黑料门

Assistant Dean Ellen Douglas preps students for bar exam passage

Ellen Douglas loves hearing from the strugglers: students having a particularly difficult time preparing for the bar exam鈥攁nd those who didn鈥檛 pass it the first time. 

鈥淲hen I鈥檓 able to tweak one or two things in their study plan and it clicks, I know I鈥檓 having an effect on their lives and enabling them to work in the career they want,鈥� says Douglas, Loyola鈥檚 assistant dean of academic success and bar preparation.

With Douglas and assistant director Kristina Lasker (JD 鈥�19), 黑料门has two administrators wholly dedicated to students鈥� success on the bar exam and throughout their law studies.

Douglas has nearly 20 years of experience in bar prep. She鈥檚 a founding employee of Themis Bar Review, where she focused on developing the online platform to incorporate best online education practices, ensuring that all learning styles are considered. She鈥檚 also worked for BARBRI Bar Review, managing its law school prep program, and directed chapter operations for Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity.

In 2018, she joined 黑料门as an adjunct professor co-teaching Bar Exam Fundamentals, a two-credit pass/fail course offered both fall and spring. Partnering with adjunct Bill Elward (JD 鈥�93), Douglas introduces students to the exam, what it tests, where to find the material, and how to approach preparation鈥攕trategies for multiple choice questions, essay questions, and the exam鈥檚 multistate component.

鈥淸Loyola] has consistently outperformed the state rate for first-time takers. 鈥� There鈥檚 always room to improve.鈥�

鈥淭he bar exam is a best-answer test, not necessarily a correct-answer test,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t measures reading comprehension and analysis to see whether you can be given a set of facts, think critically, analyze the situation, and convey your answer succinctly in writing. So we discuss why some answers are better than others. Once students complete this course, they can focus on learning or relearning the appropriate material and doing the practice questions.鈥�

As she鈥檚 helping individual students get ready for the most challenging exam they鈥檙e likely to face, Douglas also has an eye to boosting Loyola鈥檚 overall bar exam pass rates.

鈥淟oyola鈥檚 pass rates are very solid鈥攖he school has consistently outperformed the state rate for first-time takers. I鈥檓 a little competitive, and there鈥檚 always room to improve,鈥� she says, laughing.

Besides prepping students to prevail on the bar exam, Douglas and Lasker oversee multiple resources鈥攆rom workshops to one-on-one counseling to the peer tutoring program for first-year law students鈥攖hat help students maximize their own learning styles and do well throughout their law studies.

鈥淟aw school is a whole new world,鈥� she says. 鈥淪tudents are coming from a lot of different backgrounds. For me, an undergraduate accounting student, the learning curve was incredible: issue spotting, rule synthesis, and case law analysis were all new to me.鈥� Douglas hopes her office鈥檚 programming will give students these kinds of tools early on, 鈥渟o they hone their skills in a way that complements their doctrinal learning,鈥� she says.

鈥淚 can help you approach an essay question or learn how to spot the issues in a case,鈥� she continues. It鈥檚 setting students up to succeed鈥攁nd letting them take it from there. I can give you the keys to the car,鈥� she says, 鈥渂ut you鈥檒l be the one driving.鈥� 鈥�Gail Mansfield  (January 2023)