My Journey To The New York State Bar - One Step Closer

As my character and fitness interview was scheduled for 9:00am on Wednesday January 17, 2018, I decided to fly out to New York on Monday so that I could give my body clock a few days to get used to the 5 hour time difference! I flew out with my mum. My sister who was at an art festival in Germany at the time and my friend Selena who was living in Florida, joined us on Wednesday evening, in time for the Thursday's swearing in ceremony. 

In order to be sworn in on the Thursday, I first had to pass the interview on Wednesday. I was a little nervous, not knowing what questions they would ask me but I was not worried about not passing the interview as I didn’t believe they would have me, and my family fly out to New York from England if they had an issue with my application or if they didn’t think I was fit to become a lawyer!

When I reported to the "The Egg" of the Empire State Plaza in Albany just before 9:00am, I expected to be in and out of there fairly quickly. How wrong I was. As my last name starts with P, I was right at the bottom of the list and had to wait in line for two hours before I was interviewed. During this time I got to know a few other people and we shared our career journeys. I spoke a lot with a lovely lady from St Louis who was already an attorney in her home state, but was now wanting to practice in New York as her teenager daughter had started boarding school and she wanted to move closer to her. 

When it was finally my time to be interviewed, I literally spent no more than 15 minutes with a member of the committee. He was intrigued that I was working within Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) as an Aviation Adjudicator as New York, as well as London are both central forums when dealing international ADR, including arbitration. He then spent five minutes talking about the British and New York weather, his family and why he loves Albany, before shaking my hand and saying "welcome to the New York State Bar."

All the while I was upstairs, my mum was waiting downstairs in the foyer. I felt sorry for her, having to wait two hours for me, but when I went downstairs after my interview, she had made friends with other mothers from Arizona and Canada. They even exchanged numbers to keep in touch :)

I took my mum to the New York State Capitol which just across the road for a hot drink and something to eat at Dunkin Donuts as we were really hungry! I wanted to take a walk around the New York Court of Appeals but my mum was really cold. It was already -9 degrees Celsius which we were not used to! The hotel was less than 10 minutes walk so I took her back then headed to the court myself for a tour! 

The member of staff who met me at the reception was actually a Londoner. He was raised in Islington and shared how he came to New York. As the court was not in session, he showed me around and even allowed me to sit in one of the associate judge's seat, judge Jenny Rivera (who I would end up meeting a year later at a function in New York City).

My Journey To The New York Bar - Each one Teach One

Securing legal work has never been easy. When I reflect on my time at university, law school and preparing for the bar exams, I cannot remember a time where structured and direct career advice and guidance was given to me. I had to navigate finding work in the legal sector by myself and at times, I found myself working as a cleaner, administrative assistant, waitress and call centre agent just to put food on the table and pay rent and bills. Although these jobs come with transferrable skills, you still need the exposure and experience of working within a legal environment to put into practice your legal knowledge and to develop important skills needed for a career in law.

My university wasn’t very helpful at all and I was never accepted onto any mentoring programme! I had to find my own legal internships and volunteering opportunities at law firms, barrister chambers and my local advice centre. To raise money for a certain cause, I took on a temporary Christmas job as a waitress working at Christmas dinner parties. I met a lot of graduates with master’s degrees and some even studying for a PHD and they were frustrated because they were finding it difficult to secure paid or unpaid work placements, internships or voluntary work. 

At the time I was working as an Aviation Adjudicator and shared my personal experiences and how I could relate to them having to do any job just to make ends meet because you can't find work in your preferred field and what you had had spent years studying for. All of them were from Black and Ethnic Minority (BAME) backgrounds which hit closer to home because I could see myself in them!

As I knew some people who worked in their field of interest, I took their contact details and tried to connect them with people who could mentor them in some way. Then for the law students and graduates, I started to think about what I could do. I had a desire to start some sort of program to help them, but I just didn’t know exactly what and how I would do this!

A year and a half later, I was finally able to materialise my desire to give law students and graduates, from different backgrounds, the opportunity to gain practical legal experience, working on real-life cases through the legal and social justice organisation I set up, United Legal Access. 

I initially focused on recruiting volunteers from BAME backgrounds, especially for the EU Settlement and Windrush Compensation work we were doing. It just seemed appropriate at the time to have volunteers who looked like the people we were helping. However, I knew that others needed the opportunity to gain legal experience and I did not want to restrict it to only those from BAME communities.

So, a year later, when we launched our virtual legal advice clinic at the start of the pandemic, we created opportunities for volunteers from all backgrounds. Today, we have 25 law students and graduates volunteering with us (as well as 20 volunteer solicitors and paralegals) from different backgrounds and from different parts of the country. Three of them have now gone on to secure legal jobs.

It’s amazing how our own personal struggles, misfortunes and experience can later be used to help others. I don’t believe in coincidences but we are placed in certain places and go through things for a reason. I am grateful that I am in a position to help young aspiring lawyers gain valuable learning experience that will help them in their future career, along side doing good for the community 😊

My Journey To The Bar - Embracing The Journey

 

Finally, all my documents were submitted to the attorney admissions office by October 2017 after several hiccups and delays. I was notified in November that my character and fitness interview was scheduled for Wednesday January 17, 2018 and if approved by the committee, I would be sworn in on January 18!

 

It was all becoming real now, especially knowing that in a couple of months I would have finally achieved one of the goals on my dream board! I was not worried about not passing the interview as I didn’t believe they would have me, and my family fly out to New York from England if they had an issue with my application or if they didn’t think I was fit to become a lawyer!

