LAW SCHOOL ELECTIVES, PART II

Deciding which law school electives to take is a difficult decision. This article discusses the benefits of choosing electives based on what subjects are on the bar exams you plan to take. Part I of this article discusses the advantages of choosing electives based on your interests.

Many courses that are important for the bar exam of a particular state may not be a required course at the law schools in that state. The reason for this is because some states have twenty or more subjects tested on their bar exam, and if the law schools in those states made all bar exam subjects required courses students would have little or no opportunity to choose electives. Some important courses for bar exams that are often not required courses include the Uniform Commercial Code, Article 2; Business Organizations; and Wills, Trusts, and Estates.

One good reason to choose your electives based on what subjects are on the bar exam is because when you begin your bar review course it really will be a bar review course instead of a bar learning course. Spending one day in a bar review course on a subject is not as beneficial as spending a few months learning about the subject.

For instance, when I took the New York State Bar Exam secured transactions and negotiable instruments were tested subjects, but I chose not to take these subjects in law school so I had to learn them in my bar review course. Luckily these subjects were not tested the year I took the New York State Bar Exam.

Despite my bar review course doing a good job of teaching me secured transactions and negotiable instruments, I had a lot of difficulty picking out those issues and answering them in a satisfactory manner in practice exams. My level of comfort with questions in these subjects was much lower than for bar exam questions in subjects I had taken in law school. For the subjects I had taken in law school the bar review course truly was a bar review course that refreshed what I already knew.

Below are websites that demonstrate the great variety of electives available at some schools.

http://www.law.suffolk.edu/academic/jd/electives.cfm
http://www.law.temple.edu/servlet/RetrievePage?site=TempleLaw&page=Degrees_Elective_Courses&menuitem=p77

Good luck choosing an elective!

Michael Santana
michael.santana@lawboost.com

If you have any questions or comments about this article, or want to write your own article about the pre-law or law school process, feel free to contact me.