Starting Over

I recently took my second bar exam, exactly two years after passing my first. Being surrounded by 400 recent law school graduates was a strange experience.

Your first time, you're scared. It's understandable. There are urban legends of law clerks who were fired because they failed the first time they took the bar or who couldn't get over the stigma. You believe them because, as a law student, you've probably avoided epic failures in life and so your perception of failure's risks is skewed. In reality, many people fail a bar examination and yet go on to pass and become wonderful attorneys.

Your second time, you have a better sense of perspective. You probably know people who have failed. You've already passed once. As long as you don't cheat, you will still be an attorney no matter how you do on the exam. The actual process of law has made you better appreciate its nuances, though you're further removed from the actual study of Constitutional Law, Torts, Criminal Law, Contracts/Sales, or Real Property. But after learning them once, it is easier to relearn them.

The surprising effect of taking a second bar exam, at least for me, was that it inspired introspection about the kind of lawyer that I am and the lawyer that I was so excited to become. One of the first victims of my introspection was this blog. The prior incarnation was unfocused and of limited value, except to the surprisingly large number of people confused by the true meaning of ejusdem generis. I began writing it prematurely and it was unacceptably lacking in quality. So I deleted it and am starting over. It's not a clean slate, but it's close.

Best.

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