Etiquette For Bar Exam Results

Most of you already know that Bar Exam Results are due out in 31 days from today (November 21, 2008 at 6:00 p.m.).

I am continuing to try to not think about that day, but I am beginning to have dreams about results and people are increasingly asking questions about how I did.

I thought rather than ignore the 800 pound gorilla in the room I would explain the etiquette, process, and subsequent consequences of my bar exam results - regardless of what they are.

First, and please take a moment to truly understand this statement, this is MY bar exam. No one else's. There are many like it, but this one is mine. I choose to share it with you, but there are terms and boundaries that must be observed.

The most difficult question is "What if you don't pass the bar exam?" I will answer that question first.

I work as a law clerk in a law firm and I have been here for several years now. I am not looking for any other work and my continued employment is not conditioned on me passing the bar exam or having a license to practice law. So my employment remains the same whether I pass or not. I love my firm and the freedom it gives me. I am not going anywhere.
Being unsuccessful on a bar exam does not mean the applicant is stupid, incapable or a failure. All it means is the applicant did not score enough points to pass - 1440 points for the California Bar Exam. The three distinct components are weighted differently and scaled by some abscure calculus that I can't understand.

So in the event that my points are not at least 1440, I will be provided with my answers and have the opportunity to review them and identify where I missed points. I can then begin the process of studying and preparing for the California Bar Exam given in late February of 2009.
I will still be the same me, working in the same firm, doing the same things - with the added bonus of a streamlined bar preparation program. (I still have all my lectures, outlines, practice exams, etc., from bar review).

I am not going to begin studying before bar results come out like some people do. I would have a full 12 weeks of preparation time after results day, which is more time than the BarBri course provides.

My life, my work, my friends and family, my path in life, my volunteer activities, and my goals all remain constant regardless of how many points I scored on the July 2008 California Bar Exam.

"How do you find out the results?"

According to the State Bar of California website [ www.calbar.org ] the results will be available to applicants who took the July 2008 bar exam on November 21, 2008, at 6:00 p.m. Empirically speaking however, the link won't be active until some time after 6:00 p.m. Sometimes several hours later. Also, letters will be mailed that day to applicants. The following Monday the pass list will be made availabe to the public.

I have two sets of identification numbers that I will enter online and find out if I appear on the pass list. More about this in a moment.

"You must be going crazy waiting to find out?"

You think? No fucking shit sherlock.

"How do you think you did?"

I don't think in those terms. As I have stated in my previous blogs about the bar exam, I went in that room and was not beaten by the exam. Not even the earthquake shook me up. But this question in particular makes me go fucking crazy.

OK, so here is the etiquette:

1. It is not appropriate to ask me how I did once results come out. I will make an announcement here on my myspace page and via a blog entry when I am ready to. I might not be ready to for a few days after I get results regardless of the result. Please respect my privacy and allow me to process this emotional time on my own terms. If you can't wait, remember you can access the pass list yourself on Monday, November 24.

2. Not passing the bar exam does not mean I am going to change. Sure, it will be an emotionally charged experience, but only because it means I have to take that damn exam again and I really prefer not to do that. I will not think of myself as a failure however, and neither should you.

3. Passing the bar does not mean I am going to change. My life will remain essientially just how it is, with the exception that I know I won't have to take that bar exam again and there is going to be one big ass fucking party.

Unlike my bar review period last summer, please keep in touch between now and R Day (Results Day). I appreciate all the support from everyone and even the smallest of comments has helped.

Regardless of the how things turn out on R Day, there is someone special who will be getting the first phone call, presuming she isn't there when I actually get the strength to click "Submit" on the State Bar website.

A little over a month ago I met Daun at a Combat Dining In out at Luke Air Force Base. We are both going through a divorce and things just clicked for us from the beginning. The universe has a way of timing things and although Daun and I have been in several "near misses" in the past few years when we were brought together it was apparent to both of us that there was a reason for it.

The stress and anxiety of R Day is greatly diminshed for me because I know she is there and the two possible outcomes of R Day are both enhanced by her presence in my life.

Now all I have to do is get to R Day......