2019 February California Bar Forum

[mathandthelaw]

Can someone help me out with an impleader question?

I understand that a defendant can implead a 3rd party defendant for indemnity or contribution. My issue is can the plaintiff, once the defendant impleads the TPD, make a claim against the TPD?

Second part of the question is if the TPD is from the same state as the plaintiff would this destroy diversity? I know that since the defendant added the TPD, this alone would not destroy diversity, however, does the plaintiffs claim arising out of the same transaction or occurrence against the TPD destroy diversity?

Thanks for the help everyone!

Yes, the plaintiff can sue TPD if his claim arises from the same T/O; SJ does not apply here, so you must find DOCJ or FQJ for the plaintiff vs TPD claim.

Oh DOCJ is diversity of citizenship jx. I usually say Div. Nvm!
I have the same understanding as you.

[MBernard]

The J18 bar exam solutions are now available on the CBX site (link - http://www.calbar.ca.gov/Portals/0/docu ... nswers.pdf). Posting this in case any Feb takers are interested in knowing how the answers were setup. Always possible the examiners could choose to test pure evidence or contracts (or really any of the like) again; however, my money is on the examiners testing hybrid topics.

[mathandthelaw]

The J18 bar exam solutions are now available on the CBX site (link - http://www.calbar.ca.gov/Portals/0/docu ... nswers.pdf). Posting this in case any Feb takers are interested in knowing how the answers were setup. Always possible the examiners could choose to test pure evidence or contracts (or really any of the like) again; however, my money is on the examiners testing hybrid topics.

Thanks friend. It actually put a smile on my face to review these. Of course, none of the selected answers were mine, but I was pleased to read that despite my mistakes I kept focusing on, I did very well on the essays and PT (PT selected answer 1 was written so similar to mine). It was nice to see all the hard work pay off. And that came from repetition, practicing writing out in full and timed essays, approximately 2 a day. I did approximately 7 timed written out PT and outlined many. I also reviewed the 10 year most recent Calbar essays. Just some info for anyone who was curious as to what I did to do well on the essays/PTs portion.

[barjamie8]

The J18 bar exam solutions are now available on the CBX site (link - http://www.calbar.ca.gov/Portals/0/docu ... nswers.pdf). Posting this in case any Feb takers are interested in knowing how the answers were setup. Always possible the examiners could choose to test pure evidence or contracts (or really any of the like) again; however, my money is on the examiners testing hybrid topics.

Keep in mind that these are among the top answers in the state and will include all kinds of extra issues that you do not need to pass. Your average passing answer will look nothing like these posted ones.

[Sammylo]

Does anyone have a baressays.com account or would like to split the fee for the site? I have the $25 discount code. Serious inquiries only.

Thanks

[barjamie8]

Does anyone have a baressays.com account or would like to split the fee for the site? I have the $25 discount code. Serious inquiries only.

Thanks

I'd be careful. I've heard of people getting their accounts shut down for this because they check IP addresses.

[yespasscbx]

Is anyone reviewing Wills now? I'm really confused about how the decedent's separate property (SP) is distributed when the decedent has a surviving spouse under the intestate distribution. I list some possibilities below, can anyone tell me if I understand the right way? Thanks!

1)survived by Spouse: Spouse gets 100% of the decedent's SP
2)survived by Spouse & Kid: Spouse 1/2; Kid 1/2
3)survived by Spouse & Kid-A & Kid-B: Spouse 1/3; Kid-A 1/3; Kid-B 1/3
4)survived by Spouse & Kid & Dad: Spouse 1/2; Kid 1/2; Dad zero
5)survived by Spouse & Kid & Brother: Spouse 1/2; Kid 1/2; Brother zero
6)survived by Spouse & Kid & Dad & Brother: Spouse 1/2; Kid 1/2; Dad zero; Brother zero
7)survived by Spouse & Kid-A & Kid-B & Dad: Spouse 1/3; Kid-A 1/3; Kid-B 1/3; Dad zero
8)survived by Spouse & Kid-A & Kid-B & Brother: Spouse 1/3; Kid-A 1/3; Kid-B 1/3; Brother zero
9)survived by Spouse & Kid-A & Kid-B & Dad & Brother: Spouse 1/3; Kid-A 1/3; Kid-B 1/3; Dad zero; Brother zero
10)survived by Spouse & Dad: Spouse 1/2; Dad 1/2
11)survived by Spouse & Dad & Mom: Spouse 1/3; Dad 1/3; Mom 1/3
12)survived by Spouse & Dad & Brother: Spouse 1/2; Dad 1/2; Brother zero
13)survived by Spouse & Dad & Brother & Sister: Spouse 1/2; Dad 1/2; Brother zero; Sister zero
14)survived by Spouse & Brother: Spouse 1/2; Brother 1/2
15)survived by Spouse & Brother & Sister: Spouse 1/3; Brother 1/3; Sister 1/3

[JakeTappers]

Is February considered an “easier” “curve”? I have no idea how scaling works but obviously February is more people that failed (including this guy who winged the attorneys exam) and they attempt to have same amount of people pas or whatever? Particularly if essays only?