 

At the time my application was submitted, I also started a new job as an Aviation Adjudicator. This role gave me insight into working on international law cases. I had to assess claims made against airlines and airports and write decisions and recommendations based on EU legislation and regulations as well as international treaties (when dealing with claims outside the EU). The great thing about this role was that it was remote. Although the head office was in London, we could work from home and create our own work schedule. I loved it because it meant I could volunteer and do other things outside of this and, I did not have to worry about getting up early in the morning and commuting to work! Also, we could work from anywhere in the world, and some of my colleagues did just that!

 

Things were now starting to fall into place just in time for January 2018. I did a lot of networking during this time too, attending legal networking events and talks in London and learning about the career journey of some successful lawyers, especially female and black lawyers.  Their stories were inspiring and encouraging, and I clearly saw that no one’s career path is the same. Although we can draw inspiration from others, we must also embrace our own journey and own it! Do not get anxious or even envious when you see others progressing to a certain level. What is for them is for them and what is for you will come, at the right time.

 

My Journey To The New York Bar - Job Searching

With every new achievement comes the decision of what to do next and passing the bar exams back in 2017 was no different.

Whilst I was collating all the paperwork and documents needed to submit my application for admission, I was also planning my new career and job searching like crazy.

My job search for a newly US qualified lawyer role or associate role in an American law firm started even before I passed the bar exams. I am a person of faith and live by faith so I started applying for jobs as soon as I returned to England after sitting the bar exams in February 2017 and before knowing whether I had passed the bar or not!

I wanted to move to New York so badly and had applied for a visa but was unsuccessful twice. Another option I had was to secure a job offer in New York in the hope that the firm would then sponsor me for a green card. I had received a couple of interview invites. I was interviewed via Skype but as soon as the firms discovered I didn't have a green card, they informed me that they couldn't offer me the role.

My focus then was to secure a job at an American or international law firm based in London, then after a while transfer to their US office. I had seen some job opportunities that provided the opportunity to transfer to their US office after 12 months of working with the firm. I also spoke to different people in the US who worked for a global firm in their respective countries and were later transferred to the US.

I was offered a job as a US lawyer for a business immigration law firm based in London. However, when I received the contract and saw the low hourly rate, I queried this before signing. They didn't reply to me. When I chased them up a few days later, they claimed they had now offered the job to someone else. I didn't believe that and believe that because I wasn't willing to work as a lawyer but get paid as a paralegal, they were no longer interested in me. I reasoned that if I am going to get paid as a paralegal, I might as well work as a paralegal and that's what I did.

I did freelance paralegal work assisting small companies and a nursing home with legal, regulatory and compliance matters. Within a few months I managed to secure a temporary paralegal role at a top tier global law firm and worked with them for four months. From this, I started getting job offers from legal recruitment agencies for contract attorney and contract lawyer roles working with other top tier international law firms in Birmingham and London and all the cases I've worked on have been US/UK cross border cases, mainly New York or DC state law or federal law cases.

It might have seemed crazy turning down the first job offer as a qualified lawyer, especially because at that time I had already handed in my resignation after in Local Government for four years and would now find myself unemployed. But I also knew my worth, the amount of money, time and effort I had spent on qualifying as a lawyer. There is a different level of responsibility when you 'level up' professionally and it is only fair to be paid a salary that reflects that. Had I just accepted the first job offer, I may not have encountered the opportunities that followed.

My Journey To The New York Bar - Admissions process

After passing the New York Bar Exam and all over prerequisite exams, the next step was to apply for admission to the New York State Bar. For this I had to complete a very through application process which included providing references from all law school and universities attended, a ten year history of all legal work whether paid or unpaid, two character references, verification of 50 hours of pro bono work, any debts, convictions, mental health information and a list of other things.

I started off by contacting the university I attended for my undergraduate law degree. It was a complete nightmare trying to get them to send the correct information off to the NY State Bar. The admin team sent off the incorrect information twice which caused delays and was quite frustrating!

I then went to Nottingham Law School, where I started my postgraduate studies. I actually took this picture (above) in July 2017 when I entered inside the law school. At that time 7 years before, I walked out of that place feeling ashamed because I had to discontinue my studies due to extenuating circumstances. I had been kicked out of my home and was a homeless young lady living in a hostel. I could not continue with my Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice (LPC) because of the financial hardship I was experiencing.

After graduating from university, I opted to do the LPC part time. This was back in 2008 when we were in a recession and training contracts where difficult to secure. I could not get a professional graduate loan from the bank to cover my law school fees due to having a very bad credit score. Therefore, I had no other choice but to fund the course myself by working full-time and studying part-time. When I became homeless, I had to leave the role as a housing adviser due to potential conflict of interest - advising people who may be placed in the same hostel as I was staying at.

I then got a full-time job as at a call centre but when you are living in a hostel and you work, 60% of your income goes towards the cost of staying in the hostel. After a few weeks of paying 60% of my wages to the hostel, my support worker advised me that it was not worth working full time and that it would be better for me to claim benefits. At least that way, the government would be paying for the hostel and I only need to contribute £28 every fortnight. I was then left with around £35 to live off.

Relying on welfare benefits meant that I could not save any money to contribute towards my law school fees. I had applied for bursaries, scholarships and hardship funds and managed to raise only £300. This was nowhere near the £2,500 needed to complete the final semester. I had managed to pay for the first one before losing work and becoming homeless. I was told I could not sit the end of year exams with fees outstanding. As I knew I could not clear the outstanding balance, I had to withdraw from the course. This was after spending 7 months on the course.

