BAR/BRI CLASS ACTION LITIGATION: TRIAL DATE RESCHEDULED TO FEBRUARY 13, 2007

[Publisher's Note: The following information can be found at the BAR/BRI class action Web site: http://www.barbri-classaction.com/barbri/default.htm.]

Archived Article AUGUST 2006....

If you purchased a bar review course from BAR/BRI in the United States anytime from August, 1997, until the present, this notice may affect your rights.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE COURT HAS RESCHEDULED THE TRIAL DATE TO FEBRUARY 13, 2007. THE EXCLUSION DATE (described below) REMAINS AUGUST 13, 2006.

If you purchased a bar review course from BAR/BRI anywhere in the United States anytime from August, 1997, until the present, you may be affected by a class action lawsuit pending in the United States District Court for the Central District of California called Rodriguez, et. al v. West Publishing Corp., d/b/a BAR/BRI, and Kaplan, Inc., Case No. CV-05-3222 R (MCx). This is to inform you of the Court's certification of a Plaintiff Class (the "Class"), the nature of Plaintiffs' claims, and your right to participate in, or exclude yourself from, this Class. At this time, you do not have to do anything to remain a member of the Class (a "Class Member").

What is this case about?

BAR/BRI provides full-service bar review courses throughout the United States, which are aimed at assisting would-be attorneys in their preparation for taking one or more bar examinations required by each state and the District of Columbia prior to the issuance of a license to practice law. Plaintiffs allege that BAR/BRI violated the federal antitrust laws by agreeing with Kaplan, Inc., to prevent competition in the market for full-service bar review courses. Please see the Notice on the links at the right for a full description of Plaintiffs' allegations.

West Publishing Corporation is the owner of BAR/BRI and is a defendant. The other defendant is Kaplan, Inc. (BAR/BRI, and Kaplan, Inc., are hereinafter collectively referred to as "Defendants.") Defendants deny Plaintiffs' allegations and contend that their conduct was legal.

The Court has not yet determined whether Plaintiffs' or Defendants' contentions are correct. A jury trial is scheduled to resolve the issues beginning on February 13, 2007.

Am I Affected By This Litigation?

Class members are those that purchased a full-service bar review course from BAR/BRI anywhere in the United States where BAR/BRI directly operated a course anytime from August, 1997 up to the present time. You are a Class Member if you purchased a full-service bar review course from BAR/BRI to prepare for the winter 1998 bar examination or any subsequent bar examination.

Who Represents Me In This Case?

The Court appointed Ryan Rodriguez, Reena B. Frailich, Loredana Nesci, Jennifer Brazeal, Lisa Gintz, Kari Brewer, and Lorraine Rimson as class representatives for all claims. The Court designated and appointed as Class Counsel the law firm of McGuireWoods, LLP. They are assisted by the firms of Finkelstein, Thompson & Loughran, and Zwerling Schachter & Zwerling, LLP (collectively "Class Attorneys").

How Do I Remain A Class Member?

You Need Not Do Anything At This Time. As a Class Member, you will be bound by all orders and judgments of the Court. Any claims you have against Defendants concerning the allegations summarized in this Notice will be determined by the final resolution of the case. You do not have to pay the Class Attorneys. If they obtain a recovery from the Defendants, they will ask the Court to order reasonable attorneys' fees and costs to be paid by Defendants or from any funds recovered. If you hire your own attorney, you must pay that attorney. You may also seek the Court's permission to intervene or personally appear in the action. We do ask that you notify Class Counsel at the address listed below of any changes to your address.

How Do I Exclude Myself From The Class?

If you want to be excluded from the Class, mail a signed letter asking to be excluded to: BAR/BRI Claims Exclusions, Attn: Glen Davis, McGuireWoods LLC, PO Box 4002, Santa Monica, CA 90411. All exclusion requests must be postmarked by August 13, 2006. If you exclude yourself, you cannot participate in any monetary recovery for the Class, and you will not be bound by any Court orders or judgments. If you wish to remain a member of the Class, DO NOT submit an exclusion form.

What If I Have Questions?

You may read the documents at the links on the right, call 1-888-285-7850, or write to BAR/BRI Class Counsel, Eliot G. Disner, Esq., McGuireWoods LLC, 1800 Century Park East, 8th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90067. All Court records may be examined in person and copied at the Clerk's office, United States District Court, Central District of California, 312 N. Spring Street, Los Angeles, California, 90012. PLEASE DO NOT PHONE THE COURT.

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[Publisher's Note: A few years back, I wrote an article titled, Start Studying for the Bar Exam Your First Day of Law School. I wrote such an article because the traditional amount of time set aside for bar exam study, six weeks, simply isn't enough. And I wrote such an article because there is an undeniable link between 1L grades and passing the bar exam. If a 1L finishes their first year with a true B average, passing the bar exam is a foregone conclusion, especially if study habits are maintained throughout the law school process.]

Archived Article AUGUST 2006......

1. Hit the ground running. You will be tempted to spend the first few weeks of law school just making new friends and joining clubs. Instead, start working hard on Day One.