February is not easier in any way. In my experience, the 2018 February essays were considerably more difficult than this past July's essays. There wasn't a single crossover in July. They were straightforward and only 5 subjects were tested. Crossovers aren't necessarily more difficult, but it does mean that your chance of hitting on a subject you're not that good at increases. For example, one essay last February tested real property, torts, and conlaw. The CBX called it "Real Property" but it hit three different subjects (trespassing, Takings, and a more conventional RP topic). There was also an essay testing contracts and PR, the latter of which contained a rule that I'd never seen on an exam.

At any rate, the point is that the February exam, in terms of difficulty, is likely to be tougher than July, so any curve advantage isn't worth considering. Just do you best and be ready for anything.

Understood. And I don’t doubt it re: the exam. But as someone who is deciding between the attorney and regular I’m trying to learn as much as I can about the exam, and the curve, whatever that even means. So question still stands. Is the same “raw” score likely to pass in February that wouldn’t in July??

[frqw9201]

Is anyone selling Themis California books?

[thrivethebar]

Does anyone have a baressays.com account or would like to split the fee for the site? I have the $25 discount code. Serious inquiries only.

Thanks

If you are looking for more CA graded essays and PTs, you can look at my website Thrive the Bar (http://www.thrivethebar.com). I'll be happy to give you free access. Simply sign up and email me for a rebate via Paypal or Venmo.

[Pepp2019]

Is anyone selling Themis California books?

I have the books and the actual course I can transfer to you. Great price. Dm me

[barjamie8]

Is February considered an “easier” “curve”? I have no idea how scaling works but obviously February is more people that failed (including this guy who winged the attorneys exam) and they attempt to have same amount of people pas or whatever? Particularly if essays only?

February is not easier in any way. In my experience, the 2018 February essays were considerably more difficult than this past July's essays. There wasn't a single crossover in July. They were straightforward and only 5 subjects were tested. Crossovers aren't necessarily more difficult, but it does mean that your chance of hitting on a subject you're not that good at increases. For example, one essay last February tested real property, torts, and conlaw. The CBX called it "Real Property" but it hit three different subjects (trespassing, Takings, and a more conventional RP topic). There was also an essay testing contracts and PR, the latter of which contained a rule that I'd never seen on an exam.

At any rate, the point is that the February exam, in terms of difficulty, is likely to be tougher than July, so any curve advantage isn't worth considering. Just do you best and be ready for anything.

Understood. And I don’t doubt it re: the exam. But as someone who is deciding between the attorney and regular I’m trying to learn as much as I can about the exam, and the curve, whatever that even means. So question still stands. Is the same “raw” score likely to pass in February that wouldn’t in July??

The rumor is that the Feb is harder because law schools do not pay attention as much. The Feb exam pass rate does not factor into law school rankings.

[JakeTappers]

Is February considered an “easier” “curve”? I have no idea how scaling works but obviously February is more people that failed (including this guy who winged the attorneys exam) and they attempt to have same amount of people pas or whatever? Particularly if essays only?

February is not easier in any way. In my experience, the 2018 February essays were considerably more difficult than this past July's essays. There wasn't a single crossover in July. They were straightforward and only 5 subjects were tested. Crossovers aren't necessarily more difficult, but it does mean that your chance of hitting on a subject you're not that good at increases. For example, one essay last February tested real property, torts, and conlaw. The CBX called it "Real Property" but it hit three different subjects (trespassing, Takings, and a more conventional RP topic). There was also an essay testing contracts and PR, the latter of which contained a rule that I'd never seen on an exam.

At any rate, the point is that the February exam, in terms of difficulty, is likely to be tougher than July, so any curve advantage isn't worth considering. Just do you best and be ready for anything.

Understood. And I don’t doubt it re: the exam. But as someone who is deciding between the attorney and regular I’m trying to learn as much as I can about the exam, and the curve, whatever that even means. So question still stands. Is the same “raw” score likely to pass in February that wouldn’t in July??

