<p>Hello all,</p>
<p>Is it generally easier to pass the state bar exam if you've done your law studies at a law school in the same state? I'm asking this particularly with reference to California's bar exam which is rumoured to be the absolute devil in terms of difficulty.</p>
<p>Generally, it really doesn't matter where one goes to law school in terms of ability to pass any given bar exam. </p>
<p>The bar exam is a two- or three-day exam (depending on the particular state). In every state except for Washington and Louisiana, bar exam test takers spend one full day taking a six-hour, 200 question multiple choice "Multistate Bar Exam". This test is the same no matter what state you sit in to take it, so there are no state law specific questions. The test covers basic law school material such as torts, contracts, criminal law and procedure, constitutional law, evidence and real property.</p>
<p>The next one or two days of the bar exam tests state specific information in a wide variety of formats, including multiple choice questions, essays and practical responses (for example, drafting court filings). Often, the state specific testing sections of the bar exam will test not only the multistate topics described in the paragraph above, but also any state specific distinctions to those multistate topics, as well as other topics not covered by the multistate bar exam. For example, New York tests Agency, Commercial Paper, Conflict of Laws, Corporations, Domestic Relations, Equity, Federal Jurisdication, Future Interests, Insurance (No Fault), Mortgages, New York Practice & Procedure, New York Professional Responsibility, Partnership, Personal Property, Secured Transactions, Trusts, Wills and Workers' Compensation, in addition to all multistate topics and the NY distinctions to those topics. California tests Business Associations, Civil Procedure, Community Property, State Constitutional Law, Professional Responsibility, Remedies, Trusts and Wills and Succession, in additional to all multistate topics and the CA distinctions to those topics.</p>
<p>In addition, all states except for Washington, Wisconsin and Maryland require applicants to the bar to take a separate exam called the MPRE (Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam), which tests students on a lawyer's professional responsibilities, including ethical rules.</p>
<p>That said, most Tier 1 and Tier 2 law schools do not teach state specific law to their students. Instead, courses are taught so that, where applicable, students learn the majority rule, the minority rule and any other possible twists on how the laws work. There is often no one rule, and no one black and white correct answer in law school. Law students in the U.S. are typically taught using casebooks, where students read actual judicial opinions, which are then much discussed and analyzed in class. Little time is spent on rote memorization of laws (other than in "Code" classes, where a set of laws, often called a Code, governs an area (such as the Federal Rules of Evidence, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the Securities Act of 1933, Internal Revenue Code or the Uniform Commercial Code )), though much time is also spent in these classes studying cases that have interpreted provisions of the Codes. The Socratic method rounds out this teaching method.</p>
<p>In some of the more regional law schools, entire courses on state specific law may be taught. In my opinion, someone at a law school that does not teach state specific laws is at no disadvantage in the bar examiniation process. </p>
<p>Most law students will prepare for the bar exam by taking one or more regimented classes that teach and guide a student's studying (e.g. BarBri, MicroMash, Pieper, PMBR). These courses will give you all of the information that you need to know about the bar exam to enable you to pass the bar exam.</p>
<p>In the California Bar exam, the only strictly California topic covered is community property, which can be learned in one of the bar review courses.</p>
<p>Wow - thanks very much, sallyawp and dadofsam!</p>