Now that I have on my hands well-deserved but unnerving free time, I thought it would be the perfect time for an introspect on my life in the year 2005. It was a year of many changes for my legal career: I finally graduated from McGill Faculty of Law, received 2 degrees, took and passed the New York State Bar examination, and went to the École du Barreau du Québec. Of them all, I have to admit my 4 months at the Barreau du Québec were something I definitely didn’t wish to do, and it was the biggest surprise of the year.
The main reason for it being a surprise for me was the institution of a new program. Over the 3 years spent at the law school, I’ve heard horror stories from alumni about the Barreau: it seemed like it was virtually impossible to pass the exams in one try, and they were looking for answers contained in the footnote for an exception to the exception of the rule in question. In short, torture. But it is an open-book exam!!!
I had been completely discouraged from remaining in Quebec and becoming a lawyer since I didn’t wish to go through this process. However, everything was supposed to change last year with the new and improved program and that’s what I ended up taking.
Overall, the new program is much more pleasant and straightforward with a bigger emphasis on practical side of the law (such as writing a motion, negotiations exercise) without being too anal about it. Of course, this doesn’t mean it isn’t full of new problems!
Readings
Main material used by the École du Barreau is 12 volumes of books, and most of them are assigned to be read in preparation for daily classes. The only problem is the books are essentially useless for the purpose of the exams. First issue is that the exams are no longer open-book: you can only bring in the legislations, therefore, for those books to be useful, you’ll have to memorize them all (which would revert the system back to the old program). Second issue is the books give a detailed overview of the legal field in question (such as labour law) and focus greatly on the jurisprudence: except lectures rarely mention jurisprudence, since they won’t be allowed into the exam.
Of course the books are useful after the exams: but for the purpose of passing the exams, all they’re good for is preparing you for something you don’t need.