Free Hornbooks

Your e-mail address will allow you to access our free Hornbooks. These are concise explanations of the law integrated with acronyms, solution approaches and exam tips. We are building the library, and to date the following useful books are on our website at www.rigos.net

Law School Survival Guide for brand new 1Ls
Contracts & UCC Article 2 Sales for 1Ls
Uniform Commercial Code for 2Ls
Community Property, Family Law, Trusts, Wills, & Probate for 3Ls

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Bar 101: How does the Washington exam work?

The Bar exam in Washington State is not a single test, but rather two tests that consist of 24 essay questions total. 18 questions are widely selected from all the substantive areas of law, and 6 are professional responsibility questions. The substantive test questions occur in sets of three essays per 2 1/4 hour session, for three sessions each day for two consecutive days. The third day consists of the 6 professional responsibility (ethics) questions in one 2 1/4 hour "superset." The first two days are one test (substantive) and the third consecutive day is another test (ethics.)

Each essay is given a score from 1 to 10. Your score on each test must be an average of 7 for each essay. You must pass both portions of the Bar exam to apply for your license to practice, if you pass only one portion (e.g. ethics) you will have to only retake the failed portion at the next sitting of the Bar. The Bar exam is offered twice a year, generally in February and July. See www.wsba.org/lawyers/licensing/barexam.htm for more details.

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Changes on the 2007 Bar exam

New RPCs: On the February 2007 exam, the Bar association is going to begin testing the new Washington Rules of Professional Conduct (RPCs) adopted by our Supreme Court. This is the first modernization of the Washington rules in a decade and contains substantial changes. Our materials are revised with examples that highlight the changed areas. Unless you are taking PR this semester or in the future, your information unfortunately may not reflect the current rules, but our course is so we can help.

Indian Law: On the July 2007 exam, Indian Law is being added in Washington as a separate topic. The Bar has not revealed what specific subtopics of this subject are fair game on the exam. We think that jurisdiction issues, such as choice of law, will be the big concentration. Stay tuned for more as we plan on posting our new Indian Law chapter and model questions and answers on our site no later than March 1, 2007.

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Final pass rates for Summer 2006 Rigos students

The Washington State Bar has published the results for the appeal students from the July '06 exam. Rigos students who completed all components of our "seamless process" received passing scores 97.3% of the time in this sitting of the Bar. Our results from the February 2006 Bar were even better - 100% of the Rigos students who completed our seamless process passed. There are four components to the Rigos seamless process:

1. Attend all the live classes,
2. Summarize all the text chapters using our Magic Memory Outlines,
3. Complete all 24 essays and sit for all of our four practice exam sets,
4. Meet with the grader / mentors to improve your practice scores.

RIGOS has developed this system to structure your time to maximize your effectiveness. By following this system and completing the tasks that have been scheduled for each day, you can assure yourself of having excellent odds of passing the Bar the first time.

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RIGOS enrollees and Early Bird Program (New Feature!)

Class Seat Confirmation: Many of you have taken advantage of our no-cost advance enrollment to reserve your seat for this summer’s courses. (This was and remains prudent as we have had full classes for the last four cycles.) In early March you will receive an e-mail from us requesting re-confirmation of your intent to enroll. If we do not receive a response we will feel free to assign your seat to another student. It is not necessary for you to pay anything to re-confirm your seat at that time but you must affirmatively indicate your intention.

Early-Bird Program: For many students the Bar exam is very challenging and every bit of advantage helps. RIGOS Bar Review now offers a ”head start program” for those who wish to build a foundation before the formal review course starts. Beginning March 15, 2007, our Summer 07 Bar students will be able to pay a $500 book deposit and receive all study materials, both the books and the software, needed to begin their preparation in earnest. Early-Bird instructions are included. Utilizing the spare time you have this spring or after finals will help to keep this summer’s workload manageable. Get a jump on major subjects that are long forgotten or are troublesome to you. By learning the black letter law early and creating your Magic Memory Outlines in a few major subjects prior to the start of the review course, you can spend the precious course time refining and enhancing your essay writing skills. This Early-Bird advantage should increase your essay performance and reduce your stress in the review course itself.

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Online grading feature quite successful

Students at RIGOS enjoy rapid response times when they choose to submit their 24 practice essays to their graders online. No more waiting to receive them back later during classes. Our experienced grader-mentors have 24-hour access to the answers you submit online and return them by e-mail directly to you. Faster response times means you can apply the grader’s feedback (critique, sample answer, and grading guide) you receive immediately while the subject is still fresh in your learning process. This feedback highlights and reduces bad essay writing habits early thereby enhancing continual improvement in your skills as you write your answers in the rest of the course.

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Study tools

Magic Memory Outlines: The enormous task of studying for the Bar requires you focus your efforts and discipline yourself to methodically consume information, commit it to memory and practice putting it all into a 45 minute essay where you have just one chance to get it all right. The mental marathon of doing your best on each of the 24 essays over the three days of the Bar exam requires that, unlike law school, you must intellectually change gears instantaneously. RIGOS offers concise focused material covering only what has been asked on the Washington Bar. This distills the vast amount of information to a manageable size, and we provide software to help you summarize and commit it to memory.

Lectures Online: Each of us has ways we process information better. The visual learners among us may benefit from different tools than the auditory learners. RIGOS now offers our students a feature that allows you to stream or download all the course lectures to revisit them while studying or to replay while away from your materials, such as during exercise or commuting. Self-study students also have access to the lecture series to enhance their learning ability.

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Bar exam materials for other jurisdictions

Are you planning on taking a Bar exam outside of Washington such as the MBE, MPRE, MEE or MPerformance exams published by the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE). RIGOS has self-study materials that will help you excel at your preparation. Why not begin your studies now to get a jump on the competition? What else could be a better use of your downtime between now and your spring exams than to begin learning the fine-line nuances and distinctions tested on the all multiple-choice MBE questions? Review and preparation builds confidence. Get started today. You can order these inexpensive resources on-line at www.MultiStateBarReview.com

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Looking forward: RIGOS welcomes Professor Halliburton

Highly respected Law Professor Christian Halliburton has joined the RIGOS faculty and by reputation promises to bring with him an engaging and compelling style of teaching. Professor Halliburton is a favorite at Seattle University, where students clamor to get into his waitlisted courses because he makes the law come alive. His contribution to the RIGOS student's understanding of Constitutional and Administrative law will further solidify an impressive team of instructors who lead you through the course material. Thank you, Professor Halliburton, for agreeing to make the RIGOS experience even better. In our next newsletter, we will address some frequently asked questions about the Bar exam. If you have any inquiries we might be of help with, write us at newsletter@rigos.net

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