Sitting for the Bar in July? A description of What the Next Few Months Will be Like

Now that you have finished law school your life as a lawyer is just about to begin.   The last hurdle though is that State bar exam that everyone must sit for in order to add Esq. after their name.  State bar exams are not easy but they are fair and generally speaking if you study you will pass.  In fact, most states have well over an 80% pass rate for most first time writers from ABA approved law schools so if you are not typically in the bottom 20% you likely do not have much to worry about. That being said, many "smart" people do not pass the bar so you should take it seriously and study.  

Now that you have finished exams, you should be gearing up to study and you should really consider taking a week or so break.  While there is a time crunch for studying, it is also important to rest so that you are fully energized. Many say that the Bar exam is a marathon and not a sprint and this is a very good description.  

I took the BARBRI bar preparation course and I thought it was excellent.  In terms of the daily routine, you will wake up every day and watch a 4 or so hour lecture on a particular legal topic area.  Once you are done with the lecture, you will have assignments to do which will usually take another few hours. After that, you will be studying the various topic areas.  All in all this means full days each and every day.  The run up to the exam becomes extremely hectic as you are learning new material and then also going back and reviewing old material so the days get longer and longer.  In addition to the tasks outlined above, you will also be doing several sample exams to test to see how you are doing.

Very hectic stressful time but you will get through it.  Remember to regularly take the much needed breaks. There were times when I took full days off and the days off really recharged my batteries.  

Good luck!!

Sitting For The LSAT in June? A Brief Overview and a Suggestion

So what can you expect when you sit for the LSAT? The LSAT consists of five 35-minute sections of multiple-choice questions and a writing sample.  Only four of the five sections are graded but you will not know which section is the section they are using as a practice test.  There are three types of multiple-choice questions in the LSAT.  Namely, reading comprehension, analytical reasoning and logical reasoning.  A link to examples of each type of question is provided below in this section.

The reading comprehension section will give you a number of long and somewhat complex passages to read followed by five to eight questions to answer for each passage. The questions test your ability to read quickly while paying attention to detail.  In addition, this section tests your reasoning ability by asking questions where you have to deduce the answer from the text that you have read.  This section of the exam is the section that is most related to law school as in law school you will often read cases and then have to spot issues and answer questions about what you have read.  That being said, the passages that you will read on the LSAT will relate to general topics such as economics or science and are not law related.  Also, in law school, part of the learning process is to quickly spot issues and most learn that when they are there.

The logical reasoning section requires the reader to read a fairly short passage and then answer questions about it.  Often the question will make you think critically and draw a conclusion or reason through a problem by making inferences or reasoning by analogy.  The multiple-choice question that is presented after the short passage will usually take the following form: Which of the following if true undermines the argument? or What is the flaw in the above argument?  This section is somewhat similar to the reading comprehension section except the passages are shorter and the questions focus more on pattern recognition and analogies based on relationships rather than quickly assimilating relevant facts.

The analytical reasoning section is often referred to as the logical games section and can be very tricky.  Also, this section is the furthest away from the tasks that you will perform in law school or as a lawyer.  The questions look at your ability to understand how relationships are structured and ask you to come up with logical conclusions about the structures or how that structure might relate to other structures.  You will have to use deductive reasoning that stems from the fact pattern in the question and select an answer that best follows the pattern you have deduced.  Many people have a tough time with this section and it is often referred to as the most difficult part of the LSAT.  While difficult for many though, some minds are wired this way and for those people, this section is very simple.

You can find examples of each type of question here in this Sample LSAT test:

http://alpha-score.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/October96Sample.pdf

The key to doing well in all sections is practice.  You should complete hundreds if not thousands of questions prior to the exam so you should become very familiar with the patters of the different questions.  Do not expect a miracle on the day of the exam.

Law Students who Wish To Start Their Own Firm After Graduation - Develop A Business Plan

Many law students toy with the idea of opening their own law firm after they graduate.  To this end, the thought of putting together a business plan is very daunting but is often a necessary evil for those who want to succeed. One great reason for a business plan is that it just makes good business sense as without one you, may miss a chance to effectively communicate your ideas to someone else or even to clarify things for yourself. While for some a business plans may be optional, it is often a requirement for many. This is especially the case if you are a business owner trying to get a loan from a bank, trying to attract investors, trying to sell an idea, or even if you want to get certain Immigration Visas.

There are a few popular Immigration Visas where you are required to put together a comprehensive business plan and the E-2 Treaty Investor Visa and the EB-5 Visa (“Million Dollar Visa”) are good examples. Both Visas are granted (or denied) primarily based on your business plan and the plan is not something that you can gloss over. 

