Tag Archives: Letter

Georgia Bar Examination – Reported Students Failed, but they Actually Passed (2015-2016)

Just found this on Georgia’s Bar Examination website. According to their report, “errors” were made when grading the February 2016 and July 2015 bar examinations. 90 people were told that they had failed, when in fact they actually passed the exam!

OMG!

I cannot imagine how I would feel if I got a copy of their letter in the mail. What do you think would outweigh the others? – Anger? Excitement? Annoyance? Lawsuit-waiting-to-Happen?

Talk about infliction of emotional distress – maybe not intentional, but still. That’s a pretty HUGE error. Gross Negligence if nothing else. Their offering is that they will reimburse those people for any expenses they paid for taking the bar again since then. But what about lost income? Lost time? What about the fees of the screwed-up bar exam?That seems like it’s going a bit under for reimbursement. I fully expect there will be arguments over that, what do y’all think?

Y’all can read the full report here. But this is the letter they are sending out:

“September 6, 2016

The Board of Bar Examiners has determined that you are one of 90 people who passed the Georgia Bar examinations administered in July 2015 or February 2016, despite prior notification that you had failed to pass. As Board members, we take full responsibility for these errors and offer our sincerest apologies to you.

Having taken the Bar examination ourselves, we recognize the distress that this mistake has caused you. As members of the Board, we are charged with upholding the integrity of the Bar examination.

We have conducted a thorough investigation and have confirmed the causes of the errors in the scoring process. Those have been corrected and we are establishing procedures to ensure we will not make the same errors going forward. Credibility is our certification system’s greatest asset and we must restore the public trust.

The Board is prepared to reimburse you for fees associated with any subsequent exams taken as specified in the letter you have received from the Office of Bar Admissions, although we know your investment of time and effort greatly outweighs the additional cost of the examination.

Again, we offer our most sincere apology.

Sincerely,
John Sammon
Chair, Board of Bar Examiners”

How would you feel about this situation:

A. Relief

B. Fear that it will Happen to Your Score

C. Excitement

D. Anger

E. No Big Deal – It Can Happen to the Best Bar Examiners.

Let me know in the comments below!

Tags: Apology, Bar Exam, Bar examination, Bar Examiners, Error, Failed, Fall 2015, February 2016, Goergia, July 2015, Law School, Letter, Passed, Problem, Reporting, Results, Scores, State of Georgia, Winter 2016

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Categories Bar Exam, Life, The Law

From One to Another: A Letter to the Children of a Hardworking Single Mom

12 May

Grow Up.

It’s not too much to ask, is it?

That you step up, take some responsibility for your life, and take some of the burden off your mom’s shoulders?

I get it, it’s tough. I know your heart is broken; I see the holes left behind when your father isn’t there. I see the anger and humiliation you feel as you watch your mom suffering, see her struggling to make ends meet and to satisfy all your needs and hers beside. I know that you resent the world for not helping, for not stepping in and lifting you and your family up. That you are confused, because on the one hand you want so much more for her and your family, but that feels like a betrayal to the mother who is already doing so much.

It feels so unfair and it makes you so angry and sad that you don’t know whether to rage or cry. You just want to let everyone know how upset you are, but you know that honestly, no one really cares.

It doesn’t matter if you’ve never met the man or if you’ve lived with him for years. Neither do any of the other excuses people try to give for why your heart shouldn’t be this shattered. In your brain, you get it–it’s not your fault. Your heart is less easy to convince, too cluttered by embarrassment, excuses, and defenses.

And even if it isn’t your fault, why didn’t you and your mom deserve better? Why were you the ones fate chose to leave stranded and abandoned? Why do some people have lives so rosy and cheery, and yours is nothing but a struggle and an effort to break even? Every day you go to school, to church, to the grocery store, to the group meetings – and it makes you so angry all over again. Why is their life so easy when your mom’s life is so hard?

I know that you love your mother; that your anger and sadness are never meant to damage her. That even if she’s the one who gets the brunt of it all, you’re angry for her not at her. You see how hard she works for you and your family, and you know she deserves better. But that just makes you all the angrier and sadder. How dare he? How dare the world ignore and mock your pain with easy platitudes and constant excuses?

And I understand why you are driven for approval from others; regardless of how low of character they themselves might be.

That need for people to accept you, because each person that offers approval is one more person proving your father wrong. It’s one more person you can shove in his face, the world’s face, to say “SEE! I am worth more than this . . . I deserved better!”

No matter how much you deny it – there is always an unceasing, burning rage at the unfairness of life, the ignorance of those around you who just don’t get it! It keeps stirring up in there, and sometimes you just want to SCREAM at them all until he comes crawling back to you begging for forgiveness.

And You’re right.

It’s not fair.

It’s not just.

You were wronged, and you do deserve better.

It’s not okay, and there is nothing anyone will ever do to make it completely okay for you again.

Life Sucks.

So stop. Right now, just stop what you’re doing and scream. Cry. Yell at the world all the angry things you ever wanted to tell it. Stomp your feet. Break things. Beat the wall as much as you want – I don’t care if you bloody your knuckles on the dam*ed thing, get it all out. You have been wronged and you have the right to let everyone know just how horrible and furious it makes you feel. Even better, write an email to your actual father and tell him all of that. He deserves to hear it, and, speaking from experience, it will do you good to tell him.

Done?

Now Grow Up.

Get over it.

Stop letting this be an excuse for wasting your life.

So you were wronged? Good. Now, take that anger, that sadness, that power and let it motivate you to become better than anyone would have ever expected. Continue reading →