Before I went to visit the law school, I actually emailed two lectures who I always remembered. I was so happy when they replied to my emails. I reached out to them to let them know how I was doing. One of them said she always wondered what has happened to me so she was relieved to know I was doing well. When I had to discontinue my studies, they were very supportive. They went above and beyond for me and even donated some of their spare furniture and a computer to me, once I had settled into the apartment I was given after 7 months of living in the hostel.

It was a bitter-sweet moment, returning 7 years later to drop off a form for the law school to complete and send off to the admissions office in New York as part of my application to be admitted as an Attorney and Counselor-At-Law in the state of New York. I couldn't help but smile as I walked along the corridors because I could see just how faithful God is and that when we believe and do not give up, we will make it in the end.

My Journey To The New York Bar - Exam Results Day!

Before I sat the NYLE in June, I was waiting for the multi-state bar exam results that were going to be released on the last week of April.

 Leading up to results day, so many thoughts came to my mind trying to make me anxious. Doubts as to whether I had done enough this time round to pass. Thoughts of what would happen if I failed the exam again. Would I really be prepared to sit the exam for a third time?

I remembered a story someone posted on Facebook about an attorney in California who passed the California bar after 12 attempts! I remembered an article I read that listed some of the most prominent figures in American history, such as Michelle Obama, John F Kennedy, Hilary Clinton passing the bar after several attempts - so it wouldn't be all bad if I didn't pass second time round! I also remembered the conversation I had with a lady in Queens, New York, whilst waiting in line to be seated for the MPRE exam, and she shared with me that one of her friends had now qualified as an attorney after failing the bar exam 8 times!

But the voice of faith spoke louder and I remembered the peace I had on the last day of the exam in New York and that I had done everything I could have done and gave it my best!

26th April 2017 at 7:00am - I woke up and checked my Whats App messages. I saw a message from Samantha, who was my study partner, asking me if I checked my results! The message was sent to me just after 5:00am. As she was now living in New York, the message was sent just after midnight New York time, when the exam results had been released!

I quickly jumped out of my bed and checked my email! As a scrolled down, I suddenly stopped and started screaming! I woke the whole house up! My mum thought something had happened. I ran in her room to tell her I had passed. Then I broke down crying! Crying tears of joy! Crying because I had finally got my breakthrough. Crying because I had put all my faith, strength, time, effort and money into something and finally got the results I had been waiting for! Crying because I knew the next time I flew to New York would be to sworn in as US Lawyer! I quickly had to get my head together as I was starting work at 9.30am.

So I showered, got dressed, can't remember if I even had breakfast and then left for work! I was sooooo happy! I even shared it on my social media, but not before personally messaging certain family members and friends who had supported me throughout this journey!

My Journey To The New York Bar - More Exams?

Once I returned back to England after sitting the Multi-state Bar Exam in New York, I had to start preparing for the New York Law Exam (NYLE) which was the New York element the multi-state bar exam. Confused?

Okay, so before, the bar exam used to cover both the multi-state federal law (which is general legal principles and law across the USA) and the New York State law (which is law just applicable to New York ). But in 2016, it changed and New York state law, is tested separately. It is an online open-book exam with 30 questions. Which meant I could do it from the comfort of my dining room kitchen!

The date of the next exam was mid March 2017. As I had just sat the two-day multi-state bar exam in February, I did not have the head space to start spending less than a month to prepare for a second exam. I was also broke by then, as I had taken a whole month off work, which was on unpaid leave and needed to return back to work to start making money. All of my money I had made up until then, had been going towards paying for the exam fees, flights to America and accommodation, as well as trying to keep up with bills at home and personal expenses. I also needed a break from studying, as it had been a tough six months of continuous studying.

I decided to sit the NYLE on 15th June 2017, which would give me enough time to prepare. I took about four to six weeks off from studying and resumed my studies and prep for the NYLE in April. I felt this was more than enough time for me. By this time, I was now working Monday to Friday, full time hours and continued to do so up until the day of the exam. I used my evenings and weekends to study and would carry my revision notes to work so I could read through them whilst on my commute.

Sometimes we are in a hurry to accomplish things and just get things over and done with, because we do not want to be left behind or miss out on opportunities that everyone else one around us seems to be getting. This can sometimes do us more harm than good. Sometimes, it is better to take our time with things, to take time out and have a break so that our body and mind can recharge. Sometimes it is better to say ‘not yet’ to certain things, instead of rushing and trying to keep up with the Jones’.

If I had applied this mentality, when I first registered to do the bar exam, I probably would have given myself more time to study for it, instead of thinking that a three and a half month online study programme was enough. I may have had a better chance of passing the exam first time, instead of failing and having to resit the exam again, seven months later, and having to spend more money on exam fees, flights, accommodation etc.

My Journey to the New York Bar - Exam Day Two

Once again I was already awake at ridiculous o'clock (around 3.30am) because my body clock was still in UK time!

I did a bit of light reading the night before in preparation for the second day but it was more of a refresher, going through some notes rather than try to cram in new information on top of what I already knew.

I took my time in the morning to get ready and have breakfast and kept my mind as clear as possible. No stress and no over analysing! Sam came to pick me up again and we drove to the exam venue.

 I was pretty confident, not over confident but not in doubt or uncertain whether I was ready for the exams. I had prepared myself better this time round and focused on strengthening my knowledge on the topics I struggled with last time.

Enduring an exam that has 200 multiple choice questions which you sit for a total of six hours in one day (which is spilt into two, three hour segment), is not easy at all. Especially when the exam covers seven different areas of law and you have no idea how they will appear on the exam.