2. Be a grind. Master the cases, prepare for classes, start your outlines, start working on practice essays. Hang out in the library, not the lounge.

3. Remember that passing the bar exam correlates with grades in law school. Whether or not you will pass the bar exam is entirely within your control, starting on Day One. Law school is not preparation for your legal career, law school is your legal career. Cultivate healthy fear. Remember that almost the only people who can fail the bar exam are people who got into law school. The bar exam is hard.

4. Connect law school to the reality of law practice. Volunteer to work a small number of hours every week in a law office or at campus legal aid. Find out exactly what lawyers do all day. Figure out what skills you will have to develop. Go up to each professor after class once or twice a month and ask how that day's lecture might apply in law practice.

5. Focus your study time on actively writing outlines and essays, not on reading. Reading is not studying law. It is passive, not active. Reading cases and hornbooks is time-consuming, and although it feels like hard work, it in fact accomplishes nothing by itself. Law does not stick to the brain. Be active. Get your course outlines ready. Practice outlining essays. Memorize basic rules of law.

6. Repeat rules daily for mastery. Educational psychologists know that we learn things better by lightly repeating them over a long period of time rather than by trying to cram them into our brains overnight. Recite your basic definitions every day or every other day.

7. If you can't explain the law to another person, you don't know it. Explain the statute of frauds and give a sample analysis of a case to your study partner or to your three-year-old child or your dry cleaner. If you can't make the law clear to another person now, you won't be able to explain it on a bar exam essay, either

9. Take a course on how to write successful law school exam essays. Practice outlining essay answers and doing MBE questions, and take courses. Nobody is born with these skills. BarWrite gives a good course on how to write law school essays, and so do some others. If you can't answer MBE questions on contracts law while you are studying the subject, how can you expect to answer them three or four years later? Learn how to do it now.

10. Stick to a schedule. If you live and study according to a regular plan every day during law school, when the time comes for the bar exam, you will be ready. Stay on schedule. Eat well. Sleep eight hours. Drink plenty of water. Exercise an hour every day. Get some human company. Study hard. Smile.

-- The End? Actually, just the beginning.

Mary Campbell Gallagher, J.D., Ph.D., is president of BarWrite® and BarWrite Press. BarWrite offers courses in New York City on law school exams, the Multistate Performance Test (MPT), the Multistate Bar Exam (MBE), and the New York bar exam essays, and Dr. Gallagher lectures by invitation at law schools around the country. Dr. Gallagher is the author of Scoring High on Bar Exam Essays: In-depth Strategies and Essay-Writing Practice That Bar Review Courses Don't Offer and The CD Companion to Scoring High on Bar Exam Essays, as well as of many articles and reviews in national publications. The book Scoring High teaches how to write essays on the bar exams in all 50 states, and many law students also use it in law school. The Third Edition of Scoring High contains the classic text plus a new 2006 Appendix on. How to Do Legal Analysis. Check your law school bookstore or order directly from the publisher, BarWrite Press, at http://www.BarWrite.com. For more study tips for law students and bar candidates, visit http://www.BarWriteBlog.com.

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We hope they'll have a bearing about them, Leary Davis, the schools dean, said in an interview Tuesday with the News & Records editorial board. He was answering the question: How will people recognize these new legal scholars populating downtown Greensboro?

They also should be physically fit, thanks to the YMCA memberships the school provides.

Physical and psychic energy are professional attributes and things we can cultivate, Davis explained.
The city's energy level is rising today with the opening of North Carolinas fifth law school. This is the second Davis has served as founding dean, after Campbells in 1975.

Elons enrollment starts at 110 students. That will triple after new classes arrive over the next two years.

The school, occupying the beautifully renovated former central library building at North Greene Street and West Friendly Avenue, will be a center for legal activity. In addition to its academic functions, it houses a working courtroom handling business cases. Students will be able to observe the law in action under their own roof.

They'll have many other opportunities for interaction, at nearby federal and county courthouses and with local attorneys and judges who have volunteered to help in different capacities.

Those visiting attorneys might notice some new twists in legal education. While Elon intends to measure up well by traditional standards, including Bar exam passing rates and national rankings, Davis outlined a multidisciplinary approach and an emphasis on the development of leadership skills.

We are going to try to excel, to do things differently and better, Davis asserted.

In his view, the proof of success will be seeing future graduates serving their communities through the practice of law and in many other civic endeavors. That expectation will be established during orientation, when Davis has scheduled five days of seminars on law and leadership topics.

This law school is opening in an impressive facility, under the direction of an experienced dean who says the second time is always better. Its faculty is distinguished. Its advisory board is chaired by former presidential adviser David Gergen, who now heads the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard. It includes former Gov. James Holshouser, former N.C. Supreme Court Chief Justices James Exum and Henry Frye and former American Bar Association president Alfred Carlton Jr. It has established connections with the Center for Creative Leadership and the American Judicature Society's Institute of Forensic Science and Public Policy across the street.

And then there are the students, chosen from more than 500 applicants. With all that physical and psychic energy, they'll stand out downtown -- and some of it is bound to rub off. This looks like the start of something very good for Greensboro.

From Rominger Legal & Greensboro News & Record

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