Throwback Multiply: Bar 2007 Memoirs II

Bar 2012 starts this Saturday. Good luck bar examinees! And now, a continuation of my Bar 2007 Memoirs:

Bar Memoir #3: Civil Law

After Labor, I hitched a ride with Atty. Sol and his sisters and went home to an empty and silent apartment. After talking to my parents and E over the phone, the tears came. I had no strength to go out and buy a "proper" dinner, so I just ate some of the goodies given by friends and classmates. I promptly fell asleep and woke up the next day... still wearing yesterday's clothes. Eww, I know.

I resolved not to attend any pre-week sessions and just read na lang. After my bath, I took out my Civil Code codal and started reading, occasionally fighting back tears. I broke my resolution though and attended Dean Aligada's lecture on Property and Wills... which would have helped a lot if I remembered it as there were questions on such subjects.

Persons and ObliCon are considered the "major" areas in Civil Law so I was preparing myself for such questions. Again, expect the unexpected. The questions came from Property, Trusts, and LTD. I think I answered the second question last, I found it hard to argue if "a floating platform made of wood and metal, upon which was permanently attached the heavy equipment for the petroleum operations and living quarters of the crew" was an immovable property or movable property. At may follow up pa na: "The floating platform likewise contained a garden area, where trees, plants and flowers were planted. Q: Are the trees, plants and flowers immovable or movable property?" Trick question, kaw ba yan? I remembered Atty. Domondon telling us that in answering, chances are, the first answer that comes to mind is not the right answer. So I was all set to answer that the floating platform was an immovable property (because floating = movable) but racked my brain for the legal basis. For Wills, the last question, I forgot the rest of the iron curtain rule, the codal provision kept popping in my head but it was incomplete... memory gap!

Moral of this memoir: Codal codal codal. Brush up on distinctions. Drink/eat something that would remedy memory gap.

N.B. My lowest score was in Civil Law - which is why I now hate civil cases at work haha.

Bar Memoir #4: Tax

I used to hear the same words from professors and former-bar-examinees-now-lawyers: "stock knowledge ang Bar." I used to reply (in my head anyway), "Paano kung wala akong stock knowledge"? A couple of weeks ago, I saw some of my classmates-now-bar-examinees and I found myself telling them: "stock knowledge." Predictably, most of them replied, to my face, "Paano kung wala akong stock knowledge"?

I digress. Is "stock knowledge" a Pinoy concept? I tried Googling for its uhm, academic meaning, but all I saw were sites pertaining to shares of stock. Or maybe I wasn't Googling hard enough.

I believed in the power of "stock knowledge" after the Tax exam. I was one of those people, who, when he/she failed to read the assigned cases would assure his/her self, "Bawi na lang ako sa bar review." To quote a prof: "Oooh boy." Bar review isn't for catching up but, to quote a former-bar-examinee-now-lawyer, for "polishing."

So, let's backtrack a bit... I had a hard time with my Tax Review class. I received a line of 6 in our prelims exams and I cried right there and then inside our classroom. Coupled with Crim Rev, there was a *huge* possibility that I won't graduate. When Revalida schedules were posted, I was first for Tax. Great. So for two straight days before Revalida, I locked myself in the apartment, ordered in a large Yellow Cab pizza and memorized memorized memorized. I abhorred memorizing ever since I was... a fetus. For my journalism course, it was okay, but I soon sadly realized it wouldn't fly in law school. So I memorized when it was absolutely-life-and-death necessary. I memorized as much as I could for Tax Rev, I went through 2,000+ pages of my tax books and our prof's notes in two days.

It would have been nice to say that I aced my Revalida, but I didn't. So back to memorizing and to praying that I'd get 90 and above in our final exam so I'd graduate.

Fast forward to bar review: When the week came to review Tax, I would take my Tax books and gag reflex would kick in. In short, nasusuka ako. I read short short books by other authors but I could not go back to my previous Tax books.

Come exam time, "stock knowledge" came in the form of me visualizing our dear professor in class, visualizing the pages I read while reviewing for Revalida, all those suggested answers our prof gave us in his notes which I "memorized" while fueled by Yellow Cab pizza. It wasn't the stuff I read during bar review that I remembered, it was those stuff I read for Tax Review.

Moral of the memoir: Believe in the power of "stock knowledge."

 N.B. Ang dami kong tsamba sa Tax - yey! :)