suzeeq72

Hi there,
I am hoping to find a little bit of guidance here. I graduated law school in Jan. 2002 and took the IL bar exam in Feb. 2003 and failed. I had two very young children at that time, so I chose not to retake the exam at that time. Here I am many years later struggling with a failing economy, school-aged children, $70,000 in student loans, and a law degree which has proved to be of no use to me without passing the bar.

SO...I am looking for input about the best route to take for the February 2009 exam. I took BarBri in 2003 and have all of those materials. I also took BarBri in 2006 (preparing for the Feb. 2007 exam) but did not wind up taking the exam. So I also have all of those materials, which I will hopefully be able to find in my garage!!

I'm especially interested in your input about what type of review to pursue at this point. More specifically, do you think that the BarBri / Pmbr materials change very much from year to year, or is it okay to use my 2006 BarBri and Pmbr materials??

Thanks in advance! I'm hoping to find some support in surviving what seems at this point to be a nearly impossible comeback!

Susan

Category: IL - Illinois Bar Exam

pimm

Hi - I'm in CA not Illinois but I know that there are some things that have changed over the past couple of years. You have to be especially careful about recent Supreme Court cases. For example, Kelo in 2005 changed rules about eminent domain, Atwood v Lago Vista changed rules about criminal procedure and Lawrence v Texas in 2003 legalized sodomy. Granted, all these cases occurred before 2006 and you have the 2006 materials, but my point is that there may be some other cases that have come up that you'd miss with outdated materials. Mostly though, I think it's pretty much the same material.

blingblingmo

Suzeeq, I have a similar situation and question. Did you learn any more about using older material, and were you able to use your old Studysmart software? I hate to pay again for the whole package when I can just reuse materials.... B

suzeeq72

Hi blingblingmo--
I didn't get much of a response on the board about this question, but I have consulted with a few alumni and one of the professors/advisors from my law school. Both have said that using materials that are a little bit old is probably not that big of a deal. For me, my materials were from 2006, and the prof said that if there were any changes, they wouldn't be something that would result in a huge loss of points on the exam.

The prof did, however, encourage me to get to some kind of structured review class. Unfortunately, that is not financially an option. I did manage to borrow someone's set of 2007 books, so I feel a little more comfortable with that....about as comfortable as a girl could be when she's been out of law school for 6 years !! Yikes.

Good luck to you!
Susan

jayz

Hey,
I totally understand, I finished school is 2002 and took the bar in 2005 for the first time, didnt pass..and never wanted to take it again. For some reason, and perhaps some maturity as to what I want to do and accomplish now, I decided on taking the bar in CT. I am currently taking bar review coaching from a law professor, his name is Rich Litvin and he can be reached at litbartut@aol.com, he was a prof. at Quinnipiac here in CT(until 2008 late summer) and started this course 20 years ago!! This is all he does now! He doesnt advertise much except by word of mouth. His students almost all except maybe 1-2 don't pass each time. So pretty amazing....I know that my MBE scores are already looking good.
DO feel free to contact him, see if he can give you a discount of sorts and you can do the classes via tapes that he ships/email/phone. Personally, since like you,I 'm getting back to it after so long, this is a huge help....and extremely useful to have a professor of law ready and willing to answer your questions 24/7.
Take care

ralfetty

I agree with the folks above; however, if you're looking for something more up to date and are worried about currentness of materials try looking on line or fishing around at the law school for used Bar review materials. I'm taking the bar again (after relocating) ten years post law school and found a 2007 review course on e-bay for about $100.00 at least it's mostly up to date. Good luck on studying... maybe buddying up with someone would help.

ALICIA21

great tips. I enjoyed reading this

BeccaStein

HI!
I graduated about a decade ago and after 3 attempts I stopped trying. I had two kids and they make me very happy but I always felt incomplete. I wanted to have a "Plan B" so I decided to take the bar again.

I went on Craigslist and bought current BarBri and Pmbr books and took the July, 2008 bar. My copy was 2002! There were some differences; though the law was primarily the same. It worked because even with two children under the age of 6 years old, I passed. It is the best feeling. My youngest is only 3 so when he gets into full time preschool, I can find a job-yeah!

Best of luck!

freshman

Your story is so inspirational Becca!!!

CJmom

I just found this site and am so VERY thankful! Becca your story gives me hope. I graduated 2003 and have failed the Ohio bar 3 times. I have applied to take it more times and due to family illness had to withdraw my application 3 times. I have a 5 year old and am a single-mom with minimal family available to help. I am embarrassed that I have failed 3 times but after reading this link I have hope! Thanks to all of you who have posted and I will be back in the future to check in. I am considering taking the July 2009 bar and would like to begin studying in January. Figure I could study initially at a slower pace while working and taking care of my family.