I am in panic mode. I am reviewing the tapes from BarBri that I paid 1,000 dollars for (that I don’t get to keep) and I’ve discovered that my dream of working retail must be put on hold until this test is finished. Why I waited until two weeks before to study, I don’t know. But, I did and now I am flipping out. However, I’ve discovered that the bar pass rate for this exam is usually around 87% so unless I am in the bottom 15% or so, I can’t fail (I’m going to keep telling myself that).

So I’m doing the BarBri thing and its telling me just to skim the law books, tab them well, and then do practice exams. It says not to question anything, stop thinking, just do. I’m doing okay with it, but then there are times when I stop and wonder what the point is of a certain rule if there are no consequences to violating it. It’s because I am naturally inquisitive and I don’t know if there is anything the man in the BarBri lectures can do to stop it. Errr.. . . or I’m procrastinating. Anyway, here is an example:

There is a lovely rule in the criminal section of the Maryland Rules that talks about what information must be provided to a defendant before the judge can take a guilty plea. One of the issues to be discussed is the collateral consequences of a plea – the judge does not have to inform the defendant of the collateral consequences, but he/she must be satisfied that the defendant knows that there might be collateral consequences if they are not citizens of the United States (deportation, etc) and that they have discussed these consequences with their lawyer. I was very excited by this statute, since the law of the land is that if you are a non-citizen and are deported as a result of a guilty plea, tough shit. Even if your lawyer didn’t tell you that it might happen and you went ahead and plead guilty thinking, I’ve been living here for twenty years, I’ve paid taxes forever, I’ve got a good job, there’s no way I’m going to get deported and you do get deported anyway, you are totally shit out of luck. There is no remedy for you. Too bad, so sad, pack your shit and get out of our country. So I thought wow! That’s an awesome rule making attorneys responsible for talking about and being aware of collateral consequences! What a great state this Maryland is! But, as I read further, I came to this clause: “The omission of advice concerning the collateral consequences of a plea does not itself mandate that the plea be declared invalid”

Hmmm. . . . Does this mean that if you are not damaged, i.e., not deported, then you can’t have your plea taken back? Okay, I get that. Or, is it more insidious? Does it mean that the fact that you are deported and your lawyer didn’t discuss this potential consequence with you is not grounds for invalidating the plea without something more, like evidence of innocence? So, now I’m inclined to look it up, reasearch it, do exactly what BarBri told me not to do. And I wonder, is this just more procrastination or is it simply my love, nay, my overwhelming joy and lust for the law that is driving me to discover what this could possibly mean? I think I will spend the next hour trying to delve deeper into my psyche to figure out which it is. That’s a good use of time.

If any of you especially smart law students out there care to research this for me, so I can keep tabbing (hey, go to that lawyer, notguilty, I hear her lawbooks are super tabbed. She’s not cheap, but post-it tabs are expensive) here is the statue in the Maryland Rules it is Section 4-242(e).

Carry on.