So what should be present in a Business Plan? Here are six things you should include and consider when developing a Business Plan.

1. Keep It Simple

Simple does not mean short but rather that the plan should be easy to understand. This is particularly the case if your idea or business is complicated. While you may understand the jargon related to your industry, immigration officials, banks and/or investors may not. As such you want to keep the document easy to understand.

2. Ensure Your Business Plan Is Organized, Flows & Keeps Your Reader Reading

In many cases, your business plan is going to be one of the primary documents that an investor, bank or immigration official looks at to decide whether they are going to invest, give you the loan or whether your E-2 Visa or EB-5 Visa is going to be granted. Most humans have very short attention spans so you should ensure that your business plan is well organized and has a flow that will keep readers reading.

After you have given some thought to how you want the document organized, use illustrative heading and subheadings so that a reader can easily jump to a section that interests them. Do not make the mistake of thinking that everyone is going to read every page of your business plan. Instead, they will focus on what interests them. A good suggestion is to start with an outline of what you want the business plan to look like and then start filling in the sections. You should also consider a table of contents depending on the length of the plan. Always have in mind what the bank, investor or person approving your E-2 or EB-5 Immigration Visa will focus on and want to see.

3. Make Sure The Business Plan Contains All of the Key Components

Any good business plan is going to be a combination of financial data and text narrative. There should be a good balance of both, as you do not know in advance whether or not your reader is a numbers or words person. Most business plans have financial data for at least 5 years and you should ensure that any relevant data is properly cross-referenced to your narrative. Where possible you should try to include summary charts in your narrative section to drive home and illustrate main points. Here is an example of some sections to include:

• A Description of Your Business: Include a short description of your business with a brief history of the business and its ownership structure by focusing on, who you are, what you do, & where you are going.
• Mission Statement: Lay the groundwork for your ‘brand’ by describing what your company will be to its customers or clients & what you want to be remembered by.
• Goals or Milestones: Make a list of five or so long-term goals.
• Market Analysis and Research: You must always be able to explain; what you know about your industry, what you know about your competition, who is you target market, & what obstacles will you have reaching them.
• Why Are You Different: You should describe in detail what makes your product or service unique in the market.
• Personnel Plan: Describe who your staff will be and include descriptions of key personnel and special skills.
• Other Sections as Relevant: Business Plans are not a one size fits all proposition. Consider what makes sense in your business plan given your goals and add sections accordingly.
• A Detailed & Comprehensive Financial Plan: This is a Must even if you do not like numbers! You should also note that the financial plan will take up a significant number of pages in your plan (over half). Tailor the financial data part of your plan to your needs but most plans include the following information

• Start-Up costs
• Revenue projections with comprehensive assumptions
• Expense projections with comprehensive assumptions
• Five-year cash-flow projections
• Five-year balance sheet projections
• Sources of Capital
• Other data as need

4. Focus on Your Executive Summary

While some will read your plan quite closely, others will JUST focus on the Executive Summary. This page should be the last thing you write and you should spend almost as much time on this page as you do on the rest of the business plan. The Executive Summary should never be more than 2 pages and you should strive for one page. Just remember it is a concise summary of the whole plan so you should not be reinventing the wheel OR including too much information. I reiterate that you should Spend a Significant Amount of Time on Your Executive Summary. It is an extremely important part of your document.

5. Get Someone To Review Your Plan

There are two great reasons to seek help and get someone to review your plan.

1. An independent person can tell you if your plan would encourage them to invest in your company.
2. A business plan is often a long document and the developer is often very close to the detail. As such, an independent review can add some perspective and also will catch some typos and other errors.

What Makes a Good Submission - How To Pull Together A Successful Article for Publication in a Journal

Many students and scholars have asked me what makes a good submission.  There are a number of things that editors look at related and here is a summary of some of the top things to consider. 

·      Write about something you are very familiar with. This could include something closely aligned to an old profession or something that you studied in college. If you are already an expert in a topic, you can mix this with legal concepts and your paper will stand out. For example, I was an investment banker prior to law school and wrote & published a paper on fair value accounting and the financial crisis. A friend who worked as an auctioneer wrote an published a paper on art law. This combination of your experience and the law will be very appealing to journals and makes for interesting papers.

·      A cover letter and good abstract (summary of what you have written) are essential! When you submit your paper to a journal, these two documents may be the only thing that the editor reads and for 95% of the papers received, this alone is the basis for rejection. As such, you must use the cover letter and the abstract to market yourself and capture the reader’s attention.

