It's over!

First post for a while, friends - and there is good reason for that!

I must be careful what I say here of course, as the exam has not yet been taken by those local folks in Sydney. However, I CAN tell you that it was, for me, a total disaster.

Not that I didn't expect it to be so. I had managed some time to study Practice and Procedure (in between working on some huge contract deals at work and renovating a dilapidated house at a rapid pace). However, Evidence and Ethics were both sorely neglected.

A 75% mark is required to pass. I must be honest and say that I doubt I will achieve this in any of the papers. However, if I am fortunate enough to pass at least one of the papers, I will be pleased. Even if I fail all of them, it has been a great learning experience and I will be that much better prepared next time (when I WILL have a chance to put in the necessary study and obtain the requisite materials).

A huge thanks to Kris S. and his family in acting as my exam coordinators and taking on that responsibility - I am extremely grateful, and I do hope for your sake that this was not all a complete waste of time.

I'll let you all know how I go shortly - until then, au revoir.

CGW.

Swimming against a strong current...

Hi friends,

I don't mean to sound defeatist, nor to I seek to disappoint any of my friends or family, but the Bar Exam in July just isn't likely to happen for me - at all.

Those of you familiar with my personal situation will understand that our house is taking up all of our time right now, and that this is completely necessary in order to get it ready to put on the market as soon as possible. If this cannot be done, we cannot hope to return to Australia, and if we cannot return to Australia, sitting the Bar Exam is a moot point. The house MUST be finished. We are throwing all of our efforts into this right now.

That said, I am still largely devoid of study materials anyway, though I did finally receive a criminal and a civil procedure textbook from Australia. Still no Odgers on Evidence - the shipping time seems inordinately slow...

With this, and unless some kind of miracle happens, i'll be returning to this blog in the coming months as I prepare for what looks to be a February 2011 Bar Exam date.

:)

CGW.

Trial by fire...

Hi friends!

OK, so I have now been told that I cannot defer, and that if I need to put off sitting the bar until February 2011 then I will need to pay the $600 examination fee again. There are no refunds either, and as such it seems that I have little to lose from at least trying to pull off a miracle and pass the bar exam...

1. without study materials; and
2. without adequate time to study the limited amount of material I actually DO have.

Oh yeah - and my wife and I are still desperately renovating our house in the hope of selling it this summer. Phew!

Here goes nothing...

:)

CGW.

Deferral

Owing to my residence in the USA, I'm having real trouble obtaining the textbooks I need to give this a shake. I am especially concerned, as we have reached the middle of May and I really haven't been able to start studying in a serious manner yet.

Those of you who know me also know that there are many other issues going on right now, including major renovations to our house (on an enforced timetable), a heavy schedule at work, and a variety of personal issues. All of these issues have led me to consider postponing my bar exam attempt to February 2011 (the next available sitting).

This will also (provided other things work out the way I hope) give me a chance to take the NSW Bar Exam Preparatory course offered by UTS. The lack of any canned study material for this exam is a real concern to me and the prep course may assist in this area.

Stay tuned! :)

CGW.

Motivation...

Hi friends :)

Motivation is proving to be a serious problem right now. I just can't start studying - and time is running out!

There is a lot of material to work through, so I really need to get started here. However, with various members of my family visiting, and major renovations going on at our house, AND heaps of work to do at work, the time just isn't there.

It does not help that the NSW Bar Exam covers a wide variety of topics, and there really is no set curriculum - just a series of topics they want you to "learn", and a heap of legislation and text books they suggest you read to learn it.

Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers!!

:)

CGW

Step 1 - enrollment for the NSW Bar Exam

My mother once told me that if you have the intelligence, persistence and character to successfully enroll in a tertiary institution and arrange your timetable appropriately, then you should automatically be granted a degree. The reasoning goes that, in achieving this milestone, you have demonstrated more than enough ability to successfully complete the course in question. It is, in reality, an indictment on the painful bureaucracy that binds many tertiary institutions and bodies.

I can attest to this in several instances. The ANU in Canberra is one, or at least qualified as such in the late 1990's when I was a student there. The UWS in Sydney was not quite as bad during my time there, but was still not easy. The New York Bar Association is a tangle of painful barriers that I dare not elaborate on here.

Thankfully, the New South Wales Bar Association has not, at least at this early stage, displayed these characteristics.

The July Bar Exam is a three-part exam comprising of three components:

Practice and Procedure (3 hours, July 19, 2010 in Sydney);

Evidence (3 hours, July 21 in Sydney); and

Ethics for Barristers (3 hours, July 23 in Sydney).

As an applicant residing in a foreign country, the Bar Association require me to take the bar exam roughly a week-and-a-half before the takers in Sydney. I also need to arrange a supervisor and a suitable test location. Fortunately, this shouldn't be overly difficult (touch wood). The supervisor requires legal admission, and I have many friends who would qualify.

I am thrilled that I can take the exam here in New York and save myself the hassle of flying back for it. Cudos to the NSW Bar Association for their flexibility in this regard!

A pass mark requires at least a 75% grade in all three papers. Study material is online and becomes available upon registration for the Bar Exam.

If I manage to pass the Bar Exam, I then have 10 months to complete the Bar Practice Course. We will cross that bridge when we come to it. Step 1 is the exam.

Enrollment is underway. A Hiccup with payment notwithstanding, I expect to be enrolled within the next couple of days and thereafter to have access to the relevant online study material.

Stay tuned!

CGW.

Introduction...

Dear Readers,

I am about to embark on a journey that I have been anticipating for a number of years. Though I didn't know it at the time, this journey began when I first entered the Australian National University Faculty of Law in February 1997 as a clueless 18 year old high-school graduate.

At that time, I had no desire to pursue a career in law. My focus was Economics, and my ultimate objective was "to make alot of money" as a "banker". I had only decided on studying a double-degree after prodding from my mother (a respected and successful Solicitor and Arbitrator), and also from a pierced and tattooed program advisor at the ANU open day in late 1996.

After stumbling in to university life, however, I quickly realized that Economics was actually very boring, and that Law was interesting and stimulating. Thank you Professor Davis et al!

After three years of Law School, I began a clerkship with a respected Sydney firm at the end of the 1999 semester, and transferred to the University of Western Sydney to complete my studies. I graduated in 2002 and, after taking a year off to travel, was finally admitted to practice in New South Wales as a Solicitor in February 2004.

Life intervened again after this, and after a brief period of post-admission practice as a Commercial Litigator and a Land and Environment Solicitor, I married my sweetheart, an American girl. For various reasons this necessitated a move to the United States, during which time I sat and passed the New York State Bar Exam (February 2005) and worked for some four years as a Legal Research Consultant for a large legal information conglomerate in New York.

Still, my heart strongly pulls me toward the Bar, and back toward Australia. Both my wife and I have a desire to return if and when the opportunity presents itself. Is THIS that opportunity?

This blog is dedicated to keeping my friends, both real and vicarious, up-to-date with my progress in this journey. I welcome any comments, suggestions, criticism (of a constructive nature) and encouragement that you may choose to direct to me along the way. I hope you enjoy the blog!

Sincerely,

CGW.