Free Sessions
Covering Summer
2011 Bar Exam

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

Saturday, December 3, 2011 9 AM to Noon

Berkeley
U.C. Berkeley International House
2299 Piedmont Avenue (at Bancroft Way)
Reception desk will tell you room
Map: International House on UC Berkeley Campus

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

Sunday December 4, 2011 9 am to Noon

Loyola Marymount University
1 LMU Drive, Los Angeles
Hilton Hall Room 109
Enter LMU from Lincoln Blvd.
Left at fourth stop sign.
(free parking)
Download LMU map with class location (PDF 3.9 MB)
Also see: Driving directions

You must register by submitting applicant questionnaire (PDF)

Submit applicant questionnaire or email Viv.

Please do not waste your session complaining about the course you took or venting anger at failing. Submit application and then call or e-mail to schedule an appointment with Vivian.

• The Writing Edge Bar Review Course, Berkeley, CA
• The Writing Edge Bar Review Course, Los Angeles, CA
• Videocourse
• First-Time Taker Options
• Performance Test Power Videocourse
• BarBoost
• Tutoring

The Writing Edge Bar Review Course

Saturdays: December 17, 2011 – February 25, 2012
9 AM - 5 PM

John F. Kennedy University
Berkeley campus
2956 San Pablo Avenue
Berkeley, CA  94702
Enter through loading dock at rear of building
Park in OSH Hardware parking lot, Ashby at Ninth Street.
Free parking
(JFK is not affiliated with The Writing Edge)

See JFK map

Some classes are by video. You may borrow dvds and vhs tapes or watch live streaming classes on your home computer.

You receive all the same materials and Vivian critiques all the same 24 essays and 10 performance tests. You have 12-7 access to Vivian via telephone and internet.
You may schedule a weekly tutoring videoconference or telephone conference.
All this is included with the course.

Sundays: December 18, 2011 – February 26, 2012
11 am to 7 pm

Loyola Marymount University
1 LMU Drive, Los Angeles
Hilton Hall Room 109
Enter LMU from Lincoln Blvd.
Left at fourth stop sign.
Download LMU map with class location (PDF 3.9 MB)

See: LMU driving directions

Vivian will teach all classes in person or by live streaming webast.

For those who cannot attend Berkeley class. All lectures are on videotape. Do the same exams, get the same detailed constructive feedback from Vivian and contact Vivian 12 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Start anytime.

The Writing Edge Bar Review course is exclusively for attorney bar applicants and bar exam repeaters. But Vivian Dempsey offers two options for First Time Takers:

For all applicants—attorney bar, repeaters and first-time takers.
More people fail the California Bar Exam because of the performance tests than to any other part of the bar exam—including attorney bar applicants. It makes sense to get the extra assurance you need for this crucial part of the exam. Many people have asked for a Performance Test course from Vivian. This is a brand new course and a cost-effective way to address most applicant’s greatest fear.

Performance Test Power is already part of The Writing Edge Bar Review Course. Vivian will introduce you to the way performance tests announce issues, give you case rules, and teach you how to read faster with better comprehension, organize to maximize reasoning and write high passing answers in 9 performance tests. She will personally grade 8 of your performance tests. You can learn more about this course by attending the free introduction.

For those who cannot attend the Berkeley class. All lectures are on videotape. Do the same exams, get the same detailed constructive feedback from Vivian and contact Vivian 12 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Start anytime.

BarBoost for First-Time Takers

First-time takers of the California Bar Exam may find the law in a full-service bar course is not detailed or focused and that they do not get meaningful feedback on essays. They may also find that they do not feel adequately prepared for performance tests. At the same time, first-time takers feel overwhelmed by classes in a full-service bar course, so anxiety builds and there is no time for the help they need. Vivian fills that need by giving first timers a course in a book plus her fine grading and access to her for all your questions by email. She gives you the law to focus, what to memorize, a method for analyzing essay questions and PT’s, and she personally grades 15 of your exams—11 essays and 4 Performance Tests. You can also get immediate answers to all your concerns and legal questions, all by email.

Course is limited to first time takers of the California Bar Exam who are currently taking a bar review course.

Tutoring

Vivian Dempsey tutors a limited number of students and is limited to graduates of The Writing Edge.

Every weekend for 10 weeks
Every week, you take a day of the bar exam, just like Tuesday and Thursday of the California Bar Exam.  Under exam timed conditions and closed book, you take three essay exams and one Performance Test in your home. The best practice for taking the bar exam is taking the bar exam. So you will gain the most by doing all three essay exams and the performance test all in one day, as if you were taking the real bar exam.

In most weeks, you are assigned a second Performance Test to take. You turn in all 5 exams – 3 essays and 2 Performance Tests – and Vivian will give you constructive, thorough critiques and realistic bar-grader grades within two or three days. During the next class, Vivian will teach you how she tore these exams apart, found the issues, saw the significance of subtle facts, organized her answer, and managed her time. Plus you have Vivian’s own model answers to learn from. (see “Answers to Last Exam” Vivian’s model answers would receive high passing scores on the bar exam. She passed the California bar exam on her first attempt and the Committee of Bar Examiners invited her to be a bar exam grader, an invitation extended to a select few who have done exceptionally well on the California Bar exam. . Vivian became a California bar exam grader of both essay exams and Performance Tests.

You prepare to “take the test” each week by:
(a) studying the law outlines in Vivian’s book, The Writing Edge.
(b) watching a two hour law lecture.
(c) memorizing the test elements for the most frequent essay issues in Vivian’s book.
(d) Practicing 4 to 6 essay exams. These are all genuine California Bar Exam essays and Vivian provides her own model answers. She is available to answer questions and counsel you 7 days a week, 12 hours a day by email, phone and videoconference, and, of course, during every class.

Every weekend, Vivian lectures on the law, exam skills and Performance Test skills. She teaches all classes live or live streaming webcast.

After reviewing the essays exams she graded for you, Vivian repeats that process with the PT’s—showing you how to find the issues in any PT, how to quickly find the case rules and to put together a simple, logical plan that allows you to maximize reasoning and get high PT scores on the Bar.

The course contains:
10 Performance Tests
150 Essay Exams
Vivian's law outlines on the essential essay law and tools to memorize it.
11 bonus law videos containing law lectures on all essay subjects
“How to Fact Issue Spot an Essay Exam” dvd.
Performance Test method, 2 dvds.
Day planner detailed hour-by-hour study schedule
Unlimited telephone and email questions to Vivian

Order of study:
Crimes and Criminal Procedure
Torts & Torts Remedies
Contracts & Contract Remedies
Real Property and Community Property
Evidence – FRE and California Evidence Code
Constitutional Law
Business Associations and Civil Procedure – FRCP and California Code of Civil Proedure
Wills & Trusts and Professional Responsibility

Writing Edge application (PDF 85 Kb)

Writing Edge application: Type in & Print (PDF 115 Kb)

Acrobat Reader is required: Free download here