Author: cdtalaw

Planning Ahead For The California Bar Exam As A First Year Law Student

Planning Ahead For The California Bar Exam As A First Year Law Student

Taking the California Bar Exam, or any bar exam is an intimidating proposition. The California Bar Exam is one of the toughest bar exams to pass in the United States. Most CDTA graduates take the California Bar Exam and practice law in our state. No amount of preparation may seem enough. Nonetheless, law students can and should start preparing for the bar exam soon after receiving a letter of congratulations on their admittance to law school. After all, this is the ultimate goal that actually supersedes graduation from law school. It’s just that one is impossible without the other. The California Desert...

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Older Students Improve Everyone’s Law School Experience

Older Students Improve Everyone’s Law School Experience

Not every law student was concluding undergraduate studies the year before starting law school. Granted, recent undergrads make up about half of a law school’s first-year student body. But roughly two out of five law students are between the ages of 25 and 39. One in ten is 40 or older. About one in five law school applications are from applicants over the age of 30. If one in two law students is a recent undergrad, then do the math. Typically, it takes a considerable amount of time for lawyers to reach a certain level of comfort and confidence in practicing...

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Soft Skills Are Universal

Soft Skills Are Universal

Soft skills complement the hard skills that law students learn as the substantive law. Hard skills are those skills directly relevant to a job, field, or profession. Hard skills may be more quantifiable and easier to learn than soft skills. Soft skills are universal and necessary in circumstances that do not involve employment. Soft skills complement hard skills. They are a combination of the following attributes, enabling people to operate in their environment, work well with co-workers, perform their best, and successfully achieve their goals. attitudes; career attributes; character or personality traits; communication skills; people skills; social skills; social intelligence quotients; and emotional intelligence quotients.   The Collins English...

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About CDTA’s Student Portal

About CDTA’s Student Portal

The Student Portal of the California Desert Trial Academy (CDTA) website is a primary example of how CDTA is at the forefront of contemporary legal education. The institution of the American law school has been stagnant for over 100 years. It has implemented little change in the way it prepares students to be lawyers. It has employed seemingly antiquated methods of teaching the law. Methods that seemed inconsiderate of the practical considerations of law students and the practice of law. The CDTA Student Portal provides access to Fleming’s Fundamentals, Adaptibar Online, and the CDTA Online Class Archives. All are available 24...

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February 2020 California Bar Exam Approaches

February 2020 California Bar Exam Approaches

Taking the California bar examination for the first time is an experience that is more than a little frightening and stressful. There’s the thought of oversleeping on the first day of the test. How about excessive noise from a party across the motel parking lot that prevents you from sleeping the night before? There’s a lot to know about the California Bar exam, other than the material. As the 2020 February bar exam in California and other states approaches, knowing all the details is crucial, not only for practical reasons but for reasons of minimizing stress. 1,458 people (31.4 percent of applicants)...

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How CDTA Prepares Students For The Bar Exam

How CDTA Prepares Students For The Bar Exam

From the time a student enrolls at the California Desert Trial Academy (CDTA) and begins the modern law school experience, he or she begins preparation for the bar exam. Many CDTA graduates take the California bar exam, which is an enormous, daunting challenge for any law student. However, at the CDTA, we look at the bar exam as a challenge rather than an obstacle. Our curriculum and resource platform are designed with the ultimate goal of student preparation for and success on the California State Bar Examination. We offer many useful resources, including Saturday enrichment courses, to provide students with the necessary skills...

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Going Beyond 20th Century Legal Education: CDTA Teaches Important Skills Inside And Outside The Courtroom

Going Beyond 20th Century Legal Education: CDTA Teaches Important Skills Inside And Outside The Courtroom

Any lawyer must study and know the substantive law. Law schools have traditionally focused on teaching the substantive law and only the substantive law (except for core courses like civil and criminal procedure). At the California Desert Trial Academy (CDTA), we go beyond this idea based on our belief that practical experience and certain “soft” skills coupled with substantive knowledge provide the best opportunities for a successful, rewarding, and prosperous legal career. In furtherance of our goal of preparing excellent and capable trial advocates, our classroom facilities present a true legal environment. They include: A full-functioning authentic California Trial Courtroom; A...

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Bar Exam Basics: The Multistate Bar Exam

The Multistate Bar Exam, aka MBE, is a six-hour standardized test that lasts for an entire day of the California Bar Exam. The MBE consists of 200 multiple-choice questions that apply to hard skill courses such as Constitutional Law, Contracts, Civil Procedure, Criminal Law/Procedure, Evidence, Property, and Torts. The content of exam questions is divided evenly among each of the MBE subjects at 25 questions per subject. The test was originally formulated by the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE), which continues to administer the test today. Applicants are required to answer a set of 100 questions in the morning session and...

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CDTA: Study On Your Own Time!

CDTA: Study On Your Own Time!

Many people do not have the time to advance their education during the typical morning-through-afternoon school day. Whether they work or care for loved ones, school may not be available when they are. These hopeful students seek an academic program designed for people who need to study at their own pace according to their own schedule. Workers and caregivers find the California Desert Trial Academy (CDTA) fits their schedule perfectly for two reasons. First, CDTA’s winning formula includes a thorough study of California Bar test subject areas, examined regularly. Of course, many California law schools rely on a similar formula. However, CDTA...

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Mentors Are Invaluable

Mentors Are Invaluable

CDTA Founder and Dean John Patrick Dolan started the California Desert Trial Academy (CDTA) to develop not just exceptional attorneys, but outstanding trial attorneys. Dean Dolan realized that a focus on trial advocacy skills would require a different approach to a student’s overall legal education. He conceptualized an educational curriculum that was analogous to a medical school residency program where doctors mentored students and provided them with hands-on, real-world scenarios to apply their new professional skills. Dean Dolan’s own experiences as a law student with an attorney mentor were priceless. These experiences provided invaluable practical skills because they placed him in the...

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