Oil and Gas was once a dreaded topic on the Texas Bar Exam (TBE), especially for those who went to law schools out-of-state. But from about 1990 until recently, the TBE essays in this area had not been as difficult as they had once been.

However, the practice area in Texas is undergoing a bit of a revival because of the high oil prices due to world events. Texas attorneys who do have significant oil and gas experience are in high demand right now. It wouldn't be surprising to see the TBE reflect the recent upsurge in demand by creating more sophisticated oil and gas essays on the TBE. 

It's true that you can't take every bar course while in law school.  If you are going to be taking the Texas bar,  BARBRI does a good job hitting the highlights in Oil and Gas law.  However, BARBRI is only a review course and it's hard to "review" something that you have never learned in the first place. I'm not saying impossible--it just takes more work. If you have never taken the oil and gas course and are concerned, there is an excellent book, entitled Primer on Texas Law of Oil and Gas law by Professor Joseph Shade. The primer is available from Lexis.  You can read the whole book in about two hours and it helps to know at least some of the oil and gas terms and concepts before you start the BARBRI course.




   

I really like the Examples and Explanations series. The Contracts book by Blum is very good. The Civil Procedure book by Glannon is indispensable.

There is a debate about whether or not to read these books before school starts. Some students believe reading them early can hurt you because you may learn the material in a different way than how your professor teaches it.  Personally, I don't believe it hurts to read them during the summer before law school. However, I wouldn't try to memorize them or make outlines from them over the summer. Success in class really will depend on getting inside your particular professor's head, but reading one or two of the books over the summer for the concepts can be helpful.

The results of the February 2006 Texas Bar Exam for the first-time takers from Texas law schools are as follows:

1. Baylor        97% of their class passed
2. UT            92% of their class passed
3. SMU           89% of their class passed
4. Tex Wes       83% of their class passed
5. St. Mary's    81% of their class passed
6. U of Houston  79% of their class passed
7. South Texas   78% of their class passed
8. Tex. Southern 77% of their class passed
9. Texas Tech    74% of their class passed

Some of the posts above seem to be making the argument that the "T1" schools emphasize "policy" and that is what sets them apart from "non T1 schools." Of course, most students select their own courses for their second and third years. If you take a UCC course such as secured transactions, you may get some "policy" in the course, but you are going to spend more time dealing with that dense code. If a student chooses to take a clinic, how much "policy" is that student going to get out of that course?

Some courses simply lend themselves to policy while others do not.   

As far as "teaching to the bar" goes, the ABA discourages it for all law schools. That being said, many law schools, including some T1 schools, inform their students about the topics that are tested on the state bar. I don't care where you go to law school, taking several "bar" courses is beneficial. Barbri will be the first to tell you that it's a "bar review" course. It's hard to "review" something that you haven't learned in the first place. 

I disagree with "advice" that advises against taking ANY bar classes because you cover them in bar review courses.  Surely, they didn't mean don't take ANY course covered by your bar review course.  I don't know about the state where this advice was offered, but in many states, the bar exam covers subjects such as wills and trusts, business associations, secured transactions, commerical paper.  It's really hard to "learn" a course such as secured transactions in the three hour lecture that, say, BARBRI offers.  That's all you get--about three hours of lecture for secured transactions and then they send you off to study the 80 page outline.  The very next day, BARBRI moves on to the next topic like commerical paper with another three hour lecture and another 80 page outline.  You do that for about six weeks.

Now, I don't think it's necessary to take ALL bar classes in law school. But you should take a good number of bar classes so you won't have to kill yourself studying in the bar review course.   

I'd check to see what topics are covered on your state's essay portion of the bar exam and make sure you've taken a good number of those topics in law school.  BARBRI says you don't need to have taken all the bar courses to learn in BARBRI what you need to pass the bar.  But BARBRI is also the first to point out that BARBRI is a REVIEW course.   It's hard to review the difficult concepts when you haven't learned them in the first place.