BarBri
Encyclopedia
BarBri is a company in the United States
that offers a widely used bar exam preparation course. A majority of American recipients of a Juris Doctor
degree attend a six-week BarBri course, which features lectures by law
professors on the six major areas covered on the Multistate Bar Examination (MBE) — torts, contracts, real property
, evidence
, criminal law
, and constitutional law
— along with additional lectures on the specific law of the state. Most of the lectures are presented in person, remotely on DVD, or online through the BarBri website. BarBri also supplies participants with outlines of the topic areas tested on each state's bar exam, practice essay questions, and thousands of multiple-choice questions.
for $5 million, and promptly merged. The new subsidiary was officially known as "Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Legal and Professional Publications," but was marketed under the brand name BAR/BRI. Rutter became Chairman and CEO. Stan Chess was President of BAR/BRI from 1980 until 1995, and the President of BAR/BRI is currently Mike Sims.
The company was formerly owned by Thomson Reuters
, the owner of the Westlaw
legal research system. In April of 2011 BarBri was sold to Leeds Equity Partners
(UC Irvine); John Diamond (UC Hastings
); Stanley Johanson (Texas); Faust Rossi (Cornell
); Michael D. Sabbath (Mercer); Roger Schechter (George Washington); John "Kip" Cornwell (Seton Hall Law School); Michael Spak (Chicago-Kent College of Law
), Louis Collins (Chicago-Kent College of Law
), and Irving Younger
(Minnesota College of Law).
BarBri also provides bar preparation for the USPTO Registration Examination
1 (the "patent bar") under the name "PatentBarBri."
ruled that as a matter of law, BarBri's 1980 agreement with its Georgia franchisee was an unlawful restraint of competition on its face. Palmer v. BRG of Georgia, Inc., No. 89-1667, .
and is captioned Ryan Rodriguez v. West Publishing Corp., No. 05cv3222 (C.D. Calif.). The plaintiff
s allege that BarBri violated federal antitrust laws by colluding with Kaplan, Inc.
Plaintiffs specifically alleged that BarBri agreed not to compete in the LSAT
business and Kaplan agreed not to compete in the bar review business, thereby allocating to BarBri the market for full-service bar review courses in the United States and preventing a competitive bar review course from being marketed and sold. West Publishing Company, named as a defendant with Kaplan, Inc., denied the allegations. (After the suit was filed, Kaplan entered the bar review business in a limited way by purchasing PMBR. PMBR is a BarBri competitor that focused exclusively on preparation for the MBE, until recently. Kaplan/PMBR now offers full service Bar Preparation for the Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, and Washington D.C. Bar exams.) However, although BarBri's review course meets almost every day, there are "off days" that, in the past, were often the days that PMBR holds its review sessions, thereby the possibility of coordination among the companies was raised.
A jury trial was originally scheduled for September 12, 2006, and then postponed until February 13, 2007. On the eve of trial, a $49 million proposed settlement was reached, under the terms of which class members would each receive $125. The proposed settlement will not go into effect unless approved by the federal court. At least two of the named plaintiffs in the suit expressed strong opposition to the settlement on the grounds that it would not adequately compensate class members and would not effect meaningful change in the bar review industry.http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1171287468463 The final settlement hearing was scheduled for June 18, 2007. http://www.barbri-classaction.com/barbri/default.htm
The class action lawsuit, which is the only class action in history where the class consists of attorneys, has taken a series of controversial twists and turns. Apparently, three of the five class representatives represented by McGuireWoods
have objected to a proposed settlement negotiated by the firm wherein each class member would receive $125 from the $49 million gross. The three class representative-objectors, Ryan Rodriguez, Loredana Nesci and Lisa Gintz refused to sign off on the settlement claiming that the money was not enough and that the settlement did nothing to prevent Bar/Bri from continuing in its monopolistic conduct in the future. Instead of attempting to negotiate for more, as Rodriguez, Nesci and Gintz requested, McGuireWoods moved to fire the three as their clients. Loredana Nesci, www.thelegaldiva.com, argued against the motion on March 19, 2007 and won. However, she was not able to convince the Court that the settlement as proposed was not worthy of preliminary approval. Nesci explained to the Court that Rodriguez, Gintz and she had failed to receive the opinion of Eliot Disner, McGuireWoods' lead attorney on the case and antitrust guru, which caused them to doubt that the settlement was in the best interest of the class. Nesci stated that Disner was mysteriously MIA when attempts were made to contact him about the settlement. When the Court called upon Disner to comment on the settlement at the hearing, at Nesci's behest, he reserved his right to comment on the settlement at the final hearing to approve it.