The rumor is that the Feb is harder because law schools do not pay attention as much. The Feb exam pass rate does not factor into law school rankings.

I think we are talking about much different things. What I want to know is, is the minimum passing MBE raw score lower or higher in February? Regardless of the exam's "difficulty" I just want to know if you are more likely to pass in one or the other with a "x" raw score (say, 119, or whatever).

[JakeTappers]

Seeing if anyone can confirm this. I took the attorneys exam this year and failed with a ~1390 scaled. I used the onetimers calculator with my exact essay scores and then changed the MBE until I came up with the exact score. That came out to 123. Is there anyway to determine what that is in terms of percentage? If it is out 175, it is over 70% correct, which seems like would be a high median [my understanding is that they assign attorney examinees a median]. If that's correct, I'm currently adaptibaring at 62% and figure I should just do attorneys again and take the 70% or whatever.

[FinallyPassedTheBar]

Seeing if anyone can confirm this. I took the attorneys exam this year and failed with a ~1390 scaled. I used the onetimers calculator with my exact essay scores and then changed the MBE until I came up with the exact score. That came out to 123. Is there anyway to determine what that is in terms of percentage? If it is out 175, it is over 70% correct, which seems like would be a high median [my understanding is that they assign attorney examinees a median]. If that's correct, I'm currently adaptibaring at 62% and figure I should just do attorneys again and take the 70% or whatever.

When's the deadline to decide between the general exam and the atty's exam? Ideally, you want to be above 70% for your most recent 600 questions. Your overall percentage could be lower if you were getting a ton of questions wrong when you first started adaptibar. That shouldn't be a problem as long as your latest question sets are above 70%

[JakeTappers]

Seeing if anyone can confirm this. I took the attorneys exam this year and failed with a ~1390 scaled. I used the onetimers calculator with my exact essay scores and then changed the MBE until I came up with the exact score. That came out to 123. Is there anyway to determine what that is in terms of percentage? If it is out 175, it is over 70% correct, which seems like would be a high median [my understanding is that they assign attorney examinees a median]. If that's correct, I'm currently adaptibaring at 62% and figure I should just do attorneys again and take the 70% or whatever.

When's the deadline to decide between the general exam and the atty's exam? Ideally, you want to be above 70% for your most recent 600 questions. Your overall percentage could be lower if you were getting a ton of questions wrong when you first started adaptibar. That shouldn't be a problem as long as your latest question sets are above 70%

I have to decide by this week. I am actually doing slightly worse on Adaptibar this month, but its probably feeding me problem areas. I think its generally reasonable for me to think I could make up 8% and get to 70% by the time the exam came around, but my point is that if I'm going to get assigned a 70% by taking the attorneys exam, I might as well not do that and just take the essays again. But it seems like 70% would be an awfully high median for a test that the majority of people statistically fail.

[barjamie8]

Seeing if anyone can confirm this. I took the attorneys exam this year and failed with a ~1390 scaled. I used the onetimers calculator with my exact essay scores and then changed the MBE until I came up with the exact score. That came out to 123. Is there anyway to determine what that is in terms of percentage? If it is out 175, it is over 70% correct, which seems like would be a high median [my understanding is that they assign attorney examinees a median]. If that's correct, I'm currently adaptibaring at 62% and figure I should just do attorneys again and take the 70% or whatever.

When's the deadline to decide between the general exam and the atty's exam? Ideally, you want to be above 70% for your most recent 600 questions. Your overall percentage could be lower if you were getting a ton of questions wrong when you first started adaptibar. That shouldn't be a problem as long as your latest question sets are above 70%

I have to decide by this week. I am actually doing slightly worse on Adaptibar this month, but its probably feeding me problem areas. I think its generally reasonable for me to think I could make up 8% and get to 70% by the time the exam came around, but my point is that if I'm going to get assigned a 70% by taking the attorneys exam, I might as well not do that and just take the essays again. But it seems like 70% would be an awfully high median for a test that the majority of people statistically fail.

I would do the atty exam and spend all of your time studying for essays instead of wasting a ton of time practicing thousands of MBE questions.

[a male human]

Is it me, or is the 2019 Feb cycle kind of dead? Like there are fewer people taking it even compared to other February exams?

[MBernard]

Is it me, or is the 2019 Feb cycle kind of dead? Like there are fewer people taking it even compared to other February exams?

No, you’re right, F18 felt more active. That’d be weird if there was a drop off in test takers. Safe to say there’ll probably be a surge in activity on the test days.

[maureenwct]

Hello,

I am sitting the February attorneys exam, and am winding my way thru essay after essay after essay.

