Industry Analysis: PMBR Sold To Kaplan, And Why Not?
With A $12M Judgment Looming and the Loss of the PMBR Mystique, a Good Time to Sell . . . Now, No Course Will Have the MBE Questions You'll See On the Actual Exam

By Steve Liosi, Esq.
Archived Article November 2006....

On October 22, PMBR was sold to Kaplan for an undisclosed amount, though industry insiders say the price was in the neighborhood of $100 million. (Apparently, Abraham Lincoln was wrong.)

In any event, it was certainly time to sell. The writing was on the wall.

With the recent $12 million verdict against PMBR looming large, no longer could bar candidates rely on PMBR to send employees into the different bar exam locations to sit for the exam and come out of those locations with notes, mental or otherwise, of the exam.

No longer would PMBR be able to claim that candidates would actually see "PMBR questions" on the bar exam.

No longer would candidates be able to proclaim after the exam, "It was déjà vu all over again."

And no longer would PMBR hold a competitive edge over other bar review courses.

Now, no course in the world has MBE questions that you will see on the next bar exam.

Now, no course can send in their employees to sit for the exam for the sole purpose of stealing MBE questions.

Now, the PMBR mystique is dead.

They know it.

And you know it.

(Or, at least now you do.)

And if you think about it, it was the best time in the world to sell.

Why, though, would Kaplan purchase PMBR when it could have marketed its own MBE course to its own LSAT students? Can you imagine the data base Kaplan has? Heck, it might even know where these LSAT students went to law school.

Yes, I know, PMBR has a great infrastructure in place, but is that infrastructure worth $100 million, especially when you could have created your own infrastructure with full knowledge that the PMBR mystique was dead?

Well, Kaplan knows what it is doing.

I suspect, though can't prove, that Kaplan's purchase was rather strategic in nature.

The purchase of PMBR certainly doesn't speak of a company that is planning on splitting the LSAT and bar review market with bar/bri, now does it? Kaplan can now say it is entering the bar review market on its own terms. Clever move, given the pending bar/bri class action litigation.

Like I said, Kaplan knows what it is doing.

(Keep in mind, though, I am far from a savvy CNN or FOX business analyst, so what I'm surmising could be a complete crock.)

In any event, what does any of this mean for bar exam candidates?

It means that there is no course in the world that has MBE questions that you will see on your next bar exam. You'll only be able to practice on NCBE-released questions and on simulated questions (i.e., questions written by bar review courses). Now, these simulated questions, keep in mind, will be written without the help of having had sat for a recent bar exam. Will this impact the efficacy of such questions? Food for thought.

Now, the best any MBE course can do is help a candidate improve their analytical thought process and legal knowledge. Nothing more. No course will be able to provide you with the MBE questions you'll see on your actual bar exam.

That being said, realistically, a copy of the Finz MBE book, a copy of the Strategies & Tactics MBE book, and a subscription to www.AdaptiBar.com should be sufficient.

No longer is it necessary to pay $1,000 to supplement your bar review preparation with a lecture-hall based MBE course (in fact, it never was), especially when no course will have the questions you'll see on the actual exam.

Now, all you need to do is get your hands on as many MBE questions as possible, and do your best to improve your analytical thought process.

(By the way, the aforementioned books have great sections on MBE-taking techniques. And AdaptiBar is the only course with NCBE-approved explanations, not just questions.)

In addition to publishing this journal, Steve Liosi is the Program Director of www.barperfect.com. You can send Mr. Liosi an e-mail: steve@clsj1994.com.

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Tricks of the Trade: How to Write Effective Essays

By Professors Steve Bracci and Sara Berman-Barrett

Archived Article November 2006......

It's all about Reading and Writing

The first step to effective essay writing is effective reading. And, what is it that you read? The most important part of law essays: the facts. That's where your Reading starts.

And, where in the facts do you start? The end! At the end of the fact pattern is the question, what is often called the interrogatory. Start by knowing the exact question or questions asked of you and you will read with an eye that can then be trained to pick up the facts and spot the issues relevant to answering as precisely as possible. (One main complaint from bar graders is that students often do not answer the interrogatory. Do not fall into that trap. Always read the question first!)