Subsequent to the March 19, 2007, hearing, Disner authored an objection to the settlement as proposed that he circulated to the class representatives. Disner sent the brief to the representatives for their comments with the understanding that McGuireWoods was going to allow him to file the brief on behalf of the objecting class reps. Ultimately, the firm nixed the idea; however, Nesci took it upon herself to lodge the brief with the Court to alert the class and the Court that there existed conflicting opinions regarding the settlement within the firm. Reacting to the filed objection, McGuireWoods fired Disner and strongly contended that Disner's opinion did not reflect the opinion of the firm.
At the final hearing to approve the settlement, attorneys from across the country flew out to the Central District in Los Angeles to attempt to cast doubt on the fairness of the settlement. However, the Court was more concerned with the incentive agreement between McGuireWoods and the class representatives than it was with the fairness of the proposed settlement. Nesci who was present with Rodriguez claimed that she and the objecting class reps had taken an active attorney role as class representatives and that the lawsuit had taken time away from her current practice.
and captioned Anthony Park v. Thomson Corp., No. 05cv2931 (S.D.N.Y.), alleges that BarBri has engaged in an illegal tying arrangement by not offering students the option to take the state-specific portion of their course independently from the multi-state preparation portion. In early January 2007, the trial judge denied BarBri's motion for summary judgment and held that the case would have to go to trial. The judge said Thomson may be able to justify the alleged tying arrangement at trial by proving that disaggregating the BarBri course into state-specific and multistate components would undermine the course's effectiveness. The parties have since reached a settlement, to which the court has granted preliminary approval. The full text of the settlement is available at http://www.parkbarbrisettlement.com/docs/Park_Stipulation_and_Settlement_Agreement.pdf
http://www.barbri-classaction.com/barbri/default.htm
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
that offers a widely used bar exam preparation course. A majority of American recipients of a Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
degree attend a six-week BarBri course, which features lectures by law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
professors on the six major areas covered on the Multistate Bar Examination (MBE) — torts, contracts, real property
Real property
In English Common Law, real property, real estate, realty, or immovable property is any subset of land that has been legally defined and the improvements to it made by human efforts: any buildings, machinery, wells, dams, ponds, mines, canals, roads, various property rights, and so forth...
, evidence
Evidence (law)
The law of evidence encompasses the rules and legal principles that govern the proof of facts in a legal proceeding. These rules determine what evidence can be considered by the trier of fact in reaching its decision and, sometimes, the weight that may be given to that evidence...
, criminal law
Criminal law
Criminal law, is the body of law that relates to crime. It might be defined as the body of rules that defines conduct that is not allowed because it is held to threaten, harm or endanger the safety and welfare of people, and that sets out the punishment to be imposed on people who do not obey...
, and constitutional law
Constitutional law
Constitutional law is the body of law which defines the relationship of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the legislature and the judiciary....
— along with additional lectures on the specific law of the state. Most of the lectures are presented in person, remotely on DVD, or online through the BarBri website. BarBri also supplies participants with outlines of the topic areas tested on each state's bar exam, practice essay questions, and thousands of multiple-choice questions.
History
In 1967, the company's predecessors were founded by William A. Rutter, who is still with West Publishing, and by three attorneys in Chicago—Lewis Collens, Beardsley Rummel, and Jeffrey Rubenstein. In 1974, both San Francisco-based "Bay Area Review" (BAR) and Chicago-based "Bar Review Institute" (BRI) were bought by publishing giant Harcourt, Brace, JovanovichHarcourt Trade Publishers
Harcourt was a United States publishing firm with a long history of publishing fiction and nonfiction for children and adults. The company was based in San Diego, California, with an Editorial / Sales / Marketing / Rights offices in New York City and Orlando, Florida.In 2007, the U.S...
for $5 million, and promptly merged. The new subsidiary was officially known as "Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Legal and Professional Publications," but was marketed under the brand name BAR/BRI. Rutter became Chairman and CEO. Stan Chess was President of BAR/BRI from 1980 until 1995, and the President of BAR/BRI is currently Mike Sims.
The company was formerly owned by Thomson Reuters
Thomson Reuters
Thomson Reuters Corporation is a provider of information for the world's businesses and professionals and is created by the Thomson Corporation's purchase of Reuters Group on 17 April 2008. Thomson Reuters is headquartered at 3 Times Square, New York City, USA...
, the owner of the Westlaw
Westlaw
Westlaw is one of the primary online legal research services for lawyers and legal professionals in the United States and is a part of West. In addition, it provides proprietary database services...
legal research system. In April of 2011 BarBri was sold to Leeds Equity Partners
Leeds Equity Partners
Leeds Equity Partners is a private equity firm focused on investments in the Knowledge Industries. The Firm is currently investing its fifth private equity fund, Leeds Equity Partners V, L.P., the largest fund focused exclusively on investing in this sector, an estimated $3.5 trillion domestic...
