Review of A Lawyer Walks Into a Bar... (2007) by Ryan M — 11 Sep 2009

Friday night, staying in bed. I stumbled upon this docu, 'A Lawyer Walks Into a Bar...' It follows 6 bar candidates as they prepare and sit for the CA bar. Very, very interesting. And you bet, tons of lawyer jokes in it.

It brought back the memories of my own Bar experience in the Philippines. And it made me contemplate about my plans to sit for the CA bar. It's inspiring, but at the same time, it made me ask... Do I really want to go through that again? :D The Bar is definitely not a joke. (There's the understatement of the evening!) One guy, Donald Baumeister, took the CA bar 41 times! Not 4, not 14, but 41! I think it's 43 now 'cause he didn't pass the Bar 2x in this docu.

I wanted a relaxing movie, and here I am all jittery. I could feel the anxiety and excitement going on.

On that note, good luck again to those taking the Bar exams in the Philippines this month. In just a couple of weeks, after the last exam, you'll wake up at 6 am, automatically, and wonder what you'll do for the rest of the day. Yes.... you'll discover again how it feels like to sleep in. Believe me, the Bar month does end. :D.

Some of my favorite quotes and stats in the docu:

"9 out of 10 people despise lawyers. But 10 out of those 10 would want their kids to become lawyers.".

Speech at law grad ceremony "law schools are populated by neurotics... which means most of you are perfectionists, and control freaks, in addition to being workaholics.." ouch!

"the US already has 800,000 lawyers.. 4 X more than all the other lawyers in the world".

A law school dean, 2 governors and a mayor have failed the CA bar multiple times...

"lawyers suffer from alcohol and substance abuse at almost twice the national average..." is this true?

"we have a system of justice that is designed to ensure that innocent people are never convicted. And we pay a cost. And that is that guilty people sometimes do and will go free..".

New Jersey. Man falls out of bed. Sues bed company. Judgment: $179K.

Colorado: Man gets glued to Home Depot toilet seat. Sues for $3M.

West Virginia. Woman injured opening pickle bar. Judgment: $2.7M.

New Mexico. Woman spills McDo coffee on her lap. Judgment: $2.9M (you know this one).

As a result of lawsuits, there is an abundance of labels and warnings on products. e.g. on a baby stroller, "please remove child before folding...".

Finally, how to sum up the Bar: "The nerves really build up. Frankly it's a survival contest. How do you keep all the information in your head and be ready to vomit it out on the day of the Bar exam?" Well, there's a more positive way of summing it up, which my friend shared with me before I took the Bar: 'Think of your brain/memory as consisting of different cabinets, each cabinet representing a Bar subject. The knowledge is all in there, neatly divided into those cabinets. You may not remember everything instantly, but on the day of the Bar, you'll open each cabinet as needed, and be pleasantly surprised to find out, that somehow, the bits of information are still neatly filed in there." :D hope that helps.

Ok, i'm going to bed. I've had too much fun tonight already. Haha.