advice on future appreciated!

Well, I'll try to give you some more encouragement

If you want a low-cost way to do the NY bar, and are very motivated, I'd go online and snag a recent set of Bar-Bri books off eBay. Bar-Bri are the most well-known prep course for the NY bar, in fact Friary Law uses the same materials if I recall correctly. The only difference is you should get a good set of materials for around €500 as opposed to forking out €4.5k for the prep course here. Think of it as the rough equivalent of buying second-hand FE-1 prep manuals as opposed to taking the course.

However, if I were you I'd go travelling, go volunteering, do an internship abroad, do a traineeship in one of the EU institutions, get some work experience in a different industry, basically anything that will be a talking-point on your CV. The larger corporate law firms love that.

Also don't forget that any kind of work experience can be beneficial to finding an apprenticeship as long as you spin it right. For example, at an interview if questioned on work experience as a waitress, you could say how it showed you could deal with people, that you have a committed work ethic, and can keep yourself motivated while doing menial tasks (something you'll be doing as a trainee solicitor anyway)

I wouldn't consider having the FE-1s done as meaning you've too much invested in Ireland to keep you going elsewhere. You're 21 for crying out loud, well below the median age for most trainee intakes!

Ive been doing some research over the last two days on NY bar prep courses as Im doing it in feb here's what Ive come up with

Friary are the market leader, clocking in at between 4500 to 5000 depending on what sort of course you take. Status probably comes from the fact that they were the first organization in Ireland to offer such a course. Only lectures as far as i can tell are thru video link tho there is academics/attorneys to mark mock papers etc

Independent colleges are new in the game, started by val corbett from griffith and have actually poached most of griffiths lecturers from whatr i hear. They have live lectures and claim to be the only such course in the country to offer such a service. They also do mock exams. They also boast a 100% pass rate on last years Feb sitting. Thats said 100% could be 8 people for all i know. Their course is 4500, they also offer for 1500 notes and materials without any form of backup etc

In griffith 1500 will get you notes materials access to micromash, whci as far as i can tell for the new york bar is the most invaluable tool, all other course offer it, you can also do essay questions and send them in to be corrected etc and have access to their library lexis, JSTOR etc

I haven't heard of Bri-bar but I'll certainly check it out.

TBH at the moment im leaning towards griffith, i already have student loans and will bge paying for this myself so money is a factor. Im not gonna fork out upwards of 4k and they offer the best package for 1500. The only difference between hat and the more expensive packages seems to be lectures and as im sure you know from studying law, lectures are over-rated. A bad lecturer is nothing more than a hour wasted, i personally went to very little lectures in college and still manage to get a first, the majority of your work is down to you, in the library and at a desk in your bedroom or wherever. Its not complex mathematics or rocket science and there are very few concepts which are so difficult that you need someone to explain them to you. If you can read and have the requisite self discipline you'll be fine. I didnt use a prep course for the FE-1's either, I did however source the notes from Independent, and this being NY and federal law, id say its pretty crucial to get some set of notes from somewhere.

Ill certainly check out that Bri-bar option, but as Im sure you all know from the FE-1's up to date notes are also a necessity. USSC hears a lot more cases every year than the Irish supreme court, consequently law changes there far more frequently than here.

Your thanks are welcome and DO keep it up, if you've a passion for it and an aptitude you'll be fine.

Incidentally if anyone is interested in going for the griffith course i'd be more than willing to split the cost of it, maybe make a few copies of the notes and keep our costs down.

Best of luck with everything panda, hope you stick with it!

legal eagle 1 wrote: »

Hey wheely, you've been doing as much research as me, i hadnt looked into Griffith College course though yet(that was this evenings plan of action ), so let me get this straight for 1500 you get all the materials and study notes needed to do the bar exam in feb? That sounds like just what im after, im a bit weary of buying notes off ebay incase i end up with the wrong ones :rolleyes: Have you found out anything on how to actually register to sit the exam, like how many months in advance do u need to do it?

Everything you need to know is here

http://www.nybarexam.org/

and for the mbe

http://www.ncbex.org/multistate-tests/mbe/

Registration for the February sitting is in November so still loads of time left. Yeah Griffith seems to be the best value for 1500, its a better package than Independent offer for the same price anyway. I'd also be wary of buying notes of E-bay, could be out of date etc, I'd say Griffith is where i'll spend my money in this regard.

Griffith course info


http://www.gcd.ie/index.jsp?1nID=106&2nID=116&3nID=210&nID=255&aID=303