Courses and faculty
BarBri offers preparation courses in every state and the District of Columbia for both the summer and winter administration of the bar exam. In most larger states, live presentations are available in one or more locations during the summer course. The course is also offered remotely in numerous additional locations, often on or near the campus of various law schools. BarBri also provides a "home study" version of the course, in which students listen to lectures on an iPod or students can access or make-up lectures through the BarBri website. The course consists of lectures on substantive law, multiple choice question review, a practice administration of the multistate bar exam, and practice essay questions. Most lectures last from three to four hours. BarBri also provides numerous course books which include summaries of the substantive law, note-taking outlines, and practice questions. Most BarBri lecturers are full-time tenured law professors, and some have lectured for the company for many years. Among long-time BarBri lecturers are Erwin ChemerinskyErwin Chemerinsky
Erwin Chemerinsky is an American lawyer and law professor. He is a prominent scholar in United States constitutional law and federal civil procedure...
(UC Irvine); John Diamond (UC Hastings
University of California, Hastings College of the Law
University of California, Hastings College of the Law is a public law school in San Francisco, California, located in the Civic Center neighborhood....
); Stanley Johanson (Texas); Faust Rossi (Cornell
Cornell Law School
Cornell Law School, located in Ithaca, New York, is a graduate school of Cornell University and one of the five Ivy League law schools. The school confers three law degrees...
); Michael D. Sabbath (Mercer); Roger Schechter (George Washington); John "Kip" Cornwell (Seton Hall Law School); Michael Spak (Chicago-Kent College of Law
Chicago-Kent College of Law
Chicago–Kent College of Law, the law school affiliated with Illinois Institute of Technology, is nationally recognized for the scholarship and accomplishments of its faculty and student body. It is the second oldest law school in the state of Illinois. Many of the applications of technology in the...
), Louis Collins (Chicago-Kent College of Law
Chicago-Kent College of Law
Chicago–Kent College of Law, the law school affiliated with Illinois Institute of Technology, is nationally recognized for the scholarship and accomplishments of its faculty and student body. It is the second oldest law school in the state of Illinois. Many of the applications of technology in the...
), and Irving Younger
Irving Younger
Irving Younger was an American lawyer, law professor, judge, and writer. He is well known among lawyers and law students for his exciting talks on effective trial advocacy and legal history....
(Minnesota College of Law).
BarBri also provides bar preparation for the USPTO Registration Examination
USPTO registration examination
In order to be registered as a patent agent or patent attorney in the United States, one must pass the United States Patent and Trademark Office registration examination, officially called the Examination for Registration to Practice in Patent Cases Before the United States Patent and Trademark...
1 (the "patent bar") under the name "PatentBarBri."
Palmer v. BRG of Georgia, Inc.
On November 26, 1990, the U.S. Supreme CourtSupreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
ruled that as a matter of law, BarBri's 1980 agreement with its Georgia franchisee was an unlawful restraint of competition on its face. Palmer v. BRG of Georgia, Inc., No. 89-1667, .
Ryan Rodriguez v. West Publishing Corp
One lawsuit was brought in the United States District Court for the Central District of CaliforniaUnited States District Court for the Central District of California
The United States District Court for the Central District of California serves over 18 million people in southern and central California, making it the largest federal judicial district by population...
and is captioned Ryan Rodriguez v. West Publishing Corp., No. 05cv3222 (C.D. Calif.). The plaintiff
Plaintiff
A plaintiff , also known as a claimant or complainant, is the term used in some jurisdictions for the party who initiates a lawsuit before a court...
s allege that BarBri violated federal antitrust laws by colluding with Kaplan, Inc.
Kaplan, Inc.
Kaplan, Inc. is a for-profit corporation headquartered in New York City and was founded in 1938 by Stanley Kaplan. Kaplan provides higher education programs, professional training courses, test preparation materials and other services for various levels of education...
