And Re: My Bar Exam Scores, this was the reply. So I'm sorry I couldn't post them. But from what I recall I scored:
1. 492 in 1998
2. 495 in 1998 or 99.
3. 550 in 2000.
Passing was 600 at the time, but I cannot remember. I cannot even remeber the scores accurately, but I think I'm pretty close.
And I cannot seem to find out what a passing score was on the NY Bar Exam during those years.
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Well, here it is. My Transcript from Touro Law School.
Suppose I had passed the Bar Exam on the very first try. Would John Q. Public want to hire me if they saw this Transcript?
Today, I e-mailed the Registrar's office, and a woman working there was nice enough to quickly reply to my request for this is "Unofficial" copy.
As I mentioned before, I had either discarded or lost a previous copy of this transcript, and seeing it now brings back a lot of memories.
The courses highlighted in yellow are the ones that I feel were not taught properly by the instructor, and a great disservice was done thereby.
The courses highlighted in red are the courses that were ridiculously easy, and which enabled me to pull my final GPA above 2.0 (Passing)
*(Correction--With respect to Evidence, I used a one-time 2nd chance option and did OK. The instructor was actually excellent, and when I was reviewing for the Bar Exam, I was pleased to see that he had covered much of the material, and in that sense the Bar course was a true "Review" --unlike the case with Contracts and Crim Law, where I was literally learning the subjects for the very first time almost. The same with NY Practice, where I believe half of a very large class received a grade of D or D+.
* Another Correction--Hold Off on Crim Law II as well, since I cannot honestly remember that class, or who the instructor was.
However, there was a Crim law or Crim Procedure instructor I had named Richard Klein, who handed out a packet towards the end of the course that had to do with a lot of nuances in Criminal Law, and he recommended that we become familiar with the material if we planned to practice in that area of law.
He was the only instructor I saw at Touro that was ever good enough to do something like that, with an eye to the future and practical real world of law that we might possibly be living in as I say.
Torts was taught very well, as was Civil Procedure. Property was also taught very well, by probably the only Professor in the School that had a sense of humor.
The courses with a check mark were really confusing for me, and merit some discussion. They were taught seemingly well enough, and then were followed up with what I felt were incredibly hard final exams. For instance, the Real Estate Transactions final exam questions were beyond tricky. Multiple choice I seem to recall.
All I remember about Con Law was that the Professor was a real stickler for roll call, told a tale once about how he played Pinochle obsessively into the wee hours of the morning while in Law School, had a house worth 500K because he said so, and sometimes crossed the Pond with the purpose of arriving in some slavic region in order to help prevent the poor blighters residing therein from being Constitutionless; and thereafter regaled many a 4th tier colleague with diverse tales of "legalese daring-do", in a multitude of academic house organs, digests, primers and restatements, all to the thunderous accompaniment of rustling polyester as his peers, to a man, would rise to a standing ovation upon the reading of such. (Ah--That didn't quite work so well since Polyester, unlike the old saying to which I was alluding involving taffeta, doesn't rustle, but can maybe be said to swish loudly somehow? Anyway, I should have used the "beat the boardwalk with burnished brogans" thing I made up. Too late now.)
Anyway, after a certain point in time-maybe after the 2nd or 3rd semester, I learned to avoid difficult courses such as "Commercial Paper" or UCC, because I was afraid of yet another D grade, which would place my overall GPA below 2.0. Can you blame me for that? After a while I had had a lot of time and money invested, as well as effort.
Oh, and a Bell Curve was officially instituted by Touro LS at some point during my first year (second semester). It was, after all a very new school in 1993, and, in the grand scheme, a very, very newly accredited school by the ABA.
AND, when I was there, I remember learning of the new AALS accreditation of Touro LS. That news impressed me greatly as it fell from the lips of one or two professors. (In some crazy way the intelligence made me feel like I had vicariously earned an Oscar, and I started to mentally draft my acceptance speech to be someday delivered before an admiring Academy and public.)
As you can see from this transcript, I was on academic probation for the first two semesters. It was a very stressful and quite horrible time in fact. **And again and again and again: I was two weeks into the second semester before I received all of my grades from the first semester. It was also pretty Horrible as I say because I had to have all of the tuition paid in full before the start of the second semester (with Federally backed Student Loans) in order to be able to attend classes. So I think I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown waiting for a couple of my first semester grades. As you can see, flunking out was a real concern, and I kept doing pro-rated refund amounts in my head in case I decided to drop out.
