earth shakes, so do bar-takers' nerves.

[brian lauter]

The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake interrupted the World Series.

The 1994 Northridge earthquake interrupted television and movie production.

The 2008 Chino Hills earthquake interrupted... the bar exam.

That’s right, you paid tens/hundreds of thousands of dollars for law school, then a few thousand more for a bar review course, you studied for two months straight, you’re in the middle of day one of a three day exam, and the ground starts to shake.

To be honest, it doesn’t really sound like a big deal to me. But, given how particular many law students are during regular old finals (I’m talking about you, guy with ear plugs, three red bulls, eight sharpened pencils and a ream of scratch paper), I wouldn’t be surprised if it threw a few nervous test takers off their game.

As an avid childhood Giants fan I’ll always remember how the ’89 quake ruined the Giants’ impending comeback. I hope this year’s bar takers end up with more positive memories of the Great Quake of ’08.

Comments

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As a writer at Anaheim Convention Center (where examinees equally, if not more so, experienced the earthquake during Tuesday's Essays 1-3 session [we were in an underground hall with just a 15 foot ceiling, flood lights were swinging and tables moved, half the people screamed and got under the tables and WE WERE NOT EVACUATED even though a fire alarm sounded once with 4-6 minutes to go in the exam period]), I was angered to hear that a Proctor caused the exam to become unfair and not uniform due to granting 5 extra minutes to the Ontario examinees (no fault of their own). I had a friend taking the exam in San Diego, and she said they also felt it and were jolted and unfocused the rest of the day. My other friend taking it in San Francisco at Cow Palace didn't believe me at first when I told her we suffered through one of the biggest quakes in a decade - she even thinks it was unfair Ontario examinees were granted additional time!

Anyhow, I approached the "State Bar of CA" table at the entrance to our secure examination area on Wednesday morning to ask about the complaint process for all examinees not having the same uniform time to complete their essays (5 minutes could mean the difference from receiving a passing grade and being able to write a thorough contract remedies discussion). I am advocating fairness because this licensing exam has everything to do with a person's livelihood and every minute counts!

Here's how the brief discussion went (by the way, another student was there trying to find out how he could complain too):

Me: "......but aren't the examiners supposed to keep the time equal to other exam locations to keep it fair and uniform?"
BAR Rep: "Not necessarily. I know from other proctors that the main proctor officially stopped the exam, and so had the right to restart it and give people time to finish."
Me: "I talked to my friend and she said it wasn't officially stopped, just that the person announced quickly after the quake that they were getting 5 extra minutes."
BAR Rep: "I don't care what your friend said, I know for a fact that time was officially stopped."
Me: "Well, anyway, how can I file a formal complaint about this?"
BAR Rep: "You can write a letter or call JOHN RODRIGUEZ who is at the Los Angeles office."
Me: "So is this going to be treated as a formal complaint then? Is this a process or just a contact?"
BAR Rep: "No, it's what you can do...I am sure you will receive a letter in response."

Needless to say, she was getting defensive and acting as if those who felt it was unfair are basically in the wrong and have no recourse. I am not sure whether it was officially stopped or not...even so, the proctor ADDEDD 5 additional minutes to their time, not just "let them finish" whatever time was remaining. The earthquake lasted at most 20-30 seconds, not 5 minutes! I believe though, and will verify this with my friend again and others who took it at Ontario, that time was NOT officially stopped.

The only suggestion I have for others, and what I am doing myself, is to call and ask to speak with the Los Angeles office Director JOHN RODRIGUEZ and to write him a letter. His contact information is below:

John Rodriguez
State Bar of CA
1149 S. Hill St.
Los Angeles, CA 90015
213-765-1000

F.Y.I., the main office for the State Bar is:
San Francisco (Main Office)
180 Howard Street
San Francisco, CA 94105
415-538-2000

Best wishes for positive exam results for those affected by the
earthquake!

I used oddyssy before and the quality and size last year were of the best quality, but I tried to re- order the same exact one and the material was light weight and the size was smaller(not even close to the one previously purchased). I called and they insisted I was wrong. Wearing the one I previously bought I explained I still had the one from last year and that the uniform I just received is of a much lower quality and at least three sizes short. It was supposed to fit like a 12 but only fit like a 9.