·      Make sure that your article is final and free from errors.  Get as many people as possible to read and edit your paper and this will help you to catch errors and will also alert you to areas of your paper that need work. Also, listen to their feedback!

·      Follow the Journal’s instructions! This includes font size, spacing, length of article, submission timing, cover letters or anything else they say. Several good papers are not considered because they do not adhere to simple guidelines.

·      Consider joining a journal at your law school. While some journal work like cite checking may not be the most glamorous work in the world, you will get great experience and learn what makes a good article and why some are rejected.

·      Do not plagiarize! Plagiarism is cheating and involves stating or summarizing the work of others without citing them. All papers have a significant amount of citations and this is normal. If you use someone else’s ideas, cite them. If you do not, this could have significant implications related to your ability to become a lawyer.

·      Consider the content of your paper and perhaps submit to specialized journals. For example, my paper dealt with a business topic so I primarily submitted to business law journals.

·      Keep it simple! I was an editor on the Human Rights Journal at Harvard Law School and many papers that the journal received were complicated and confusing. You are not writing a literary masterpiece so there is no need to use symbolism or complex metaphors. Instead, use simple plain language. Also, if your paper deals with a complex topic like finance for example, make sure that you either explain the terms you are using or simplify the language. Remember the people deciding whether or not to publish your paper are law students and are not quantitative experts or economists.  They are often students just like you.

Why Should You Publish While In Law School?

There are several good reasons to publish while you are in Law School and the Dean of Harvard Law School agrees.  “You should try to publish at least one scholarly paper during your law school experience.” This excellent advice was offered by Harvard Law School’s Dean, Martha Minow, during a student meeting.

When I was in Law School I followed this great advice and published a paper in a business law journal.  I was surprised to discover the process was much easier than I thought it would be and the publication has reaped enormous rewards.  In addition to the resume building benefit, when you publish you will put your name in print and this is a good feeling. You should be proud if you publish something and there is no better feeling than receipt of the finished product with your name boldly splashed across the cover.

Why Should You Publish While In Law School?

There are several good reasons publishing while you are in law school.  Here are a few:

1.     You will already have to write at least one comprehensive paper during your three years at law school—so why not try to get it published.  Often you may not have to modify a paper you have written much, and depending on your topic and area of expertise, your work may be exactly what a particular journal is looking for.

2.     Some journals will publish student work, but will only publish a non-student’s work if the person is an expert in the field. As such, your status as a student can get you an opportunity and audience that you would not otherwise have.

3.     There may be a significant cost savings associated with publication as a student because many students have the benefit of submitting their papers to as many journals as they like for free through an on-line submission vehicle called ExpressO. If you are not a student, you must pay over $2 per journal. With hundreds of journals, this can become costly.

The Submission Process

Thankfully, the submission process for articles is electronic so you can easily submit your note to several journals simultaneously. The best way to make a simultaneous electronic submission is through a website called ExpressO.

ExpressO makes the submission or your article and cover letter to over 750 journals fast and easy. Best of all it could be free for students if your law school has an institutional account with ExpressO!

Once submitted, you will start to receive a number of rejections and this is normal. Even people who ultimately have their papers published in the Harvard Law Review will receive rejections from numerous other journals so do not be discouraged. It can take some journals several weeks to review a paper and make a decision as often the papers undergo several rounds of review before a decision is made and journals get thousands of requests.  Once you accept their offer, you are required to sign a contract with the journal and the editing process starts. Your paper is then placed into the subcite stream and various subsciters will start to check your citations and edit your paper. Even for a good paper, the editing process is extensive. When I submitted my paper for editing, it contained 50 citations. When the editors were done with the paper it contained over 300.

Preparing for 1L Summer

If you are a 1L, you have likely received all of your grades back from your first term and you are now settling into your second.  Before you know it though, the school year will be over and you will have a "free" summer.  While your college summers may have been a time to explore the world or party, your 1L summer is a time to improve your resume and position yourself for your legal career.  Here are some things you should be thinking about and planning for NOW.

1.  Law Review & Journals

You will start to hear about your law review and journal competitions that will occur right after you finish your last set of exams.  The competition is usually a difficult 3-7 day event where you are given hundreds (or thousands) of pages of material and asked to write an article.  Based on the results of the competition, you may be asked to join a law review or journal.  While the timing for the competition is not great (right after exams), you should do everything you can to participate as Law Review and Journals look great on your resume.

