Finding Direction: The Wind Vane Chronicles

After mid-May law school graduation (see last post), it was time to buckle down to really working.  Not only with
"Tim" for the summer, but also to prepare for the Louisiana bar.  I never
did stop clerking, really, except for a very few days before and during
the bar exam the middle of July.   I can’t remember for sure, but think
I spent two weeks over at Loyola in June in in-depth (expensive) bar
preparation lectures going over a huge book full of material for the
different sections of the bar exam.  Thinking back, I believe there
were about 8 or 9 sections of the bar to prepare for, including all of
the latest changes in the various areas of Louisiana and federal law.

I spent every waking hour I wasn’t in prep classes or working studying the materials.  And I do mean every waking hour.  (Although, I did still
have some work to do on my law review article, which I finalized and
turned in just before the bar exam.)  During that time period, I did
not do anything else at all.  Tom took care of everything else that
needed to be done, from laundry to cooking to paying bills.  He was
great in that way and every way.

Finally, the week
of bar exams began.  That’s right – not day, but week, being all day on
Monday, Wednesday and Friday, with two study days in-between.

The
state wide exams were held in the Super Dome in New Orleans.  They
began promptly at 8 a.m. each exam day and lasted, with an hour off at
lunch, until 5 p.m.  There were three or more sections each day and all
of the sections were strictly timed and composed of all hand written
lengthy essay answers to complex, multi-part problems.  

I had to get up very early each test day to commute to the Super Dome, to park, find out where I was supposed to go and then be there prepared to test.  When I finally got into the Dome that Monday, there were hundreds of others there milling around, waiting to be led up to the bowels of the huge dome to the area the tests were to take place.  We all had to wait out in the hall (inside the outer perimeter of the dome on about the third or fourth level up) until about 7:45 a.m. when we were allowed into the ga-gunda long room with endless rows of chairs and desks.

We were separated from each other enough so that no one could cheat.  It must have been about 58 degrees in there – frigidly cold – and many of the young women had worn flimsy tops and little short shorts.  I had on jeans and a short sleeved shirt and I nearly froze to death all day.  I don’t know how those girls could stand the cold and still be able to think well enough to test.  For Wednesday and Friday, I wore long sleeves and a jacket.

Testing began promptly at 8 a.m. and no one was allowed in late.  There were monitors all over the place and silence.  I don’t know if you have ever spent eight hours a day, except for a brief break in the middle, furiously writing, while thinking, trying to organize your thoughts and cover everything you can remember about a difficult subject and all of the laws involved, or can even imagine trying to do such a thing.  Whatever you’re imagining, though, it was harder than that.

We had to do that for three long days that week.  And, you don’t finish each section – or any section – early, either.  You hand becomes so cramped (and cold) you can hardly write and sometimes have to stop briefly just to let it rest a few moments.  At times, it was excruciating and painful.

By the end of Monday, I was ready to quit, but had two long study days ahead (Tuesday and Thursday) and two more test days like the one Monday.  Taking those tests that week was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.  Sheer relief set in when it was finally over, but was soon overtaken by utter exhaustion.

Tom had decided that we should celebrate the bar exam being over by spending the weekend in New Orleans.  He got a hotel reservation and was to come down after work to meet me there Friday evening.  We went to get something to eat – I don’t remember where, but no place fancy – and he wanted to go hear some blues music playing at one of the New Orleans’ favorite blues joints.

We went over there about 8:30 p.m., I guess, so he could get up front, where he always liked to get, to be where the action was.  He loves the blues, having grown up with them on the radio and in Biloxi as a kid.  I tried to have a good time, but was absolutely wiped out.

By 9 p.m., before the blues singer even started singing, I couldn’t stay erect and awake and went out to the car and promptly fell sound asleep.  I couldn’t keep going.  I don’t remember how long we stayed.  Tom would come out and check on me every so often until he was ready to go.

Even the next day I didn’t feel like doing much.  I told him it was really the waste of a weekend and that, in retrospect, we should have waited until I recovered from the week before we went somewhere to celebrate.  Besides, I had no idea how I did.

You test using I.D.s given you so that the graders have no idea who you are, to be fair and objective.  The different sections are given to different attorneys in those areas of law to read and grade.  I have good penmanship, so wasn’t worried about anyone not being able to read my writing.  But, many people have very poor, or impossible to read, penmanship, so I have no idea how that affected the grading.

You had to pass all of the sections of the exam to be licensed as an attorney.  If you passed most of the sections, but not all, you could re-test on just those subjects within a certain time period.  The bar results came out the middle of September and were mailed to each test taker.

I finally got my letter in the mail and carefully opened it.  It stated that I had passed the entire bar exam, but had no grades in it whatsoever.   I’ve always wondered since what my grades were and how well I did, but if you pass, no one questions the result.  You sure don’t want them going back and looking at your tests and deciding you didn’t really pass after all.

I, along with all of the others who passed, was worn in before the Louisiana Supreme Court, as a licensed Louisiana attorney on October 16.  I want to share with you next time what my license, which is a large document 16"x25", says on it because I think it is very important for people to know and for attorneys to remember as they practice law.  It was a very sobering oath that we took and one that I took very seriously and still do.

So . . . To Be Continued . . .