ProfessorTommy.Tips

January 15 is National Hat Day. It's a fun excuse to break out your favorite cap, beanie, fedora, or “good luck” hamburger hat. But on bar exam day, headgear is one of those “seems harmless, becomes a problem” items. Here’s the big picture: State boards of bar examiners' and the National Conference of Bar Examiners' NCBE test-day policies generally require your head (and often ears) to be uncovered for exam security. And many jurisdictions expressly prohibit hats/caps/hoods i

For years, the Uniform Bar Examination portability pitch was simple: take the exam in one UBE jurisdiction place, transfer an eligible score to another UBE jurisdiction. The NextGen UBE transition is turning that simple idea into a more complicated planning problem, especially during the July 2026 through February 2028 window when some jurisdictions will be administering the NextGen UBE and others will still be offering the Legacy UBE. Recently, the landscape has started to c

Mike Tomlin is the longtime head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers , and he’s famous for delivering short, memorable one-liners in press conferences. (Steelers fans call them “ Tomlinisms .”) After the Steelers and Ravens played a chaotic, down-to-the-wire game that ended on a missed last-second field goal that sent the Steelers into the playoffs and ended the Ravens' season, a reporter asked Tomlin to put into words how razor-thin the margin was between season over and kee

I was scrolling today and saw a CNN Underscored headline about down jackets. It was clearly supposed to say something like, "We tested 13 down jackets to find the warmest winners." But the headline said "warmest winers." Source: www.cnn.com Yes, I know what they meant. Winner . Not winer . Still, that one missing letter changed how I read the entire piece. Because here’s what immediately happened in my brain: If something as simple as a headline wasn’t proofread, what else in

As we say farewell to 2025, let's take a look at the Top 10 most visited blog posts over the past year: 1. Early Signals from July 2025 Bar Exam Results (Sept. 9, 2025) Excerpt: “The National Conference of Bar Examiners has begun releasing first-time bar passage rates for jurisdictions that have reported July 2025 results, and the early numbers provide an interesting—if incomplete—snapshot. We now have data from seven jurisdictions, and the picture is ... mixed .” 2. Moonw

The holiday season means binge-watching a few TV series and movies with the kids. That means a lot of Marvel Cinematic Universe. At the end of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1 , there’s a short exchange where Nova Corps officer Rhomann Dey tries to send the new “heroes” off with a warning: "Your criminal records have also been expunged. However, I have to warn you against breaking any laws in the future." Rocket and Drax the Destroyer immediately do what law students, bar ex

When it comes to Torts, breach is usually proven the straightforward way. You show what the defendant did (or failed to do), then compare that conduct to the applicable standard of care. But sometimes the evidence you would love to have is missing, unavailable, or locked inside the defendant’s operations. That is when one of the bar exam’s favorite Latin phrases steps onto the stage: res ipsa loquitur , meaning “the thing speaks for itself.” Let's call that what it in the wil

I love this quote from Steph Curry: "I want to practice to the point that it’s almost uncomfortable how fast you shoot so that in the game things kind of slow down." If you're not a basketball person, here is the quick context: Stephen Curry is the face of modern shooting in the NBA, a multiple-time champion, and still the engine of the Golden State Warriors. Even now, in the later stage of his career, he isn't coasting. He is still known for doing the unglamorous work, over

A lot of applicants are coming from workplaces where “dress down” is normal. Business casual is common. Sneakers are normal. Jeans might be acceptable most days. Some places have no real dress standard at all. However, the Virginia Bar Exam does. And the Virginia Board of Bar Examiners' rule is explicit: There is no “dress down” or “casual dress” policy. Applicants are expected to dress in court-appropriate attire. This isn't a suggestion. It's a condition of entry. Source:..

Recently, a federal grand jury has twice declined to indict New York Attorney General Letitia James on federal mortgage fraud charges. Before those two grand jury “no” votes, an earlier indictment had already been thrown out because the judge ruled that the lead federal prosecutor was unlawfully appointed. In other words, the original case was dismissed before it ever reached a trial. If you are a Criminal Law or Criminal Procedure student, or studying for the bar exam, you