Question one could be contract law, question two evidence, questions three criminal law and question four another contracts question. You literally have about 1.8 minutes to read through the question (some are long scenarios), then eliminate the irrelevant information, pinpoint the relevant parts, understand exactly what it is they are asking you, narrow it down to main legal issue, remember the rules, apply the relevant rules to the question and from the four question answers available, choose the one that is the answer you've came up with or the one that is as close as possible to the answer you came up with in your head.

Tricky as it may be, it's a skill required to be a good lawyer and after sitting the bar exam, I understand why this exam is known as one of the most difficult exams to take within the global legal profession and why it's so highly regarded and respected, once you have it under your belt.

Fast forward to the end of the exam and I was ready to get out of there and rest! It really does take a lot out of you. I didn't take a flight back to NYC from Buffalo and instead decided to catch a bus and enjoy a nine hour journey from upstate New York to Manhattan. Yes, nine hours.

I didn't have time to do any sightseeing or get to know the area during my 7 day stay in Buffalo as my sole purpose of being there was for the exams. So, I took the opportunity to have a mini road trip and see what there was to upstate New York through the window of a bus.

The bus actually drove through Pittsburg Pennsylvania and other surrounding cities before reaching Manhattan. I took videos of places we drove through and it was interesting to see the different type of neighbourhoods there were from trailer park area to brown wooden houses by the lakes, small villages and towns.

 I left Buffalo at 6am and arrived in New York shortly after 3pm. My flight back to London was a night flight to I had enough time to get to the airport. Then it was time to go home...

My Journey to the New York Bar - Exam Day One

One of the things I am really thankful for during my journey to the New York Bar is that a Facebook and WhatsApp group was created for those of us who were doing the home study programme with Bar Bri International.

I had a 'study partner' who I could reach out to if I needed clarity on an issue I wasn't sure about or when I just needed someone to talk to about the exams. Her name was Samantha and she became my study partner by default, but looking back I believe it was meant to be. We lived in different cities in the UK at the time, so we mainly communicated via WhatsApp.

When we sat the bar exam in July 2016, we found out that we were both staying in the same area in Brooklyn, which was great because I had someone to speak to, have lunch with and travel back with after the exam. Neither of us passed the exam first time and we were reunited as we re-sat the exam in Buffalo. The last days leading up to the exam, she was the only person I really spoke to as we were both focused on the same thing. We travelled to and from the exam venue together.

Tuesday 22nd February 2017, day one of the exam. I went to sleep early the night before, but because my body clock was still adjusting to the time zone in New York, I was awake by 4am!! Breakfast at the hotel wasn't even until open until 6am. I spent time with God, reading my Bible and praying, then got ready.  When it was time for breakfast, I went to get something to eat and took a few revision notes with me just to read over breakfast.

I was quite relaxed and had a positive mindset. I had done all that I could do, so I didn't see a reason to fret and get all anxious. I had confidence and faith! Samantha came to pick me up and we went travelled to the exam venue.

I felt like day one of the exam went well. Despite not spending much time studying for the Multistate Performance Test section of the exam, I was so happy when one of the examexercises was to provide advise on an intestacy/wills issue, because it was almost identical to the only two practice exercises I did two days before!

In the afternoon, we had six essay questions to write. One of them was about corporations a topic, I confess that I didn't do much studying on because I really didn't think it would come up on the exam this time around. Well I was wrong! In answering the question, I literally just wrote down everything I remembered from the first time because that's all I could honestly remember! I think in another exam question, I ran out of time and only managed to write, what the narrow legal issue was and the rule of law, half a paragraph lol! But other than that I was pretty confident. The detailed answers on the other essay questions and the MPT made up for the two questions I probably didn't answer as well or as detailed as I could have.

Now it was time to go back to the hotel, chill for a bit and do a little more revision, ready for day two which was the the 200 multiple choice questions!

My Journey to the New York Bar - Arriving in Buffalo

I flew out to New York six days before the bar exams so that I would have enough time to shake off the jet lag and have some sort of normal sleeping pattern before exam day arrived!

This time round I was sitting the exams in Buffalo, New York, which is upstate New York, close to Canada. I checked the weather forecast before flying over and saw how cold it was! I took my brother's ski jacket with me! Buffalo really lived up to it's subzero temperatures lol. I spent most of my time in the hotel room and only went outside on the Saturday to find a church nearby that I could attend on Sunday morning and to get food!

When I am visiting a new place, I usually like to do a bit of touring around the neighbourhood and do a bit of retail therapy (and shopping for others) but this time I didn't do any of that! My focus was to nail this exam and spend as much time as the day permitted me to, to study. I was also doing a social media detox at the time so I was not on social media or watching TV. I did watch a few Christian movies in between study breaks but that was about it. I actually spent most of the eight hour flight to New York doing multiple choice and essay practice questions and revising.

On Sunday, I attended a church service about 10 minutes walk from the hotel. It was in a nice close knit suburban area. I was the only person of colour in the congregation which was new for me as my church is the complete opposite. We have people from all walks of life and nations that attend our church, which is very diverse. But I guess the church represented the type of neighbourhood it was located in. The people were very friendly and invited me to have coffee and cake with them after the service in the church hall. I had some really good conversations with them. They were a much older and mature crowd but lovely all the same. From speaking to them, I saw that the congregation was made up of middle class families, most people working in the legal, teaching, medicine, healthcare  profession. They were faithful members who had been attending for over twenty to thirty years. They shared their experiences with me which was nice! I still have the welcome gift they gave me which is a mug, and I use it a lot :)

When I arrived back to the hotel, I started studying again and then realised that I had done NO preparation for the Multistate Performance Test (MPT) which is a section of the exam worth 20% of the overall mark and consists of two 90 minute exercises!! LOL!! By then, the exam was only two days away! I had no choice but to use some of my study time on Sunday evening to go through the MPT. I am going to be honest, I just looked through two MPT example answers and practiced one or two exercises myself and that was it! It actually worked in my favour because the exercises I practiced and looked through, actually came up on the exam, so I sailed through that part! I couldn't believe it, I was so happy. Thank God for that!

