How does the saying go? "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again." And that is good advice for bar exam takers. I know a lot of good lawyers who passed the bar on their first attempt. I know quite a few good lawyers who passed the bar on their second attempt. I even know a decent lawyer who passed the bar on his third attempt. I don't know any good lawyers who passed the bar after failing more than twice. I believe that if you can't pass the thing within two years, you probably should find a line of work better suited to your aptitude.
But for some people, the saying is "If at first you don't succeed, try, try, try, try, try, try, try, try, try, try, try, try, try, try again." This story first broke here, in the Orange County Register, but it broke on July 4, when I was off partying at the beach all day and night with my friends for whom I do not want to name-drop, and I missed it. It's now all over the blogosphere. A lawyer I know who went to school with this woman showed me the article, and I dropped my jaw at least four times reading it. Some remarkable quotes:
Paulina Bandy couldn't fail the state bar exam again.
Not after she failed 13 times before.
How's that for an eye-grabbing intro?
She and [husband Jon] Gomez, who married in 1992 after an 11-year courtship, lived in a three-bedroom home with a garage and yard in a Fullerton cul-de-sac. The couple traveled and shared a passion for sports. They loved to entertain guests at their home.
Passing the bar isn't the only thing that took her longer than average. An 11-year courtship before tying the knot?
"There was a secret out there to passing, and I wasn't in on it," she said.
Gomez kicked off a tradition of bringing flowers to his wife after she finished her exam in February 1999. But Bandy found out later that she failed. She was disheartened but vowed to do better the next year [and] studied 14 to 15 hours a day to prepare for a second stab at the state bar exam.
I wasn't in on it, either. Nobody told me any secrets. I just paid attention to the materials, studied as if it was a full-time job for about two months, and took the test.
By 2003, five years after she took her first exam, Bandy hadn't passed. On July 1 of that year, at age 39, Bandy gave birth to daughter Roxanne.
If you are counting, that's 22 years into the relationship when they had their first kid. She clearly rushes into nothing.
The fight continued for years. She tried twice in 2004, the year the family left Fullerton to move into a 365-square-foot home in the back yard of Bandy's mother's house in Orange. They sold the majority of their possessions – furniture, sporting equipment, wedding champagne glasses – at garage sales and squeezed what they could into their one-bedroom home.
It's better than living in a van down by the river, but not much better.
The exam in February of this year was Bandy's 14th. A few months before, her father-in-law yelled at her for being a "pretend lawyer" and ruining his son's life. She also got into a bad accident in January and totaled her car.
That's a pretty cold shot, although I think I feel the man's pain.
On May 25, the day the results of the exam were to be posted online, Bandy came home to a message on the answering machine.
"I screamed," Bandy said. "I'll never forget it. I was doubled over like being punched in the stomach. In a good way."
She had passed the exam, said the voice in the message.
I've never felt like I'd been punched in the stomach "in a good way," but then again, I never felt the pain of 13 ding notices from the bar.
After all that ordeal, Bandy might not even become a lawyer.
With good reason. Few firms or clients would hire someone who graduated in 1998, but didn't pass the bar until 2007. Now, I probably wouldn't have posted anything about this but for the last part of the article. Most of what I've seen about Ms. Bandy has been negative, and there isn't necessarily a lot of good to come from crapping all over someone who is celebrating a long-sought achievement like this. But, damn, this story really starts to feel like a Matt Foley skit toward the end. You see, this isn't just a story about someone who overcame adversity, it's an advertisement for her new barpassing advice business.
She's decided to devote her time to helping them full time. She launched a Web site, www.cabarexamrepeatersresource.com, and got a business license to help others find a formula to find pass the bar exam.
I've been to the website. Here's some of what she has to say:
I was forced to figure out how to pass the California Bar Exam on my own. Although excelling in bar reviews, my high pratice [sic] exam scores did not translate into a passing bar exam score. I desperately threw fistfuls of thousand dollar bills at bar reviews, tutors and ex-bar graders, in an attempt to find the elusive secret to passing. Much to my surprise, just as Dorothy discovered in the Wizard of Oz, I had the ability the whole time. I did not need the Wizard after all.
...
My Self-Hypnosis/Visualization CD helped me get the mind set of a successful candidate. ... I credit this CD as the finishing touch on my journey to passing.
...
I am not a bar "review". I teach individuals that [sic] do not have the test taking skills and technique of the Ivy Leaguers and Legal Pedigrees.
Amazing. She passes it once and suddenly she's an expert. She takes 11 years to marry her sweetheart, four years to complete law school, eight years to pass the bar, 12 years to start a family, and about a month to start a business giving bar exam advice. Thirteen failures, and then, suddenly, after discovering a CD (that she sells for $39.95) the secret reveals itself. She goes on to suggest having other "repeaters" send her their exams so she can critique them. Personally, if I had failed the exam, I would rather had my exams critiqued by someone batting a little bit higher than .071, and I sure as hell wouldn't pay someone with that sort of track record to give me advice. Her home page ends with a disclaimer that says she can not guarantee that what worked for her will work for everyone. Her disclaimer should be a lot more forceful than that. Finally, she closes with a blurb about "confidentiality and copyright" and asks that you
"do not duplicate my work, for ethical reasons as much as for legal. I want to keep this website available to those that need it and if all my work is given away, I will not be able to continue this mission."
Somehow, I don't think she has anything to worry about. Nobody is going to want to duplicate her work. But maybe I'm wrong, and people will beat a path to her door. Not that this would be terrible. California already has plenty of lawyers. One less bar passer is one less lawyer.
That story is just sad. I don't find anything positive about it.
Posted by: J.C. | March 17, 2012 at 17:01
She trademarked "Prevailing over Failing"?
Posted by: JM | July 31, 2010 at 20:53
Paulina responds:
"Yesterday, a bar candidate called my attention to your blog. Your blog contains false statements and portrays me inaccurately. These statements are injurious to me both personally and professionally. It appears the purpose of this posting is to degrade, and distort, me and the success of my business. To avoid further damages to me, and my business reputation, I am requesting immediate removal of all statements and comments about me, my family, my home, and my business from your blog.
Thank you in advance for your timely resolution.
Paulina Bandy
Bar Exam Strategist
CA Bar Exam Repeaters' Resource
The Legal Education Annex
www.CaBarExamRepeatersResource.com
"Prevailing over Failing™ ""
Posted by: lex icon | July 31, 2010 at 20:13
The Register did a followup.
http://www.ocregister.com/news/bandy-story-many-1789261-bar-time
The comments all keep getting deleted after a few hours.
Posted by: Andy | August 01, 2007 at 20:11
ROFLMAO!!!
Posted by: Cranky Greg | July 25, 2007 at 09:36
They should make her put that one her business card so that people with serious legal problems know better than to hire her.
Posted by: dennis | July 24, 2007 at 12:45