Another thing before you begin reading - know that most facts are included in fact patterns for a reason. "Red herrings" are few and far between. But, you must be an alert and careful reader to pick up on the significance of facts. So, read with a purpose, and underline, highlight or otherwise mark key words and phrases as you read.

Facts are important because they help you identify the issues, and then because they help you prove the elements of each rule. These are what might be called "discussable facts." The examiners also sometimes include facts as background, facts that develop the need to discuss an issue, but do not need to be discussed themselves. For example, one past Community Property essay question included facts about how a husband had incurred a certain pre-marital debt. The many facts relating to how the debt arose were not discussable and did not need to be analyzed. Rather, these facts were there as background, to set up the issue of which property would be used and in what order to satisfy those pre-marital debts.

With that backdrop on how facts are used, in your first read, (after reviewing the interrogatory), get a sense of the fact pattern - figure out who the parties are and generally what is happening. Then, do your detailed analysis, and look to the facts as potential triggers to help you issue spot and "call up" relevant rule or rules of law from your memory. In that second read, where you have identified facts as discussable, you will want to highlight, underline or otherwise flag them so that you can then use those facts in your answer to prove the existence or lack thereof of each element of those rules.

Let's review with an illustration, how this careful reading includes asking yourself why the question's drafter (your professor or the bar examiners) included certain facts. Let's say you read in a criminal law essay exam that a "house" has a "broken window" and that "the defendant could not see" because of "dim lighting." Why those facts? Why was the window "broken?" Why was the lighting "dim?" Why did the facts describe the structure as a "house" rather than an office or barn? Are they background? No, these facts trigger a main discussable issue -whether or not the defendant committed a burglary. (Of course, this assumes that such an issue is in line with the interrogatory, perhaps asking something such as "With what crime or crimes may the defendant be charged?") The elements of a common law burglary were the breaking and entering of the dwelling house of another in the nighttime with intent to commit a felony therein. So here, a broken window = "breaking." Dim lighting = "nighttime." And, house = "dwelling house of another."

So again, after using the facts to help discern discussable from background issues, and to accordingly spot all the discussable issues, you will read further and study the facts to then determine whether each and every element of the rule in question can be proven up or satisfied by the facts presented.

Writing begins with IRAC

Following a critical reading of the fact pattern comes writing an organized and well-reasoned answer that thoroughly responds to the question(s) asked. There are different methods for writing a law exam answer, but one tried and true system is to IRAC. What is meant here by IRAC is, within the appropriate organizational "I clearly would vote for the diploma privilege," said Walter Dickey, a professor at the UW law school who was appointed to Levine's committee. "It means you don't have to teach for the exam."

However, he is not in favor of extending it beyond UW and Marquette. At both schools, graduates must pass special courses in Wisconsin law and legal procedures to qualify for the privilege.

While Levine could appoint a committee to look into diploma privilege, he has not been able to be so direct in implementing another of the issues on which he ran -- making membership in the Bar voluntary. Now, to practice in Wisconsin courts, a lawyer must join the group.

There, too, the Supreme Court makes the rules, but Levine wants to hold a referendum on the question among the approximately 22,000 Bar members, about 6,900 of whom live out of state.

Holding such a referendum would require the approval of the Bar's Board of Governors. Its executive committee has asked for a report on the possible financial impact of a voluntary bar before considering the matter, Levine said.

Annual dues are $441, of which $224 goes directly to support the organization, with the rest put in special funds such as one to support legal services for the poor.

Shriner said his committee also will look at the question of mandatory membership.

"Having all the lawyers in the state as members of the Bar is a sound principle," Dickey said. "But I have no objection to having referendums," he added.

Levine's probable successor does.

"The referendum is pointless as far as I am concerned, because it is ultimately the Supreme Court that will decide the issue," said Thomas J. Basting Sr., a retired Madison lawyer who is president-elect of the Bar. He is scheduled to take over next July, before both Levine's committee and Shriner's commission are to report. Right now, any lawyer could petition the court to ask that bar membership be made voluntary, Basting points out.

