The Bar Exam Toolbox Podcast: Pass the Bar Exam with Less Stress

The Bar Exam Toolbox Podcast treats bar prep as two separate problems: knowing the law, and knowing how to study it. Alison Monahan and Lee Burgess host. Their stated aim is modest and humane: help people study effectively, stay sane, pass, and move on with their lives. The law comes through the Listen and Learn series. These installments take one narrow rule and teach it the way a good outline would, with the rule first, its exceptions next, and an application last. Professional responsibility runs through several of the titles, among them 'Listen and Learn -- Duty of Confidentiality (Professional Responsibility)', 'Listen and Learn -- Communication with Opposing Parties (Professional Responsibility)' and 'Listen and Learn -- Duties to the Tribunal (Professional Responsibility)'. On confidentiality, the ABA rules and California's rules are set side by side, including what a lawyer may or must do when an organizational client is breaking the law. California turns out to be stricter about reporting to anyone outside the organization. That lesson then moves to a hypothetical based on a past professional responsibility exam question. The communication lesson follows a settlement demand passed between the parties to a lawsuit, testing the rule that bars a lawyer from contacting a represented person directly or indirectly. On duties to the tribunal, the steps for handling a client's false testimony are laid out in order, from refusing to offer the evidence, to seeking withdrawal, to disclosure. A client who confesses to staging a slip on spilled milk makes the rule concrete. Contracts get the same method. In 'Listen and Learn -- Warranties and Disclaimers Under the UCC (Contracts)', the implied warranty of merchantability is tied to a merchant selling a car that must be fit to drive. Outside the series, the show looks at how the exam is built. '344: 11 Things You Need to Know About the NextGen UBE' follows a sample question from one-sentence answer fields, through statute and case law, to a drafted memo for a supervising attorney, and points out how the early parts build the understanding the writing task needs. Guest conversations cover study method. In 'Early Bar Prep with Themis Bar Review', two guests from Themis talk about setting aside deliberate blocks of study time, one guest's habit of putting on khakis and a polo to switch into learning mode, and how long people can focus before they need a short break. That episode also carries a promotional code for a Themis course. The tone is plain and instructional, and the hypotheticals do most of the teaching. Anyone still in law school is pointed toward a sister show, the Law School Toolbox podcast. A good first listen is whichever Listen and Learn installment matches a subject already on the study list.