The Bar Exam IS DEAD

The news has come in. I apparently know enough law to practice in North Carolina. So says the North Carolina Board of Law Examiners. Hence the whole letter today congratulating me for PASSING THE BAR EXAM!!!

Waiting On The Results While Moving Forward....Sort Of

The bar exam results are less than two weeks away. I have no idea how I did. I studied. I put in the time. I know I got rattled in the morning and may have lost my way in terms of form. When bar results creep into my mind I wonder if I applied the facts to the rules. I wonder if I was making up law at times. I wonder if I expressed my thoughts as well as I could. Then on the multiple choice...did I over-think it all? In the end I only care about getting a scaled, curved, whatever score of 346.

European Vacation Provided Fun, Stress, and More

In the middle of my second year of law school my father decided that since we have some manner of familial roots from Scotland, it would be a good idea to take the family on a whirlwind tour of the motherland after I graduated from Elon. But before I took the bar exam. The wisdom of that logic won't be known for at least another week or so, but let's hope I passed despite taking 12 days off.

After flying from scenic Greensboro to Atlanta, we boarded a KLM flight to Amsterdam around 9:30 PM EST. Our seats were terrific (business class seats turn into a bed and have their own video screens), and soon after hitting 40,000 feet we were able to order dinner which was tremendous (lobster, steak, apple pie, etc). I don't remember too much else because I spent the majority of the eight plus hour flight sleeping. When we got to Amsterdam, we (John & Tracy) veered off to London, while Dad and his crew headed to Switzerland. We planned to meet up five days later in Scotland.

At this point we encountered some problems. We were not on the flight from Amsterdam to London despite having tickets. And when we inquired if our bags (which had been checked through from Greensboro) would meet us in England we were told "hopefully". They weren't. Instead our bags apparently loved Dutch hospitality so much they decided to stay an extra day or so.

We stayed at the Chesterfield Mayfair Hotel. A great hotel in the heart of the town of ...oddly enough...Mayfair. After getting showered and settled we walked around before heading back. The next morning came early as we headed to King's Cross Station to board a train for Paris. Initially I wasn't overly thrilled with the idea of going, but Tracy wanted to see the city and I gave in. I'm glad I did. Frankly I've not seen a more beautiful city than Paris. Just an amazing place. Historical, artistic, and just incredible. We did all the touristy stuff. The Eiffel Tower. The Arc. Shopping. Cathedrals. We also bought Tracy some designer bag that cost more than any one item I possess. Seriously, I had to sit in line for the privilege of spending an obscene amount of money for what I was getting. The kicker? The French lady seemed put off that I didn't understand such an opportunity. Oh well...we had a train to catch in order to get back to London.

The rest of our time in London consisted of bouncing around the city. We hit all the tourist sites, but our meals were mainly American. We ate one night in the room, one night at the Rain Forest Cafe, and so on. One day we did make it out to Windsor Castle which was terrific. I'm a big fan of the old kings and queens it was great seeing where the historical figures lived. Windsor is a place I could have spent another 3-4 hours. But then again I'm a history nut.

Similar to Windsor was our tour of the Tower of London. Got to see where Queen Anne lost her head before walking inside and seeing the real crown jewels. One dress was so bedazzled with gems that it weighed something like 65 pounds. The crowns and other ornaments looked like they were dipped in glitter from all the diamonds sparkling. We left the tower on our last day before heading to Scotland.

The tour of the country lasted five days. We saw a ton of castles and even more mountains and lakes. There's not a ton in Scotland which is why it's so perfect. If Paris' beauty is measured in the architecture, gold statutes, and so on... Scotland's is measured in it's natural beauty. Everywhere we ventured - from Loch Lomond to the Isle of Skye to Loch Ness and back down toward St. Andrews - offered amazingly scenery that now appears on my screensaver and desktop. There were three distinct memories of Scotland for us:

1. Riding Horses - we were able to go on a private ride for 2 hours. Neither of us is a huge fan of horses, nor experienced riders. Thankfully our mounts were out of shape and just content to plod along and eat. This allowed us time to look around the vast lands that weren't touched by man.

2. Playing Golf at St. Andrews. The British Open prevented us from playing the Old Course, but in the end we got to play a new tract called the Castle Course. I'm not an avid golfer, but I do appreciate the game. I think I played well enough and got to experience Scottish golf.

