Thread: Vivian Dempsey

Overview

Owner of The Writing Edge, Vivian Dempsey is a Former Bar Grader and has been helping students with the CA bar exam since 1985. Although she specializes in repeater of CA bar and attorney bar applicants, she also provides services for first time CA bar takers and the MPT exam.

Her motto: Vivian Dempsey grades every paper you write, every week. You can reach her by phone, fax or e-mail every day. Her live classes are small so you get a lot of personal attention and support.

Live Teaching

As of Winter 2008, Vivian Dempsey teaches all classes on weekends, Saturdays in Southern California and Sundays in Northern California.

U.C. Berkeley, Boalt Hall Room TBA
Sundays: December 21, 2008 - February 22, 2009
9 AM - 6 PM
10 classes over 10 weeks

Los Angeles
Loyola Marymount University Room 3266
Four Saturdays 9:30 AM – 5 PM
January 17, 24, 31 and February 7

Contact Info

Email: info@writingedge.com
Tel: 800-949-PASS

About Vivian Demsey from The Writing Edge Official Web Site

I've taken three bar exams in three different jurisdictions and passed them all on my first try. I studied for each exam in a different way. I took two months off, went to the gym and to every lecture, read every word of Barbri outlines. I've borrowed used materials and studied at night while working full time. I've taken a weekend course specializing in writing for the California Bar Exam.

I've been a member of the California Bar Exam since 1978 and I've been grading, teaching and an historian of the California Bar Exam since 1983. I've reviewed every question that's been on the Bar since 1972, and every PT. I have identified what issues the Bar tests most frequently and I know what the graders are looking for.

Performance Tests are my special strength, both because I delight in them and because I am the only person teaching how to tackle a PT who has ever taken one. I took PT exams for the State Bar while the test was being developed. But I'm good at PT's because I see how they are all alike--they all have just a few issues and the issues are given in a limited number of ways. I've developed tips to help you both find the rules more quickly and to increase your comprehension.

I love teaching and seeing the lightbulb go off in my students' eyes. I enjoy getting to know my students and diagnosing what they need to do differently. I have confidence that the law and the writing method I teach succeeds, and that confidence rubs off on my students.

Product Description from The Writing Edge Official Web Site

Videocourse: Identical to the live course. You get 68 hours of lecture on the law most tested on the essay exam and on how to analyze and write essays and PT's. (34 videotapes) and take 5 exams every week for 8 weeks, all graded with the same care as in the live class, by the same person, former Bar Grader Vivian Dempsey.

Take a day of the bar every weekend for two months: You take a bar exam, two essays and a Performance Test in class. Take a progress essay and a progess PT at home, for a total of 5 exams per week. Vivian Dempsey who graded both essays and PT's for the Bar, grades every test. The comments tell you the issues, the rules and how you can write more efficiently and reason more clearly.

24 hours of added lectures: Bonus Law Lectures Thirteen bonus video tapes you get to use in your own home place each subject in a broader context to deepen your understanding of the law you need to memorize and while covering peripheral issues that the Bar has tested only once. These 26 extra hours of lectures will make sure you understand the legal concepts and are ideal for attorneys from other states as well as students returning to exam study after year or more. Included are two videos summarizing Vivian Dempsey's famous PT method.

Performance Test Power: More people fail the California Bar Exam because of the performance tests than to any other part of the bar exam—including attorney bar applicants. It makes sense to get the extra assurance you need for this crucial part of the exam. Available to first time takers as well and repeaters and attorney bar applicants. So you can master PT’s early before the intense final push to the bar exam.

Have you worked with Vivian Dempsey? Post your comments or review below.

Our class had less than 50% pass rate. Save your money find someone else.

She reminds me of Nancy Grace from CNN, but not as smart. She's rude for no reason. If you ask her a question she isn't familair with (which happens often), instead of simply saying "I don't know," she raises her voice and says something totally unhelpful, like "read my materials." Her course is not like Barbri's course, where you have a professor who is an expert in each field teaching a subject. Vivian is one lady teaching all subjects, thus her knowledge is spread very thin, and she's only able to handle only the most basic concepts. She was very unhelpful for my preparation. Two thumbs down.

LOL! I couldn't agree with the last poster more. Nancy Grace!

Anyway, I don't have anything personal against her. She just seems a little too old to be teaching a bar course. She forgets very easily and her thoughts are very jumbled as it was difficult to understand her comments/feedback on my essays I submitted to her. When I asked to clarify, she would either not respond or give an unhelpful response with an attitude.

Not to be mean, but she should seriously consider retiring. It's really not fair to her students who pay so much.

I'm posting this from another thread because I'm hoping that it will be helpful to someone out here:

This last time I took the bar (my 2nd time), I studied with Vivian. She sometimes misstates the law, but I learned far more law with her than I ever did with BarBri because she made it manageable. Having said that, I still failed the second time. And it was because of my writing (I got a 138 raw/152 scaled MBE). In fact, my writing scores were the exact same as they were the first time around when I didn't know what the hell I was doing and really hadn't learned the law very well (I was too burned out after law school). Moreover, only 1 of 18 in our Los Angeles class passed the Feb. 2011 CBX... which is terrible (we all have emailed one another; that's how I know).

This time, I'm taking Steve Liosi (BarPerfect). Vivian focused on memorizing the law and practicing. Steve focuses on analysis and practicing. I'm hoping that Steve will give me what I need to pass. I don't need to learn the law so much anymore after Vivian's class, but I think that she graded exams so long ago that she perhaps has lost touch with precisely "how" to show the examiners that you are writing in an analytical way.

Hope this helps someone out there. I'll update in November after getting results from this July's CBX.

Did anyone who took the Berkeley course for the Feb 2011 Bar pass?

I was in Vivian's Los Angeles course in preparation for the Feb 2011 exam. I can verify that only one person from our entire course of 18 people passed. It really comes down to the students, but a .05% passage rate for her class is unnacceptable. She told us to do many things that were different from Barbri. I have to believe that those things translated to odd ways of writing which translated into fails.

She collected $90,000 ($5,000 per student with 18 students) for the 2011 Feb LA class, and only one student passed. C'mon...

Originally Posted by inga

I'm posting this from another thread because I'm hoping that it will be helpful to someone out here:

This last time I took the bar (my 2nd time), I studied with Vivian. She sometimes misstates the law, but I learned far more law with her than I ever did with BarBri because she made it manageable. Having said that, I still failed the second time. And it was because of my writing (I got a 138 raw/152 scaled MBE). In fact, my writing scores were the exact same as they were the first time around when I didn't know what the hell I was doing and really hadn't learned the law very well (I was too burned out after law school). Moreover, only 1 of 18 in our Los Angeles class passed the Feb. 2011 CBX... which is terrible (we all have emailed one another; that's how I know).

This time, I'm taking Steve Liosi (BarPerfect). Vivian focused on memorizing the law and practicing. Steve focuses on analysis and practicing. I'm hoping that Steve will give me what I need to pass. I don't need to learn the law so much anymore after Vivian's class, but I think that she graded exams so long ago that she perhaps has lost touch with precisely "how" to show the examiners that you are writing in an analytical way.

Hope this helps someone out there. I'll update in November after getting results from this July's CBX.

By the way, I passed w/Steve Liosi. He is great with analysis, but you need to remember to text him with every email that you send because, otherwise, he doesn't check that email address. Vivian's class, especially in retrospect, was pretty worthless (even though I think that her heart is in the right place).