2.  On Campus Recruitment (OCI)

One of the reasons your 1L year is so important is that your grades are the primary factor that will determine how you will do during the on campus recruitment that will occur at the end of your 1L summer.  This is where law firms come to your campus and offer you summer employment for your 2L year.  These jobs are highly coveted as they pay over $160,000 per year and this will be your only shot at one.  During the second semester, try to take any interview or job search classes or seminars you can find.  OCI is an important next step in your legal career.

3. Transfer

You may want to consider transferring law schools to "upgrade."   This is a very personal choice and you should look at all of the pros and cons.  You will find articles related to transferring on this blog.  Just access our search tool.

4. Job

You should also focus on the job that you will take for your 1L summer.  You should start looking early as all of the "good" jobs go fast.  You want to find a "legal" job for sure and look for something that will look good on your resume.  Even people who go to top schools have a tough time with the 1L summer job search so start your search early.  While pay is a consideration, the really important part of your 1L job is the duties you will be performing and the organization you will be working for.  

5.  Enjoy the Summer

While it is an important summer, take the time to relax and enjoy it. 1L year was tough and you need a break to get ready for your last two years of law school.  

Starting Classes Again! Be sure to Evaluate What You Did Correct and What you Did Wrong

A wise man once said that insanity is doing the same thing over again and expecting a different result. While I am not sure who the wise man was, I believe the phrase is accurate.  This especially applies to Law School and doing well while you are there.  As you return to classes after the winter break, you will likely get results back from the exams you sat for in December. If you did not do well, you should sit down and evaluate exactly what you did in the last term and make some changes.  Do not fall into the trap of thinking that you can exhibit the exact same type of behavior and do well in your second and future terms.

If you did poorly on exams, ask your self the following questions.  

• Did you skip classes
• Did you make your own outline
• Did you review your notes after each class
• Did you get enough sleep
• Did you participate in a study group
• Did you go in and ask your professor for help
• Did you do practice exams before each exam
• Did you surf the internet while in class
• Did you pay attention in class or daydream
• Did you eat correctly or did you eat junk food
• Did you cram for exams

These are just some of the questions you should ask yourself and depending on the answer you should change your habits!  If you did well, you may want to ask the same questions and continue doing what you are doing right!

Good luck during your next term!

Top Things A Solo Law Firm Should Do At Year End

This post is for all of those aspiring law students who wish to open their own practice.  

As the owner of a solo law practice, all year you have likely been running around acting as manager, developer, business generator, marketer, human resource manager and administrative assistant.  Given the numerous roles, it is often tough to sit back and look at the big picture.  For some businesses, December can be a slower month and it is a great time to reflect and plan for the future.  Whether you are running a law firm or a lemonade stand, as 2012 comes to an end there are several things that a prudent business owner should consider to position themselves for the new-year.  Here are the top things you should consider.

1.     Thank Your Customers

Study after study has shown that it is far easier to get new business or a referral from an existing client than it is to find a new client.  Even though many know this is the case, some business owners ignore current clients while spending significant resources trying to attract new clients.  This is a big mistake.  While business generation is important, you should make sure that you are catering to existing clients and you should also find some way to thank your clients.  This can be taking them out for coffee or dinner, sending them a small gift or even sending them a card.  A generic blast email to a client is better than nothing (although pretty close to nothing), but instead of this approach you should always try to personalize any message you send.  Let your customers know that they are special and it will likely be the best time and money you ever spent.

2.     Thank Your Referral Sources

In order for a business to thrive, a significant amount of your clients or customers will come from referrals.  Many of these referrals will be extremely lucrative for you and you should certainly acknowledge the people who send customers/clients your way.  This is not only a matter of courtesy but it is good business, as it will differentiate you from others and keep you at the top of a referral source’s list for next year.  Lawyers have a number of ethical rules to follow when it comes to providing things of value for referrals but even lawyers can send a hand written thank you card to referral sources or find another way to make your referral source feel appreciated.  For other industries, certainly a gift or a dinner is the minimum that you could do for someone who has referred significant business to you.

3.     Take Advantage of Tax Law that Can Reduce Your Tax Burden

There are a number of things you can take advantage of before year-end that will save you tax dollars.  Here are a few tax saving tips;

• Make a 401K contribution
• Look at expenses you can pay by year-end to get a tax deduction like association dues and other business expenses
• Make charitable donations
• Calculate estimated taxes and make a payment

Check with your lawyer or accountant for more tax saving ideas and also ask him/her about any tax changes for 2013.