Here's a little bit of Buffalo my phone captured and a lovely lady I met called Audrey, after the church service.

My Journey to the New York Bar - Revision revision revision!

I took this photo exactly one month before the February 2017 New York State Bar exam. The closer it got to exam day, the more anxiety seemed to kick in. 

I was still working three days a week, so I had at least 8 hours in the day where I wasn't thinking about the exam. But when evening came, it was time to hit the books again. By this time, I had stopped learning new content. Whatever I knew, I knew and was it was instilled in my brain somewhere and I was holding on to the belief that everything would come flooding back to me when it was time to answer the questions in the exam, (which by the way it did and I even got excited in the exam when I experienced this lol, but I'll delve more into that in a later post).

During the last four weeks leading up to the exam, I focused on strengthening my knowledge on the topics I previously struggled with first time round; tackling any exceptions to rules that I was still unsure about and tightening my essay and multiple choice exam strategies. When there's twelve areas of law which you have to learn for a two day exam, especially when you're re-sitting exams, you really don't want to spend time going over what you already know. It's what you don't know well where your time and effort needs to be spent.

In the multiple choice questions, you know that there are two completely wrong answers. You have to use the power of elimination techniques to eliminate those wrong answers, from reading the closing sentence of the question (and maybe a few sentences above the closing sentence), before you read and analyze the whole question, so that you can narrow it down and focus on the two remaining answers. When you've got 200 fact pattern multiple choice questions to answer (separated by 100 questions in the morning and another 100 questions in the afternoon, in three hour exam segments), time management is everything.

I was constantly doing essay and multiple choice practice questions every other day and reviewing my answers. This was really helpful second time round, as I didn't spend as much time as I could have on practice questions when I sat the bar exams for the first time in 2016.

During the last few weeks, I was still somewhat antisocial, not doing much with others outside of work and studying, but I did spend time in between study breaks to go for walks, exercising, and going to church. Prayer, meditating on the scriptures and being outside around nature kept me sane!

Although it was an intense time, I refused to allow it to completely take over my life, to the point where I may become obsessive about the exams. I had to have a balance and so do you. Get enough sleep (your brain and body needs this), go to the gym (or exercise at home) to let off steam, go for walks, bake, cook, sew, paint or do whatever you find therapeutic and relaxing to help you take your mind off things for a few hours when it gets a little bit too much. When you go back studying, you will feel rejuvenated and have a clearer head to think and absorb more information. You may even see things you didn't notice before.

My Journey to the New York Bar - Focus During the Holidays

When I logged into Facebook three days ago, an “On This Day” picture posted three years ago, popped up. It was a selfie picture I took on a Sunday afternoon with my study materials on the dinning room table, just before I started studying for a few hours. It was during the start of the Christmas holidays and I was taking advantage of the holiday season to fit in some quality study time.

I was thinking that during this holiday season, many people here in the UK (and in other parts of the world) have time off work until the 7th of January. Many are using this time to unwind from what has been a very busy and even stressful year; catching up with sleep; spending time with friends and family and just enjoying the time they have off work.

I’m all about taking time out to unwind, rest and spend time with family. However, I’m not all about using the holiday season as an excuse not to do anything at all; leaving everything until the New Year! There are some things that we really need to get done now, before the New Year, to make way for new things to take place or so that we can move on to the next thing.

Many times people around me ‘advised’ me not to work so hard, to enjoy my time off etc. I believe some said this with good intentions so that I wouldn’t burn myself out completely (which by the way, I did have Christmas Day, Boxing day and New Year’s day off, to rest) however, I had exams to prepare for, which after the Christmas holidays, would only be a month or so away. I couldn’t afford to take the whole holiday season off like everybody else around me.

With all due respect, they were not on the same path as me, so therefore, they couldn’t understand my grind and the hard work I still needed to put in, regardless of the season or time of the year it was.

It is the same with you who are sitting or resitting the bar exams or any other exams in the coming months or starting a business and working on achieving something within the next few months. We are not living the same life as those around us. Our commitments and responsibilities are different and therefore, the time we have off and how we make use of our time will also be different to others.

By all means, take time out to rest and enjoy time with those around you, but don’t forget that you have a goal to work towards within the first few weeks and months of 2019 and only by putting in the hard work now, will you achieve the results you want. No one can do this for you, only you can, so be wise with your time and make the most of it.

Work hard now and play later!

My Journey to the New York Bar - Upped My Game

Now that I knew which areas of the substantive law I needed to strengthen my knowledge on, I got myself organised by creating a study plan. I really went to town with my study plan, setting out certain days of the week to study specific topics and divided each session between revising notes and doing both multiple choice questions and essay questions for each topic.

 The areas of law where I felt more confident in, I studied on the days I worked, whereas, the areas of law where I knew I needed to spend more time on, I used Thursdays and Fridays to focus on them as I was no longer working on those days.

