Book Title: Barman: Ping-Pong, Pathos, & Passing the Bar
Book Author: Alex Wellen
Law Preview Review Rating: 5 Stars
This book should be required reading for anyone contemplating a career in law. In his hilarious and entertaining new memoir, Alex Wellen poignantly chronicles the challenges students face as they leave law school, undergo the bar exam, and integrate into the legal profession. We strongly recommend this book for all future lawyers (and the people they drive crazy).
Barman begins where One L and The Paper Chase left off. For the very first time, we get a glimpse into the pathos that 2Ls and 3Ls experience in the search for legal employment. Wellen provides honest and revealing anecdotes about the exhilarating and heartbreaking interview process. Perhaps most compelling is his willingness to disclose his own fears and insecurities and "out" the hiring partners, law schools, and practitioners that trumpet the class system laid out by U.S. News & World Report. Each year, U.S. News ranks each law school into a one of four tiers. Wellen's school, Temple Law, is considered Tier 2 (read "second rate"); but he refuses to wear the brand. Barman is a refreshing look at how law students can overcome the stigmas associated with commercial brands and ranking systems.
In intimate detail, Barman explores the question: Is the bar exam really that hard? Wellen captures the essence of the preparation, test, and five-month wait for the results. You'll learn exactly why the bar exam is nothing like law school or the practice. Wellen wittily equates the nine-month transformation—from law student to lawyer—to a pregnancy. As the bar exam results approach at the end of the "third trimester," you'll find yourself rooting him on.
If you're tired of reading about Harvard and Yale Law School, and you're looking for a quick escape, this true story is for you. Even though Wellen constantly finds himself in extraordinarily comedic circumstances, the people he meets and the experiences he describes remain universal and eminently relatable. This irreverent page-turner will have you nodding the whole way.
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