I had an interesting phone call yesterday from a former student who told me that there was a former bar exam grader now working in his law office. Apparently she's also moonlighting as a bar exam tutor. Now, I have no idea who she is or what her credentials are. For all I know, she's great and will be a big help to people, but I do have some thoughts in general on the value of former bar graders as bar exam tutors...
First, I don't think there's any correlation between being a former bar grader and a current -- and effective -- bar teacher. They are 2 entirely different skill sets. Most bar graders are relatively recent members of the bar who are either in need of some extra part time money or "encouraged" by their firms to do the work as pro bono service to the bar. Either way, these are not experienced law professors, nor even particularly good law students or lawyers. They are employees and/or volunteers (depending on the state jurisdiction) who are given relatively little discretion and have fairly specific tasks to do. How that translates to teaching others how to pass the bar - the whole bar - not just the one essay or performance test that the grader worked on - is a mystery to me.
To put it another way: I have taken Pilates classes for many years. I'm a decent student and enjoy the activity. I've worked with some really good, certified Pilates trainers. Does that qualify me to teach others how to do these workouts? I certainly hope not! And I know it doesn't qualify me to do strength training or weightlifting or Yoga. They are all different skills. I don't have the certification, the training, or the background to help others and so I don't advertise myself as a "former Pilates student" available for private workout sessions. Get it?
The second point I'd make to those who are considering using a former bar grader to teach them how to pass the bar is to look at what materials they are using. If the tutor doesn't have their own materials but simply uses another course's books and lectures, you're missing out on a lot. Anyone who's serious about this work simply has to have their own course syllabus, books and lectures. Anything less is either a shortcut (at the student's expense) or a violation of someone else's copyrights. You wouldn't be very comfortable attending a law school class where the professor had no materials or syllabus of their own but simply copied verbatim from another teacher, would you? In fact, you'd probably say this class was taught by a TA and not the Professor. Why is this any different?
And finally, here's the real kicker about using former bar graders to help you pass the bar: the assumption you're making is that they have some hidden "insight" into what is passing and what is not. That simply isn't so. Bar exam graders don't give pass or fail grades. They read a specific set of materials and apply the same set of rules that any credible bar review course explains to its students. We do it on day one at Celebration Bar Review. It's not a big deal and definitely not a "secret." Graders are no more than hired "readers" with no discretion and no hidden tricks or insights that you couldn't obtain from a legitimate course to begin with. So what ARE you purchasing when you hire a former bar grader to tutor you?
Actually, I'm afraid it's not very much...
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