Despite other closings due to Hurricane Sandy, the Virginia swearing in ceremony is still happening: “The Admission & Orientation Ceremony at the Richmond Convention Center is scheduled to take place.”
http://www.vsb.org/site/events/item/state-offices-closed-2012-10-29
This has been confirmed with the convention center directly as well. Here are the specifics for the ceremony this morning:
3Ls are already starting to think about the bar exam. One of the first things I usually get asked about are spring bar exam prep classes. In fact, I was just having a twitter conversation with Stephanie (a 3L who writes the Apparent Authority blog) and another 3L about this same subject. My general advice on these additional classes is
One of the most interesting things about chatting with people who graduate law school is their fear of the bar exam and also their “mockery” of the MPRE. When I ask people how much they studied for the bar exam, I usually hear “every day, 8-10 hours a day”. Or, “I had no life all summer except studying”. Interestingly enough, when I ask how much those same people studied for the MPRE I usually hear “I studied the night before”. Or, “I studied 2 days before”. It’s rare to hear someone even admit to studying 1 week for the MPRE. Is the MPRE really that easy? I don’t think the answer is a simple yes or no. It depends on
The DC Bar does not give a definitive date as to when the bar exam results will be released. For the July exam they usually say “mid-November”, but we usually see the results in mid-October. This year I am guessing they will be released next week, around October 25th. They first post them on the door in the courthouse and then mail out the results. They also ask the IT staff to post the results online to both websites. The online posting can occur that same day or several days later, depending on how busy the IT staff is. Once the results are available online, I’ll post a link to them here on this blog. Calling the office usually does not help as they will not tell you when they are planning on posting the results. Best bet now is to be patient. If anyone happens by the courthouse and sees the results posted on the door, drop me a note or comment here.
It’s time for a quick breakdown of the July 2012 MBE. Many were talking about the mortgage heavy, real property questions. Yes, there were a bunch of them and they were pretty tough. Here’s how the national numbers came out:
The national mean for the July 2012 MBE was 143.4, right around where we typically see it for July. The range of scores nationally went from a low of 58 to a high score of 188 (kudos to those select few who broke the 185 barrier). Overall, no surprises.
For PA takers, the July 2012 bar exam results have been posted here:
http://www.pabarexam.org/bar_exam_information/results/be_results.htm
The results for the July 2012 Virginia Bar Exam have been posted online. As I predicted, they were released 1 day before the scheduled date, so if your friends are still waiting for tomorrow, let them know the results are up and available now.
As usual, there are 2 lists: Pass list A for those of you who passed and have no outstanding paperwork or issues with the VBBE; and Pass list B for those of you who passed and still have pending issues/paperwork to submit to the VBBE. Those on the first past list are now licensed in the Commonwealth of Virginia, so congratulations!
For those who didn’t pass this time, try not to be too hard on yourselves. It is a difficult exam and you can always re-take in February 2013. Think about how you studied, how disciplined you were in following your study plan and what you would have done differently. For most people,