken a moral character determination in the past, e.g., for a security background check, you still need to do this one as well. But mention the previous one in your application.
• When putting down your employment history, if your employer no longer exists, there should be a box you can check to note this. If your boss is no longer there (but the company still is), just put down the company and boss as is, and let your old company deal with it.
• When putting down the places you resided at, if you were travelling for an extended period of time but didn't have any single particular place you stayed at, just list your permanent residence.
• This sounded weird to me, but when listing the time and places for your your residencies, you also need to note those brief periods during winter or summer break where you were at home.
• A moral character determination is good in California for three years, so if you're not taking the Cal. bar but might at some point in the next three years, get the moral character determination done now.

That's all I have. You can also view posts from previous 3Ls about this process. Feel free to add in the comments.

Message From The Administration About Your Smoking Problem

Howdy folks,

It's your friendly, happy administration here letting you know that you need to stop smoking. Obviously, you cannot smoke inside. But, what we want to remind you is that you cannot smoke anywhere near the law school. Outside on the patio? Nope. On the sidewalk on Bancroft? Are you joking, you tobacco stained loser, of course not. Next to the Archeology building? Don't know where that is? I'm sure you do, you dirty, dirty smoker. Don't you dumb smokers know that smoking kills people. Smoking kills lots of people. It's probably already killed you, but you don't know it yet. God, I am so pissed! We live in a healthy, productive society and fuck you smokers for putting your smoke through our windows and in our vents and just making this world a dirty, unattractive place. So, guess what. We have a policy. Our policy is that you smokers should quit immediately. But, because we can't determine law school admission by smoking preference, we've decided that we'll just not allow you to smoke anywhere near the school. Got it?! Seriously, I'm looking at you, J*y.

Fuck it,
The Administration

Blake's and Beckett's Close in the Same Week, Please Don't Let Kip's Be Next

That's right. Both Beckett's and Blake's closed this week. They likely both went out of business because Boalt students boycotted both establishments due to their bad service and poor atmosphere. That and both were way too big to barely sell any food and be half full on the weekends.

So, what now? Well, it's clear that we really only have one choice: Every Bar Review from here on out is at Kip's. We cannot let the best-carpeted karaoke dance floor in the Western Hemisphere close and I think it's the responsibility of everyone to support a bar where the seating consists of picnic tables from my middle school.

Also, it's a great alternative to the Down Low. Just sayin'.

Love,
James

Live Blogging the Moral Character Lunch

Hey All --

So, having lost my various other forums I will be using Nuts & Boalts to restart my liveblogging of events that I feel obliged to go to that tend to be a huge waste of time. Things are just getting started here, so grab your Gregoire (mmm, skirt steak) and let's get going.

12:38: who are all of these people? Seriously. I like dont' recognize half of the people here. Are 1Ls here b/c they're special? Did we take a bunch of new people?
12:38: Jared Fish wants us to vote. Oh, Lauren Dickey does too. I love her!
12:39: Jared REALLY wants us to vote
12:40: pretty decent showing. Starting to recognize people. Oh, there's M*ndi, she looks really excited about this ...
12:46: there is an undergrad sitting two seats down from me ... he just said, "This isn't going to be so bad, right?" He is 1) wrong 2) proving why undergrads are basically just bigger 8 year olds
12:48: Ann*k is getting things started. It's amazing for her that we're 3Ls. It is terrifying to me.
12:48: I should have at least 2 handouts, I have none
12:49: Joel has them, but is really annoying. Cal Bar Exam: Bus Ass; CP (Fed and Cal); Com. Prop; Ks; Con Law; Crim/Pro; Evidence (Fed/Cal); Pro Resp.; Prop; Remedies; Torts; Wills and Trusts; FML. FOR NY, add Family Law, nix others.
12:50: We have to do something about exit counseling if(!) you have student loans. Also, if you aren't taking NY or Cal, this will be useless(ish) to you
12:51: FOr CAL three steps: 1) register as 1L; 2) moral character; 3) apply for the bar. THE BAR IS NOT FORGIVING. If you don't do these in that order then you DO NOT GET TO TAKE THE BAR.
12:52: For NY: You don't have to reg as a 1L. Instead, you apply for bar, then moral character, then register. Lawyers are SO annoying
12:53: BARBRI: B/c of construction, haven't been barbri here lately. But, we have now given them the opportunity to do it here -- and is VERY likely that if you take CA you will have classes here at Boalt.
12:54: MPRE: There is a Ste*le review Wednesday at 5:30 -- not sure which Wednesday, maybe come every Wednesday until you get it right.
12:55: the really want us to take the moral thing soon. She could not be talking quieter
12:56: sounds like we should just go to the website (http://www.calbar.ca.gov/). She says that this may take a lot longer to fill out than others. I assume she's talking about Joel. You need residences for the last 8 years, employment since age 8 (not just legal, but any employment more than 6 months). Also if you have other licenses, are you involved in litigation (like, not as a representative), 5 personal refernces -- people who know but aren't related to you, and one must be an atty; crim convictions and notwithstanding penal code 1203.4 dismissal you still have to put it down.
1:00: ugh, I'm seriously bored. And people are now asking questions... Why are people this year so question happy?
1:01: small claims court litigation counts (J.)
1:02: note, employment covers babysitting, adult sitting, any other kind of sitting
1:03: On the bright side, only 50-60 people don't pass each year in CA
1:04: This is turning into one of those things where everyone is asking questions that are only relevant to themselves. This is more painful then BizAss
1:07: nice, now we're talking about drug use.
1:09: people have started leaving. I want to be people.
1:10: Chuckles is SO happy he flew back from Europe for this.
1:10: If you don't know which bar you're going to take: you should start figuring this out.
1:12: negative determination is valid for 2 years
1:12: this thing costs 450 dollars to process! WHAT?! Joel is going to have to have to sell his other kidney.
1:13: Also, if you registered for the CA bar when you were a 1L -- like they told us we had to -- and you don't end up taking the CA bar you don't get a refund. "Oh, here CA, take my $180 donation to the bar association"
1:15: The attorney personal reference can be someone you worked for .
1:16: I'm starting to think that this is just some sort of overblown Q&A session -- and I'm freaking out.
1:17: I really wish this lady would talk closer to the mic. Her hair doesn't not look like Antoine Dodson's hair .... hide your kids?
1:19: We're talking about appeals now. Seems like the general appeals process in most settings.
1:20: Great, all my friends just left and now I am the only person in the back row. Thanks guys. That was awesome.
1:24: So, we just found out that we didn't need to register as 1Ls
1:24: TRANSFERS: If you registered as a 1L you will need to go re-register b/c you put in your old school.
1:25: HIRSHEN: If there is something that you are going to report (e.g., past conviction) you need to let the school know AND put it on your report. It needs to be in both places! Very important. This isn't a school requirement it is a bar requirement. Also, if you haven't heard back from the moral character folks by the time the bar comes, you can still sit you just can't get sworn in until you have got the moral stuff back. She also really wants us to do it over xmas. I'm positive I will not be filling out that paperwork during my 5 weeks in Argentina and Brazil.

PETCH OUT!