He also opposes abolishing or extending the diploma privilege. "The current system has worked well for many, many years," said Basting, who holds a law degree from UW. "I have heard no compelling reasons why it should be changed."

Levine is not worried about such attitudes on the part of his successor.

"I am interested in the issues whether I am president or not," he said. "And when I leave, as past president I still get a vote" on the bar leadership.

"What he will accomplish is to raise these issues and get them before the Bar and get an airing of them, which it seems his initial objective is here," said J. David Rice, a lawyer in Sparta and member of Levine's committee.

From Rominger Legal & Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

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Dr. Gallagher's book on bar exam writing, Scoring High on Bar Exam Essays, is a superior book, and more than just a collection of essays with model answers. Plenty of books like that litter the shelves of law bookstores across the nation. Happily, Scoring High is back in the bookstores, now published by BarWrite Press, after several years of being out of print.

In Scoring High, unlike some other popular books, the bar candidate is actually taught how to write analytically.

For that reason, Dr. Gallagher's book, Scoring High on Bar Exam Essays, should be a book that flies off the shelf each and every bar exam. Written by a Harvard J.D with a Ph.D. in linguistics, Scoring High on Bar Exam Essays, is more than a worthwhile purchase. In fact, this book is a book that should be included with all bar review courses. At the very least, this book should be required reading for all 3Ls. Do not leave law school without having read it!

Part I of the book provides a general overview of the bar exam and includes rules for writing successful answers -- 19 rules, to be exact. Keep in mind, though, simply reading Dr. Gallagher's book will not get the job done. No book and no course is the proverbial Holy Grail. If you want to leave law school with exam-writing skills that will pass the bar exam, you need to write practice exams for each and every one of your essay-exam finals. And if you practice Dr. Gallagher's techniques, you will leave law school with such skills.

All 1Ls, as well as all 3Ls, therefore, should read this book to get a solid grasp of the exam-writing game.
Part II of Scoring High on Bar Exam Essays demonstrates how to construct a model paragraph using Dr. Gallagher's unique, protected, Under-Here-ThereforeTM formatting strategies, and how to properly outline a bar examination essay. More than just theory, this part of the book is "nuts-and-bolts" and provides a recipe, if you will, for writing a superior answer, no matter whether you are taking the bar exam in California or New Jersey.

Part III of the book provides 80 actual bar exam questions and essay answers from multiple jurisdictions, all written using Dr. Gallagher's answer format. California candidates should keep in mind that despite there being only 3 California essay questions, the book should still be a part of your bar-review arsenal. The book's techniques, if mastered, will help any candidate for any bar exam.

In my opinion, the advice contained in the new 2006 Appendix A: How to Do Legal Analysis, makes the book really priceless. There, the candidate is told exactly what legal analysis is, and examples are provided. Students are often confused about how to integrate the law and the facts in their essay answers. Studying Dr. Gallagher's Appendix and writing practice essays with it can make the bar candidate into a real pro. Although this appendix is only 7 pages long, it is enough by itself to make Scoring High on Bar Exam Essays a must-read!

I hope that Dr. Gallagher will decide to publish Scoring High on California Bar Exam Essays. In the meantime, run, don't walk, to your law bookstore for Scoring High on Bar Exam Essays. If your law bookstore does not have it, you can order it from BarWrite.com. You can also obtain the four-CD set, the CD Companion to Scoring High on Bar Exam Essays. And tell your legal bookstore that the distributor is Legal Books Distributing.

Dr. Gallagher is a graduate of Harvard Law School with a Ph.D. in linguistics, and she is a professional writer. She has lectured in law schools across the country, teaching the BarWrite systems for writing bar exam essays. Through the years, successful bar candidates have told Dr. Gallagher they wish they had read Scoring High while they were still in law school. Visit Dr. Gallagher's Web site: http://www.BarWrite.com and her blog: http://www.BarWriteBlog.com

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