Plaintiffs specifically alleged that BarBri agreed not to compete in the LSAT
Law School Admission Test
The Law School Admission Test is a half-day standardized test administered four times each year at designated testing centers throughout the world. Administered by the Law School Admission Council for prospective law school candidates, the LSAT is designed to assess Reading Comprehension,...
business and Kaplan agreed not to compete in the bar review business, thereby allocating to BarBri the market for full-service bar review courses in the United States and preventing a competitive bar review course from being marketed and sold. West Publishing Company, named as a defendant with Kaplan, Inc., denied the allegations. (After the suit was filed, Kaplan entered the bar review business in a limited way by purchasing PMBR. PMBR is a BarBri competitor that focused exclusively on preparation for the MBE, until recently. Kaplan/PMBR now offers full service Bar Preparation for the Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, and Washington D.C. Bar exams.) However, although BarBri's review course meets almost every day, there are "off days" that, in the past, were often the days that PMBR holds its review sessions, thereby the possibility of coordination among the companies was raised.
A jury trial was originally scheduled for September 12, 2006, and then postponed until February 13, 2007. On the eve of trial, a $49 million proposed settlement was reached, under the terms of which class members would each receive $125. The proposed settlement will not go into effect unless approved by the federal court. At least two of the named plaintiffs in the suit expressed strong opposition to the settlement on the grounds that it would not adequately compensate class members and would not effect meaningful change in the bar review industry.http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1171287468463 The final settlement hearing was scheduled for June 18, 2007. http://www.barbri-classaction.com/barbri/default.htm
The class action lawsuit, which is the only class action in history where the class consists of attorneys, has taken a series of controversial twists and turns. Apparently, three of the five class representatives represented by McGuireWoods
McGuireWoods
McGuireWoods LLP is a major U.S. law firm with more than 900 attorneys in 19 offices in the United States and Europe. With the firm's largest offices in Richmond, VA, Charlotte, NC, and Chicago, IL, McGuireWoods has recently experienced a period of rapid growth by opening new offices in London in...
have objected to a proposed settlement negotiated by the firm wherein each class member would receive $125 from the $49 million gross. The three class representative-objectors, Ryan Rodriguez, Loredana Nesci and Lisa Gintz refused to sign off on the settlement claiming that the money was not enough and that the settlement did nothing to prevent Bar/Bri from continuing in its monopolistic conduct in the future. Instead of attempting to negotiate for more, as Rodriguez, Nesci and Gintz requested, McGuireWoods moved to fire the three as their clients. Loredana Nesci, www.thelegaldiva.com, argued against the motion on March 19, 2007 and won. However, she was not able to convince the Court that the settlement as proposed was not worthy of preliminary approval. Nesci explained to the Court that Rodriguez, Gintz and she had failed to receive the opinion of Eliot Disner, McGuireWoods' lead attorney on the case and antitrust guru, which caused them to doubt that the settlement was in the best interest of the class. Nesci stated that Disner was mysteriously MIA when attempts were made to contact him about the settlement. When the Court called upon Disner to comment on the settlement at the hearing, at Nesci's behest, he reserved his right to comment on the settlement at the final hearing to approve it.
Subsequent to the March 19, 2007, hearing, Disner authored an objection to the settlement as proposed that he circulated to the class representatives. Disner sent the brief to the representatives for their comments with the understanding that McGuireWoods was going to allow him to file the brief on behalf of the objecting class reps. Ultimately, the firm nixed the idea; however, Nesci took it upon herself to lodge the brief with the Court to alert the class and the Court that there existed conflicting opinions regarding the settlement within the firm. Reacting to the filed objection, McGuireWoods fired Disner and strongly contended that Disner's opinion did not reflect the opinion of the firm.
At the final hearing to approve the settlement, attorneys from across the country flew out to the Central District in Los Angeles to attempt to cast doubt on the fairness of the settlement. However, the Court was more concerned with the incentive agreement between McGuireWoods and the class representatives than it was with the fairness of the proposed settlement. Nesci who was present with Rodriguez claimed that she and the objecting class reps had taken an active attorney role as class representatives and that the lawsuit had taken time away from her current practice.
Anthony Park v. Thomson Corp.
Another class action suit, pending in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New YorkUnited States District Court for the Southern District of New York
The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York is a federal district court. Appeals from the Southern District of New York are taken to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (in case...
and captioned Anthony Park v. Thomson Corp., No. 05cv2931 (S.D.N.Y.), alleges that BarBri has engaged in an illegal tying arrangement by not offering students the option to take the state-specific portion of their course independently from the multi-state preparation portion. In early January 2007, the trial judge denied BarBri's motion for summary judgment and held that the case would have to go to trial. The judge said Thomson may be able to justify the alleged tying arrangement at trial by proving that disaggregating the BarBri course into state-specific and multistate components would undermine the course's effectiveness. The parties have since reached a settlement, to which the court has granted preliminary approval. The full text of the settlement is available at http://www.parkbarbrisettlement.com/docs/Park_Stipulation_and_Settlement_Agreement.pdf
http://www.barbri-classaction.com/barbri/default.htm