ProfessorTommy.Tips

Lionel Messi added another accomplishment to an already legendary career by breaking the World Cup scoring record yesterday. For more than two decades, Messi has dazzled fans with his vision, precision, and ability to make difficult things look effortless. He sees opportunities before others do and consistently puts himself in position to succeed. But while Messi may be brilliant, a messy bar exam essay response is not. Photo source: www.messi.com Yes, it's a groan-worthy pla

One of the most common concerns I hear from bar examinees is some variation of the following: "I'm struggling with the essays. I keep running out of time, and I really want to improve my scores." The good news is that essay performance is often one of the most improvable portions of the bar exam. While there is no magic solution, there are several practical steps that can help you become more efficient and earn additional points on the essay portion of the bar exam, like the

One of the more common frustrations I hear from bar examinees is this: "I know the law, but when I sit down to write an essay, I can't remember the rule statement." If that sounds familiar, you're not alone. Many students believe that success on the essay portion of the bar exam requires memorizing hundreds of rule statements word-for-word. They spend hours rereading outlines, highlighting commercial course materials, and reviewing flashcards, only to discover that when they

If you’ve taken one of my classes, you might have seen this comment on your essays: You did a good job of following IRAC, but it's recommended that you don't label the components of each IRAC section. That advice tends to catch students off guard. After all, IRAC is what you’ve been taught from the beginning. So why stop labeling it now? Because at this stage, labeling IRAC does more harm than good. Years ago, I heard a bar exam grader describe a labeled IRAC response like th

If you’ve followed my blog, you know I like to use food as a way to make bar prep stick. On National Spaghetti Day , I wrote about avoiding the “spaghetti-on-the-wall” approach and untangling messy essays. Today, on National Pretzel Day , we’re dealing with a different problem—but one that’s just as common. Not messy. Not scattered. But twisted. Source: www.auntieannes.com Pretzels are known for their loops, knots, and turns. And if you’re not careful, your bar exam essay can

If you’ve spent any time studying Evidence, you’ve probably internalized one core principle: Everything starts with relevance. Relevance under the Federal Rules of Evidence is intentionally broad: Rule 401: Evidence is relevant if it has any tendency to make a fact more or less probable and that fact is of consequence. Rule 402: Relevant evidence is admissible unless a rule excludes it. Irrelevant evidence is not admissible. Rule 403: Even relevant evidence can be excluded if

Somewhere along the way, the em dash became suspicious. Not misused. Not overused. But suspicious. Apparently, if you use an em dash, you must be using ChatGPT. Or some other AI tool. Or at the very least, you must have “AI vibes.” That’s the conventional wisdom floating around online right now. And it’s ridiculous. I Checked the Receipts When I first started hearing this, I did what any slightly annoyed, mildly stubborn law professor would do. I went back and looked at my ol

The Lunar New Year begins today, and it ushers in the Year of the Horse (specifically the Fire Horse). If you’re taking the bar exam next week, that timing feels almost too perfect. Horses don’t win by darting all over the track. They win by staying controlled, conserving energy, and moving forward with purpose. That’s exactly what the bar exam rewards too, especially at this stage. Here’s the theme for the remaining few days of your bar preparation: Stay in your lane . And

Some pop-culture moments don’t happen because a studio planned a crossover. They happen because the calendar accidentally creates one. And people can’t resist treating it like an event. We saw that in Summer 2023 with “ Barbenheimer ”: Barbie and Oppenheimer opened on the same day (July 21, 2023) and audiences turned it into an unlikely double-feature phenomenon. Two completely different vibes. One shared release date. Suddenly, “which one are you seeing?” became “are you d

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