I decided to take on board a suggestion given to me first time round which I initially dismissed. The suggestion was to wake up between an hour and a half to two hours early to studying before work. As a person who really likes her sleep, the thought of waking up at 5.30am to study before getting ready to go to work, was really difficult! I didn’t like the idea at all! I would rather sleep late and be up until 2 or 3 o' clock in the morning studying then wake up at 5.30am!!

However, when I thought about the benefits of doing this, I decided to do it. I had to be disciplined and go to sleep a little earlier than usual so that I had sufficient sleep. I mainly did this on the days that I worked in the office (which was Monday-Wednesday) because after work I knew I would only get a maximum of two to three hours of studying done, before my brain would want to retire for the night. I used the early mornings to revise notes and read through the text books and used the evenings to go through exam practice questions and review my answers (and make additional notes of the answers I got wrong so that I could revisit the topics).

This literally was my life for 10-12 weeks leading up to the exam! Study, work, church repeat.

I had already invested a lot of time and money into this and as I believed it was the path for me to take and succeed in, I had to see it through until the end and make the necessary sacrifices to achieve what I had initially set out to achieve.

My Journey to the New York Bar - Different Perspective

I flew to New York on Wednesday 2 November 2016 to sit the The Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination (MPRE) on Saturday 5 November. This exam relates to the professional conduct of lawyers and must be passed, along side the Multistate bar exam and the New York Law Exam, in order to be admitted as an attorney in New York.

I had barely studied for this exam because I was still nursing a tooth abscess that had turned into an infection and now had also affected my body so much, that my joints were in pain. I was constantly feeling feverish and unable to concentrate or sleep properly. I was still on antibiotics and taking pain relief, when it was time to fly to New York, but I had just got my mind back on focus and determined to see this journey through until the end.

I did a bit of studying during the 7 hour flight. In between studying, I watched the film Selma and cried so much LOL. I don't usually cry when watching films but this film touched me so much. I couldn't hold back the tears!!

When I arrived in New York, I used the three days I had left to study as hard as I could. I spent most of my time in the library and only went out for fresh air and to eat. When exam day came, I felt relatively well and ready for the exam. Whilst waiting in line outside of the exam venue, I started speaking to a young lady. She was telling me that one of her friends had recently qualified as a licensed attorney after failing the bar exam more than five times!

After I told the young lady about my recent experience of finding out that I didn't pass the bar exam, she told me that despite not passing, I did well to get passed the 200 mark because apparently, a lot of US law students have previously struggled to reach over 200 and get the marks needed to pass first time. The fact that I wasn't so far off from passing the exams, having only spend three and half months studying for the bar exam while working, I didn't do too bad! I had not thought of it in that way and speaking to her actually helped me to see the positive side of the results and having confidence to re-sit the exam in February 2017

I also did my own research,  I think as a way to console myself, and discovered that Michelle Obama, President Franklin Roosevelt, Hillary Clinton and John F. Kennedy did not pass the bar exam first time. Benjamin Cardozo who has a law school named after him in New York, failed first time! Reading these stories definitely helped to remind myself that I was not a failure nor did this have a reflection on my intellectual ability, but simply that I needed a better study strategy and to work harder.

 Anyway, back to the MPRE exam. I received the exam results about five weeks after sitting the exam and was happy to learn that I had passed the exam and scored a high mark too! This was definitely a confidence boost in preparing to re-sit the Bar Exam.

My Journey To the New York Bar - A week before the exams

July 20, 2016. The day I flew out to New York.

I flew out 6 days before day one of the exams so that I could have enough time to get over jet lag and put in some last minute revision.  The weeks leading up to the flight were pretty intense but the time had finally come.

I stayed in a predominantly Jewish area in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. It's only  in Brooklyn where I've personally encountered and communicated with orthodox Jews. You don't see them around where I live in the UK, but there's a Jewish community in London. I was quite intrigued to be honest and I personally found the Jewish people to be pleasantly polite. They are a close knit community and keep themselves to themselves.

During my one week stay in Crown Heights, I didn't feel unsafe at all. It's a quiet area with a consistent police presence. There was always police cars patrolling the area and at night time I saw why; the potential for others from neighboring communities to sell and deal drugs.

 I came across a family (behind me in the picture at the top) outside the apartment block I was staying in, selling water to cars sat in traffic. Even the children, one as young as 6 years old,  outside  hustling with their parents.

 There was a library less than 10 minutes walk. Brooklyn Public Library literally became my second home. I spent a lot of my time revising there. The library was always busy and full of different cultures and backgrounds.

I mostly spent my time in the African American library study room because it was also a quiet room. During one of my revision sessions, I noticed a number of kids doing different kinds of work in groups (see picture below). I spoke to one of the ladies who was tutoring the kids; a lovely retired teacher originally from the Caribbean who had studied in the UK before falling in love and moving to the US. She told me that she set up the study group a few years ago and runs these sessions in the evening during the week and at the weekends to help kids from disadvantaged backgrounds remain interested in education and improve their grades,  so that they can graduate from school. A high proportion of young males,  particularly in the black community drop out of high school.

 I found it pretty awesome that on such a hot day like it was (it was around 30 degrees celsius)  when those kids could have been spending the whole day playing outside, they took some hours of their day to attend the study session.

When I wasn't studying, I was going to the church services in Brooklyn, walking along Central Park or doing a bit and I mean - just a bit, of sight seeing.

 I was very fortunate, in fact blessed, to have a fellow Bar Bri International student, Samantha,  also staying in the Crown Heights area at the time of the exams.  In fact I became close to Samantha as we were preparing for the bar exams. She had just moved to London from South Africa after getting married and started studying for the Bar the same time as I did.

