day one

The walk to the exam was, as I'd hoped, refreshing and calming at the same time. Like most summer San Francisco mornings, the fog was heavy and damp and the wind whipped through the trees. Whitecaps speckled the Bay water. I hadn't slept well -- no surprise -- and so I appreciated the brisk, bracing air.

The exam started late. First we were admitted late, but as I preferred standing in the salty sea air, I didn't mind the wait. Then, a complication of a previously untested exam location: bathroom logistics. The Herbst Pavilion has only one women's bathroom, with four stalls. Within minutes of admitting us, the line stretched halfway down the hall, clearly at least twenty minutes long.

The proctors were stumped. They could hardly order the women at the end of the line to hold it, since the flaw was in the physical layout of the building. In the meantime, the grumbling in the line grew louder as the line for the men's bathroom whittled down. The proctors worriedly huddled near the line, anxiously discussing the bathrooms and the mean time to urinate of female would-be lawyers.

I almost burst out laughing at the absurdity of the situation. Months of preparation, years of law school, and I'm not taking the bar on time because it takes women longer to pee?

The proctors finally reached a decision. The head proctor boomed out over the loudspeaker. The women would be permitted to go to a nearby building to use the restroom even though they'd already been admitted to the testing center. The women in the line scattered. A nearby proctor also commandeered the men's room, and I joined that line. Sharing a bathroom with two brothers inured me to any feminine sensitivity to peeing with the guys.

Finally the bathroom crisis was resolved. I settled in my seat as the head proctor droned the exam instructions. A small knot of panic began to settle in my stomach. I forced myself to practice bt's brilliant advice: breathe and write, breathe and write. I closed my eyes and took several deep breaths, focusing on the water outside. The exam began.

The first question was a landlord-tenant issue, with a monthly commercial lease at the heart. I heartened when I saw it, having randomly reviewed landlord-tenant law on Monday. It was a good start for me, confidence-building because it was not especially difficult.

I'm glad the second question wasn't the first one. The second question was a strange products liability question as to whether a motion to dismiss should be granted for various claims. Irritatingly, I blanked out on the exact legal words required to describe the products liability law. Remembering a tip from my Bar/Bri days, I plowed ahead, faking it with fancy-sounding terms, but I'm sure I did worse on that essay than the first one. It was a tricky question, because both the facts given and the initial phrasing of the question were designed to lead us down a pure strict liability path. While that was tested, buried in the middle of the question was the statement that the plaintiff had brought both negligence and strict liability claims. It would have been easy to miss the negligence portion of that question, but as I couldn't remember the strict liability law clearly, I hung onto the negligence portion like a life preserver.

The third question was a classic evidence question. A series of statements were provided and we were asked to evaluate their admissibility in court. Here I debated. Do I refer to the California Evidence Code as well as the Federal Rules of Evidence? The instructions had stated that we were to use "general principles of law" where California law was not specified, and in the question, California was not stated. In the end, realizing that it was a fairly straightforward question and remembering a sample Bar/Bri evidence question that was very similarly structured, I went with both. I was slightly short on time thanks to the difficult second question, and barely finished on time.

Lunch was shorter than originally planned because of the bathroom debacle. Nonetheless, I hurried back to my hotel room. I had left my lunch there, thinking I'd have two hours. I made it in plenty of time, but while in the room discovered that I couldn't relax: I was too worried that all clocks in the room might be suddenly delayed and I'd miss the start of the exam. I headed back.

The performance exam in the afternoon, well, the best word I have is: annoying. It was an annoying question. It was mostly professional responsibility, with a tiny bit of jurisdictional analysis required as well. The fake cases provided weren't well-written, probably on purpose. It took me a long time to sort out my thoughts but in the end I was able to spit something out.

After the exam, I stood for a period and watched the water, too tired to even coherently talk. I walked slowly back to my hotel, just watching the waves as I went. When I signed up for the San Francisco location, I told myself that I'd go out walking in the evening after the bar, that I'd enjoy the location, that I wouldn't study at night. While I won't study, I am not going out walking either. The fog is stealing back in, tendrils slipping around the hotel. I gave up on my walking plan, bought a bowl of crab corn chowder soup from the next-door restaurant, and retired for the evening. I'll be lucky if I stay awake past 9:30 PM tonight.

Tomorrow is the MBE, my weakest point. I think I am one of the few law students in California who is happy with California's three-day format, rather than the two-day format common in other states. The three-day format means that the essays count for 2/3rds of my final grade, while the MBE is only 1/3rd. I'm not good at the MBE; I never managed to get more than tepidly average in any of the practice tests. I'm not looking forward to it.

Comments

[anon]

Yay, you got through day 1! Hope the MBE goes well tomorrow. Remember, breathe and bubble in, breathe and bubble in. It will all be over soon.

[RES]

You're doing GREAT. Keep on pushing through. You answered the questions, you dealt with the issues - that's exactly what's being tested, not whether you can remember a point of law.

You're almost there.

RES