3. The accommodations. The first night we stayed on Loch Lomond which was OK. The second night we stayed at Inverlochy Castle. A real, honest to goodness castle. It was fantastic. Third night we stayed in the Isle of Skye in a "luxury hotel". Apparently that has a different meaning to those people. But, the town was charming. The fourth night we stayed at Culloden House - another castle like structure. Then, the fifth night, we stayed at the Rusacks Hotel overlooking the 18th green of the Old Course. Each destination offered its own charm, but NONE of them had air conditioning. That wasn't a big deal, but there was a heat wave gripping the country at that time and our rooms were up near 80 during the day. That's a small price to pay for the experience, however.

We've been back a little over six weeks and since then I've obviously been very busy. Part of me regrets that I was somewhat distracted throughout the trip (reciting rules of law as best I could remember them). I do know that we both would like to return to each of the three countries for extended vacations. And, most importantly, we had fun.

European Vacation Recap

I'll be posting a good deal more in the coming days, but we did manage to get over to London, Paris, and most of the country of Scotland in late June and early July. We had a terrific time and I hope to post a complete recap from the travel problems to the terrific memories to the sad return to studying for the bar exam.

I'm sure the millions....thou....tens....ok I am sure anyone who stumbled across this will be captivated.

The Bar Review Is Dead...Hopefully for Good

It's been almost a month since I last posted anything here. The reason? The bar exam was looming and I was drowning in a sea of mindless laws, study materials, and misery. It all came to a head on July 27th and 28th at the North Carolina State Fair Grounds where I was among 1100 souls who were subjected to two days of intellectual water boarding. And the best part? I have not a clue how I did. And won't for another three weeks at least.

Hopefully I passed. I put in a ton of time studying and knew something to write for each and every essay. What scares me is that I freaked out on a couple and that could have taken my already shaky form and style (which was bar exam specific) and regressed it into how I'd usually write. If I failed, I believe that'll be the reason. That and I have no clue how I did on the multiple choice because there were at least two right answers on each question and it was up to you - the lowly bar exam taker - to pick the subjectively "Most Right" answer. I hope there's a special room reserved in hell for the person who thought of that little quirk.

Either way, it's over. And I returned home for a wild celebration which consisted of taking a two day nap.

Since then I've contacted a head hunter in hopes of finding something for which my three years of time and six figure tuition can return some sort of gainful employment. So far there are some interesting leads, but nothing concrete. Yet. The economy is saturated with attorneys and most of them have some advantages on me. Trivial things like "experience" or fancy latin words that mean they lived in the law library 18 hours a day over the last three years and finished above me in the class rankings. Others have the benefit of parents who are somewhat influential in the world of lawyers and thusly were able to lean on the right people to hire their offspring.

As for me, I have contacts to find jobs, but they may or may not be lawyer jobs. And that's fine because I believe what I wrote over three years ago when applying to law school: A law degree is simply a key that opens many doors in many different arenas. Most people charge through the one right in front of them (i.e. practicing law). They are so sure that's the only way to be successful. I disagree. And I aim to prove my point by finding what one of my professors described as the "happy job". Without going into too much detail the happy job is basically a job that makes you happy. For me that is a job that is challenging and provides tangible output (i.e. not being a paper pushing drone for a big firm that likes its billable hours). It's also one that allows me to be at home and have a rewarding family life. I don't want to be away six of seven days. I don't want to leave before the sun rises and return when everyone has gone to sleep. That's simply not an option.

One highly placed executive of a well-known online college told me that such thinking was "small minded" and "severely limited" my ability to be successful. As I relayed to her: "I guess that depends on how you define success". I'm 29 years old. I've got, on average, 50 years remaining on earth. Five decades from now I really have no desire to be sitting here thinking that I really do wish I'd have spent time with those who meant something to me instead of logging that 100th hour of work for the week. But that's just me. It's not for me to say that lifestyle isn't rewarding for some. I assume it is. But it's not for me. Same way cauliflower isn't something I'd prefer to eat. I mean it is certainly one way to survive, but not an overly fulfilling one.

As the job hunt progresses I'm somewhat optimistic that I'll find something. Somewhere. I'm fortunate enough to be in a position that allows me to be selective, and I plan on utilizing that ability. I'm going to weigh the pros and cons of each decision that presents itself and go from there. I don't mind leaving our current location, but it'll have to be a good enough opportunity.

Regardless of where the path takes us, there is one thing I want to be sure of going forward....that I never have to take the NC Bar Exam again. So keep your fingers crossed that I some how manage to pass it and that results in a "good" letter arriving the first week of September.