July 2010 DC Bar Exam Results

I saw the pass list for the July 2010 DC Bar exam is now posted. 60% of the first-time takers passed (97 passers). Overall pass rate was 41%.

For those that passed, enjoy a cold one (or ten)! For anyone that missed it, be it your first miss or something higher, stick with it. I'm damn glad I have all my bar exams behind me (2). That was plenty of exam stress for the rest of my life.

Finally, fall weather has arrived to DC. The record heat this summer was crazy and I'm glad it is behind us. Bring on the fall colors!

July 2010 DC Bar Exam- Day 1

I just saw a comment on another blog that the essay topics for the July 2010 DC Bar Exam were

partnership
wills/estates
con law
contracts & commercial paper
civ pro
family law

Additional details from the comments:
Partnerships (formation, assignment of PS interest, PS property)
Contracts (sales, warranties)/Commercial Paper (HDC rights against indorsers)
Wills (validity, revocation/modification, estate division)
Con Law (First Amendment - all flavors)
Family Law (premarital agreement, marital property, alimony)
Fed Civ Pro (PJ, SMJ, Fed Question Jurisdiction)

MPTs: Argument portion of a mtn to court; memo to partner


Congrats to all that survived the first day. MBE hell is in full swing right now so hopefully those practice questions, flash cards and outlines are kicking in. Once you are done, enjoy a cold one and kick back!

Overdue

Yes, I haven't posted in quite a while. Oops.

The results (released 4-30-10) from the February 2010 DC exam were pretty brutal:

92 successful out of 224 applicants. 61% pass rate for first-time takers and an overall pass rate of just 41%. Ouch!

As usual, congrats to all those that passed. Special congrats to the repeaters that finally kicked that b*tch in the teeth! For those that took it on the chin, stick with it, redouble your efforts the next attempt and knock it out of the park.


The other day, someone asked me to make another set of predictions for the July DC bar exam. I decline. I don't have the mental energy to do it. Really, my predictions are worthless.
Look at my predictions from last fall for the February 2010 DC bar exam.
Then look at what one of the commenters reported for the Feb 2010 topics:
MPT:
1. argument section for motion to suppress & motion to dismiss
2. letter to arbitrator setting forth strengths and weaknesses of your case.

MEE:
1. property (easements)
2. family law (divorce/property distribution)
3. torts (respondeat superior)
4. federal jurisdiction/choice of law
5. corporations (shareholders rights)
6. evidence (character evidence)

Then come up with your own predictions. B@r Bri (or whatever review course you are taking) should be in full swing. Keep at it. Get your schedule in place, buckle down with a good study partner or two and make sure you get enough rest and keep your body hydrated and exercised.

February 2010 DC Bar Exam Predictions

Since I was lucky last spring in regards to my predictions for the July 09 DC exam, someone asked me to make predictions for the upcoming exam in February. I fee like Chris Berman from ESPN as the swami, but I'll give it a go.

Taking the info I gathered last spring (MEE essay topics from July 07 (the first time the available NCBE questions included MBE subjects in the MEE essays) through Feb 09) and adding in the most recent (July 09) DC essay subjects:
July 07:
Contracts
Criminal Law
Property
Family Law
Agency/Partnerships
Trusts

Feb 08:
Evidence
Torts
Wills
Secured Transactions
Corporations
Trusts

July 08:
Con Law (torts flavored)
Property
Civ Pro
Contracts
Agency
Trusts

Feb 09:
Evidence
Property
Torts
Civ Pro
Corporations
Commercial Paper

July 09:
Trusts
Secured Transactions
Con Law
Crim Law / Crim Pro (with Evidence included as well)
Family Law / Conflict of Laws
Wills

Here is my best guess for the February 2010 DC MEE subjects:
Property
Contracts
Con Law
Commercial Paper
Corporations
Trusts

For the MPT, you can count on a memo to a partner for one question, the second could be that or one of the other choices. Hard to tell. Here is a chart I had (and have supplemented with more recent info) The formatting from Excel does not translate well to this post and I am too lazy to make it look pretty...:

MPT 1 MPT 2 MPT 3

Feb 2010
Jul 2009 memo to partner letter to opposing counsel
Feb 2009 memo to partner memo to court
Jul 2008 memo to partner memo to partner
Feb 2008 memo to partner memo to partner
Jul 2007 memo to partner motion to court
Feb 2007 memo to partner Letter to opposing party
July 2006 memo to partner motion to court
Feb 2006 memo to partner motion to court
July 2005 Client opinion letter Letter to opposing party
Feb 2005 memo to partner letter to opposing counsel Memo to ? (persuasive)
July 2004 memo to partner demand letter to opposing party motion to court
Feb 2004 motion to court memo to partner memo to partner
July 2003 motion to court memo to partner memo to partner
Feb 2003 letter to opposing counsel memo to partner motion to court
July 2002 Memo to D.A. will clauses with explanation Client opinion letter
Feb 2002 Closing argument Client opinion letter letter to opposing counsel
July 2001 motion to court memo to partner motion to court
Feb 2001 motion to court memo to partner motion to court
July 2000 mediation statement interrogatories with explanations memo to partner
Feb 2000 memo to partner memo to partner motion to court
July 1999 will clauses with expl. Letter to opposing counsel memo to partner
Feb 1999 memo to partner memo to partner
July 1998 memo to partner Client opinion letter
Feb 1998 memo to partner motion to court
July 1997 Client opinion letter motion to court
Feb 1997 motion to court memo to partner

The NCBE currently produces two MPT questions and DC uses both of them. In the past, the NCBE made three MPT questions available- DC picked two of the three (which is why some years my chart has three types of questions....MPT1 and MPT2 were the questions asked by DC if I recall correctly).

Hope that helps and good luck to all DC takers (especially any repeaters!).