4.     Review Your 2012 Marketing Plan & Make a New Plan for 2013

Just last week I made a list of all of the marketing sources I used in 2012 (eg. Published Articles, Newsletters, Networking, JD Supra distributions, Social Media, etc), and compared this to the clients that each source generated.  This simple analysis will allow me to modify my marketing strategy for 2013 to focus on the most lucrative marketing strategies.

5.     Set Some Realistic Goals for 2013

You should give some thought to some of the things that you want to accomplish in 2013.  If you have not made a business plan yet, perhaps now is a good time to make one.  A plan forces you to sit down and think from a financial and strategic perspective and this will only help your business.  This analysis should also include a comprehensive review of your expenses and a budget for the New Year.  I just went through a budget review exercises and I was able to significantly reduce my expenses based on a line-by-line review of what I spent money on in 2012.

6.     Meet With The Business Professionals That You Planned to Meet With All Year But Did Not Get a Chance

One meeting you should have for sure is a meeting with your accountant.  I will contact my accountant this week and also have meetings set up for insurance and 401K plan set up.

7.     Critically Review Your Policies, Procedures & Make Changes

During the year, I often did not have time to review policies such as billing, practice management, accounting, personnel, operations and consultations.  At year-end, it is a good idea to take a look at how you did things and ask yourself whether you can improve in some way.  I just went through this exercise and changed my policy with respect to consultations and implemented a new practice management system that has streamlined my accounting and billing.

8.     Review Your Website

Do not underestimate the importance of your website!  We had a client that just signed with our firm last week who indicated that one of the reasons he signed with us was because he thought we had a professional website that kept him on our page long enough to get a feeling for who we were.

Even if you are in law school, you can mark this post and refer to it when you achieve your dream of opening your own firm. Good luck!

Would You Like To Sit For The Bar Exam In February Rather Than Go To Class?

So what will they think of next? The State of Arizona is considering letting students sit for the bar exam in February rather than going to class.  I for one would have loved the option. (not sure I would have done it but I would have loved the option.)  This week, the Arizona Supreme Court is reviewing a proposal submitted by the law schools in the State, requesting 3Ls be provided the option to sit for the February bar exam as long as they meet some criteria.  

The proposal would permit students in their third year to sit for bar exam courses rather than their regular classes and the bar preparation would be more focused on professional skills. Deans of these law schools view this as a positive move to help students more quickly find a job, save money and become increasingly ready to practice law. Let us know what you think...We are very interested in your thoughts so let us know what you think.

Exams, Exams, Exams

If this is your first set of law school finals, our thoughts are with you and we can only say that it is not going to be as bad as you think. Well..perhaps it will be but it will be over quickly.  While the process can be a tough one, with Finals around the corner, we wanted to give you some helpful tips.  Here is a list of things to help you get through the next few weeks.

• Study In Groups but Find a Good Group

It is impossible for a law student to assimilate all of the information that law school has to offer. As such, studying with a group of people will help you recognize the things that you may have missed. A great approach is for all members of the group to work on a hypo or an exam and then sit down with the group to go over answers.  Remember to listen carefully to the answers of your fellow students because they will always have picked up on things that you will miss.  

• Avoid Study Groups that Waste Your Time

While a good study group is great, cut your losses if you do not feel you are getting anything out of the group or they are wasting your time.  Give it a real chance but you will find that your time will run out as exams near and you will not have time to waste.

• Make Your Own Outline

Do not use commercial outlines or other outlines that you can download at places like the outline depot.  The benefit of an outline is making your won and your grade will significantly improve if you work on your own outlines. This of course assumes that you went to class and have notes to make a good outline.

• Do As Many Practice Exams and Hypos as You Can

I was always shocked at how many people entered an exam and had not done even one practice exam. This is a mistake!  You should do as many exams as you can under timed conditions and compare your answers with either the answer sheet or friends

• Do Not Borrow Time from Subsequent Exam Questions

At the start of an exam, budget your time from each question and DO NOT BORROW TIME.  Those who borrow end up missing easy points on final exam questions. The fact is you likely have gotten as many points from the question you are wasting time on and you can always come back to it if you like if you have time.  

• Make A Schedule

Make a study schedule of what you want to cover and stick to it.  Time is a premium around exam time and you will find that the organized student does best.

• Go Visit Your Professor

There are many reasons to visit your professor during office hours.  First, Professors often give away what is on an exam.  Second, they can clarify things you do not understand. Third, they will see that you are engaged and this may help your participation grade. 

• Relax

Do not stress yourself.  You should of course take exams seriously but do not beat yourself up or stress too much. this will only lead to poor performance.  

Good Luck!!!!