I would like to suggest at this juncture that the phenomena involving the withholding of grades by a Law School is not limited to only Touro. I am reminded of a Post written by another Blogger not very long ago which discussed Cooley Law School at Length, including the withholding of grades for up to 7 weeks. (See Part II, where Rockstar05 discusses the Cooley "Attrition Rate".)
http://thomas-cooley-law-school-scam.weebly.com/1/post/2011/02/the-thomas-m-cooley-law-school-scam3.html#comments
But to return to my Academic History in Law School: Was I lazy or shiftless back then? or did I get these grades because I was just plain stupid?
You will just have to take my word that I studied hard.
If it helps to understand my academic strengths and weaknesses see here where I posted my standardized test history. (which might be relevant to this post and Re: my poor performance in Law School)
You will also just have to believe that I also had no guidance, and studied cases when I should have been studying PMBR materials in the first year.
But I will add more commentary later. At least for now the transcript is up.
And if I seem crazy doing all this, just remember, I owe 300K in Student Loans, and will carry this debt for 45 years of my life at least. I feel I have to do something because the debt did originate somehow and somewhere.
Just to remind everyone:
The debt does the following:
1. Destroys the credit score.
2. Prevents one from landing a job that can pay enough to handle the debt, let alone live, because of the destroyed credit score. (not to mention Health Insurance Coverage)
3. And everything else that renders one a JD, but a 2nd class citizen.
Oh Well. Here it all 'tis--and more know Tom Fool than Tom Fool knows, and this Fools's gotta go for now.
And as a final word (before I come up with yet another final word at some point), this posting of my transcript seems to have hit a nerve with a lot of JD's, in that it is kind of like "baring one's soul" in a sense.
But maybe every Lawyer and judge should have their GPA, as well as how many times they had to take the Bar Exam printed on their Diploma or office wall? Why not?
I mean, do you think a lot of lay people would want to sit before a Judge that had to take the Bar Exam 4X? (I have heard such stories).
But since I don't work in Law anymore and never will again, the transcript is just a part of my past now.
It is certainly nothing to brag about, but if showing it to everyone helps to gain a perspective on the current state of the profession and its educational system........then why not post it?
In the end, everyone will have their own opinion, informed perhaps to no small extent by a point of view derived from the amount of student loan indebtedness each one carries.
As the old saying goes: "You can't argue with a point of view."
For the current crop of Law School Debtors:
Remember me as you pass by
As you are now, so once was I
As I am now, you soon will be,
Therefore, prepare for Financial Death and Debt,
As I am now, you soon will be,
Therefore, prepare for Financial Death and Debt,
and follow me.
**Added April 13, 2011: Beats me why, but judging from the number of pageviews it is getting, this Transcript of mine seems pretty interesting to a lot of people. (Even though it's pretty awful, and it ain't worth the price of a Frank and a Coke at Coney Island).
Again, I hope some of the viewers are Parents of children thinking about going to Law School.
Stay tuned for my NY Bar Exam scores. I should have them at some point next week.
All youse guys are really gonna love seeing that!
And why in the world would anyone think I am bragging when I Post this Transcript?
Law School was a very painful experience in a lot of ways, especially when viewed in Hindsight as a massive Debtor.
So why would I brag about my lack of success?
And I hope I have explained why I really did Post it clearly enough.
Kids, if you have no guidance and know nothing about what you will be getting into when you go to Law School, please read this Post, and then talk to as many people as you can: Parents, Lawyers, Judges, Financial Advisors.
Cause after Law School, and after all is said and done, you will still have your Life, but your Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness may become severely handicapped if you end up indebted like I am.
Student Loans are handed out way, way too easy-------------like candy------------, and in life, one should always be suspicious about "easy credit rip-offs" (as the line went in the old song)
I learned the hard way, but maybe you don't have to.
And after you read this Post, and to understand my story better, I think it is vital you read this Post here:
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**Added April 13, 2011: Since this Post refuses to Die, thanks to JD Underground, and since someone from the US Senate, or at least someone working there, had a brief look at my blog today, I figured I'd Post this kind of interesting pic. This pic has already been published in a book too.
My Grandfather's and G-Grandfather's family construction company, which specialized in steel erection for buildings and bridges, had a Contract to replace the roof on the US Senate Chamber in the 1950's. (The Steel for the roof, that is.)
In this pic, it seems that some of the ornamental concrete border work is either being removed or put into position for replacement.
The man on the far left could be my Grandfather. Not sure. It kind of looks like him.
Of course, the Dome needs no introduction, and the family name is visible on the crane, or maybe it is a derrick. If you are able to zoom in, it is pretty interesting to look at all the little details.
I always like black and white photos too. Kinda Artsy.
I'll be back tomorrow night.