Thanks to Facebook and WhatsApp we kept in touch and helped each other out whenever we had a question or was confused about something. Sometimes we were confused together LOL. It was also nice to see a friendly and familiar face before and after both days of the exams. After the exams, we kept in touch and our paths would also cross again in New York later :)

My Journey to the New York Bar - Serious Doubts

Six weeks into the bar review course (which was mid April), I was starting to have serious doubts about whether I was ready for the exams in July. I felt pressure because in order to sit the July exams, we had to submit our completed application by April 30, and pay the $750 fee as well. I had already invested a lot of money to join the course, so was I really prepared to spend a further $750 to apply to sit the exam as well as put money aside for flights and accommodation for the July exam?

I had a catch up call with the mentor that Bar Bri International had assigned to me. The call was helpful to some extent, she encouraged me keep doing the practice questions and learn the substantive law. But honestly, it did not erase the doubts I had at the back of my head. I was really struggling with Constitutional law, Real Property and Torts which were 3 of the main subjects to appear on the exam without a doubt and my scores on the practice questions for these subjects were relatively low. But, because I had been waiting for this opportunity for so long and had already got this far, I decided to apply to sit the exam.

I reasoned with myself that as my working hours were going to be reduced from 30 hours to 22.5 hours a week closer to the exam dates and I still had 10 weeks before I flew out to New York to sit the exam, I could do it! I had no choice but to believe right? All the sacrifices I had make surely would not be in vain right? What did I have to lose? Not sitting the exam would cost me £500 to defer until the following year which was around the same amount as paying the fees to sit the exam when converting into British Sterling so either way my pocket would be a little lighter! At least I got a little trip to New York choosing to sit the exam LOL!

By this time I had not even heard back from the New York State Board of Examiners about my eligibility to sit the exam, so it was a bit of a gamble but I was advised that once I had applied, they would probably respond quickly about my eligibility and they did!

Following the application to sit the exam and eligibility confirmed, I had the task of finding a notary public to attest to my handwriting sample that had to be sworn and sent back to the Board of Examiners. There are not many in my city and the one I found wanted to charge a rate that I felt was extortionate just for me to write a few lines in front of them! LOL! I was able to find a solicitor close to my workplace who charged more the half the price!

Now that all the administrative stuff had been sorted out, it was back to books..focusing most of my time outside working hours and weekends to study.

My Journey to the New York Bar - My Own Cheerleader

When the bar review course started, an email was sent to all those who had enrolled on to the home program, encouraging us to set up a Facebook group and/or a WhatsApp group for us to keep in touch with one another and provide support while we were preparing to sit the exams in a few months.

It was not the first time I had chosen a home study program, but it was the first time doing one on this level, having invested a lot of time and money into it and studying the law of another country! I knew I needed extra support and I was happy this was being offered. It was great to know there were others I could reach out too when I needed help with my studies and to just talk about what we were doing...and I did. The group was so diverse with candidates from different parts of the world...the UK, Poland, South Africa, Dubai, Belgium, Bahrain, Lebanon, Mozambique (that's all I can remember).

I joined the gym on Good Friday too. I remember watching one of the introduction videos for the course and one of the speakers mentioned that we should have enough time to rest; make sure we ate well and exercised regularly to help us prepare for the exam.  During my time studying for the exams, the gym was my 'go-to place' to escape when I had done hours of revision and needed to give my mind a rest and unwind. When I was feeling frustrated that I was not understanding what I was reading. I went 3-4 times a week and it was refreshing. Also, I had stopped all extra curriculum activities and things I used to do to keep busy; to invest more in my studies. So, going to the gym was one of the only few things I was doing, a part from working, studying and going to church!

Although I had a new virtual support network through the WhatsApp and Facebook group, it was just that...virtual. Physically speaking, I did not have a study partner or anybody around me to share my journey with,  have lengthy conversations about what I was learning, struggling with etc, because it seemed like they would not understand. But that was the beauty of it all. It was MY journey! It was not meant to be lived or shared with or for anybody else. It is something I had to do for me and grow personally and professionally through it!

So, I became my own best friend! My own cheerleader and motivator on the days when I did not feel like revising, or when I did not get the results I expected! I invested more in my relationship with myself and with God through this!

My Journey to the New York Bar: The Slight Hiccup at the Beginning

Once I had enrolled onto the 4 month Bar Review Course and received the course materials and books through the post, I was excited to officially start my journey to becoming a New York Attorney. 

I had more or less organised my time which was to work 30 hours a week (Monday to Thursday) and dedicate Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays to review the pre-recorded lectures and work through the study plan provided by Bar Bri International. I was fortunate that my managers at work were flexible and allowed me to cut my hours down and not work on Fridays. 

The course started on Friday 4th of March at 6.30pm and I was so ready for it....until I started to feel unwell and experience chest pains. During the day, I felt so bad I had to go to the walk-in health centre to get checked out and ended up spending a few hours in the waiting room, waiting to be checked out. I was told I had strained a muscle near my chest that's why I was in pain and I needed to avoid movement for a few days. I didn't leave the medical centre until after 8pm and on my way home I found a very drunk lady on the street with vomit all over and in need of help. As we called for an ambulance she stood up and walked into the middle of the road and laid flat on the floor to sleep! This caused a fleet of cars to line up behind her because she was blocking a very busy road and me and 3 other passers by kept trying to get her off the floor but she wouldn't budge! One of drivers came out to see what was happening and was surprised to find out that that the lady was her neighbour! She managed to get her up and take her home! I'm glad she got home safely. An eventful day!