Question: I know I read somewhere that there are predictions made each year for what subjects will show up? Not that I will rely on such, but I would be curious as to any ideas.

Question: In order to pass the attorney's test, the score one needs per essay is 65. Is that correct? Or is the average of scores 65?I find when reviewing others essays that I can certainly understand the high and the low scores, but the ones between 60-65 really seem to be a hair's worth of difference at times. Are some issues worth points in a different manner than others? Is there a points grid?

Thank you for your responses.

[jptx]

Hello,

I am sitting the February attorneys exam, and am winding my way thru essay after essay after essay.

Question: I know I read somewhere that there are predictions made each year for what subjects will show up? Not that I will rely on such, but I would be curious as to any ideas.

Question: In order to pass the attorney's test, the score one needs per essay is 65. Is that correct? Or is the average of scores 65?I find when reviewing others essays that I can certainly understand the high and the low scores, but the ones between 60-65 really seem to be a hair's worth of difference at times. Are some issues worth points in a different manner than others? Is there a points grid?

Thank you for your responses.

This actually varies from exam to exam (what?) because of scaling to the MBE.
The calculator below takes does an assessment between last three exams.
https://mberules.com/california-bar-exa ... alculator/
The page below provides a description of the scores meaning. E.g. 40 is a complete fail but apparently is the low score. 100 is reserved for the two selected samples.
https://one-timers.com/one-timers-bar-exam-calculator/

[a male human]

Further to above, an average raw score of 65 is a good guideline on where you want your essays to be. This is especially important for attorney examinees.

65 is not a "passing" score. 1440 is a passing score. Historically, ~62.5 raw written on average was equivalent to 1440 scaled written.

For a general CA bar taker, you have more leeway because your MBE score could make up for your written score (say you get 1500 and 1380 respectively; weighted 50/50, that's 1440).

[JakeTappers]

Hello,

I am sitting the February attorneys exam, and am winding my way thru essay after essay after essay.

Question: I know I read somewhere that there are predictions made each year for what subjects will show up? Not that I will rely on such, but I would be curious as to any ideas.

Question: In order to pass the attorney's test, the score one needs per essay is 65. Is that correct? Or is the average of scores 65?I find when reviewing others essays that I can certainly understand the high and the low scores, but the ones between 60-65 really seem to be a hair's worth of difference at times. Are some issues worth points in a different manner than others? Is there a points grid?

Thank you for your responses.

This actually varies from exam to exam (what?) because of scaling to the MBE.
The calculator below takes does an assessment between last three exams.
https://mberules.com/california-bar-exa ... alculator/
The page below provides a description of the scores meaning. E.g. 40 is a complete fail but apparently is the low score. 100 is reserved for the two selected samples.
https://one-timers.com/one-timers-bar-exam-calculator/

Yea. Apparently you are “assigned” the median MBE score when you take the attorneys (which is traditionally a failing score these days) and then must climb out of that. So you need better than the 62.5 average, usually. I basically averaged 60 when winging the attorneys exam last summer and failed (1390 or something, not particularly close). The onetimerz calculator says to put in 128 or something for your MBE raw but mine was closer to a 123 to get my actual score. I would just note to do the MPT first. I did fine on it but had I spent more time on it may have scored a 70 and possibly passed.

Only one site I know has posted predictions and it’s wills/trusts, torts/torts remedies, professional respons, business associations, crimes (possible contracts or contracts remedies and civ pro wild cards). Which means they are predicting like 7 of 12 possible subjects lol. It’s pretty likely that conlaw, evidence, contracts won’t be on there again this time around but who knows.

[jptx]

Hello,

Question: I know I read somewhere that there are predictions made each year for what subjects will show up? Not that I will rely on such, but I would be curious as to any ideas.

I am not sure how anyone can "predict" from one exam to the next (maybe if you believe in Tarot cards, or crystal balls), but the below probably is the best answer to this question. Professionally responsibility is on nearly every exam in one form or another. Remedies and contracts are also tested often. As a supplement to studying you may want to read the ABA rules and the California Bar rules without outline filtering. Time permitting I found reading UCC article 2, the Federal Rules, and some of the State Rules (these are very long) helpful, and this seems to be tested often.


https://smartbarprep.com/california-frequency-analysis/

[maureenwct]

Thank you for your responses.

I have been a practicing attorney for many years so some subject areas - like Evidence and Remedies - I know well and can certainly hit most major issues. Others, such as Con Law - I haven't reviewed since law school. I also find I am getting to the answer too quickly - so there is that.

Good luck to all of you, and thank you for helping me with the score assessment.