Going back...this was not the start I planned and I had to play catch up with the few days I missed to rest. I also had a lot of adjusting to do, becoming a student again and juggling work and knew I had to put aside things that were not a priority, to invest more time into my studies. 

One of the first things I did was contact those closest to me to explain to them that for the coming months, I would not be as available to do things, meet up and even socialise as I usually was because I would be concentrating on my studies. I asked them to be considerate and to bear with me. It helped so that those around me wouldn't expect too much from me! 

Choosing the home program was ideal for me because of my work schedule and distance from London...but it also feel somewhat lonely because I would be doing this alone, without anyone to consult or feedback too (apart from the tutors). This is what I thought until I received an email from one of the course leaders....

My Journey to the New York Bar - Confronted by a stranger

At the beginning of January 2016, I took the day off work and went to London to attend an open day held by BarBri International. Although I had already decided to enroll onto BarBri's U.S bar review course starting in March that year, I wanted to meet some of the course tutors, mentors and other students to get more of an insight into what I had chosen to do.

The open day was very informative and I left knowing that this was exactly what I wanted to do. As I had a bit of time to spare before traveling back to Nottingham, I decided to sit in Cafe Nero and treat myself to a hot chocolate and some cake. Needless to say, in the end I did not get the chance to enjoy the hot chocolate because an inconsiderate stranger intruded on my quiet time!

As I started sipping into the hot chocolate and began reading the literature given to me at the open day, a gentleman sat next to me noticed it and asked me about it. He mentioned that he was a qualified lawyer in England and without using any functioning brain cells linked to awareness, intelligence, empathy and consideration (or maybe not), he said to me "but you have a stammer, why would you want to sit the New York Bar, it's tough." (I guessed he picked up on the stammer during the conversation).

My eyebrows rose up so high and I had to think twice about the ignorant comments I had just heard! I was in disbelief! He kept commenting (as if he was on repeat mode) how someone "like me" should focus more on jobs where I would be more comfortable and where I would not need to speak much because doing the bar exam was overly ambitious and setting myself up for difficulties.

I don't know why I allowed him to keep talking, but when I had heard enough, I abruptly told him to stop talking because I didn't want to hear anymore of his negative comments. When he tried to explain his points of view further by telling me he was only thinking about me (haha yeah right!), I cut him off! I knew exactly what was behind all of this and I was not going to let the negative words infiltrate inside of me to make me question or doubt what I had decided to pursue!

I reminded him that he should be careful about making such comments and not to judge my intellectual and academic ability because of the way I speak. There are lawyers at partner level in law firms who are deaf, some deaf and mute, others who are blind and communicate through an assistant, but their disabilities do not impede from doing their job.

My quest to keep this as private as possible to avoid such situations, still did not impede it from taking place and this is how things are in life. No matter what we do or do not do, they will always be someone who will have something to say. But when we know who we are, what we are doing and why we are doing it, other peoples' comments will not deter us from our goal; in fact it will add more fuel to the fire that is already burning inside of us to keep going, keep pursing, to show to others it can be done! And that is what I did!

I was tired of being put into a box and shoved in the corner. At 27 years old, I decided enough was enough. I should be allowed to pursue what I have faith to pursue, even if I did not meet the status quo. That's what faith is for....to move mountains, jump over hurdles, and break down barriers!

I found the picture I took on the day, of the hot chocolate I did't get to enjoy lol

My Journey to the New York Bar - In pursuit, silently and discreetly.

My decision to sit the New York Bar exam and qualify as an Attorney in the U.S was solely based on the dream and vision that had awakened within me, one that I truly believe God gave me.

I didn't consult anyone when making the decision. Once I was fully decided and registered for the Bar Review Course, I told a select group of family and friends and my manager (as I would need to reduce my hours at work and have time off to sit the exams). I decided to keep this as private as possible. I used to be the kind of person who would seek approval from others. Whenever I had an idea that seemed good or I was thinking about doing something or travelling somewhere, I would always consult someone, either a friend, family member, or one of my peers.

Looking back, there were things I wanted to pursue but was talked out of it. Due to not being defined and knowing what I wanted and also because of my respect for the person advising me and my belief that they knew better, I listened to them. But later, I felt frustrated because the other option given didn't produce much and I regretted not doing what I believed was good for me.

There are people who out of love and concern for us, advise us not to pursue something because they think it's not in our best interests. They mean no harm. And there are others who try to put their limitations on us because they do not have the same mindset, vision, courage or faith to do what we are doing or want to do. They think we are being overly ambitious and the risk is not worth it.

In both situations, we have to be very careful not to allow other peoples opinions to interfere or divert us from the calling we wholeheartedly believe we have or the career path we have chosen.

I didn't keep silent about my plans just to avoid people coming to me with their opinions or suggestions of what I should or shouldn't do, but also because I learned that when we talk too much about something, most of the time we get little or nothing done. The energy we put in discussing what we want to do could be put into actually doing it! When I started doing this (and it's something I continue to do) things actually starting happening and moving forward.

I remember there was a period where people were making comments to my face and behind my back, saying that I was spending too much time travelling to America and other places, spending money, instead of focusing on investing and building my life. Little did they know, that's exactly what I was doing! The times I travelled to the U.S was either to sit the different exams required to qualify as a U.S lawyer or to gain work experience out there. I was very selective of what I posted on social media, not to disclose everything I was doing, so a lot of the time it looked like I was just sightseeing and having fun. But in truth those touristic places I visited were usually while on a study break, on my way to and from the library or a meeting. That's why you shouldn't believe everything you see on social media. It's not always a true reflection of what a person has or what they are doing.