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Barman: Ping-Pong, Pathos, and Passing the Bar (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "I WAS GETTING a little panicked..." (more)
Key Phrases: electronic legal research, rocket docket, seat filler, New York, New Jersey, Aaron Reinstein (more...)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)

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Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

We enter Wellen's fascinating life when he's a second-year law-school student, in the middle of a grueling round of interviews for a summer associate position--a coveted post granted to only a select few, where struggling students burn the midnight hours for some big law firm the summer before their last year in exchange for a taste of a real associate's salary. Wellen had his share of not-so-great interviews but managed to land a good gig nonetheless, in spite of his being from a "Tier-2" school (an unfortunate designation resulting from the famous--or infamous, depending on your perspective-- U.S. News & World Report law-school ranking system). Wellen suffered through the summer and his final year of law school and, bam, the real battle began as he prepared for the New York bar exam. With wit and deserved irreverence, Wellen equates this nine-month ordeal with human gestation, even dividing it into three trimesters (taking the bar, waiting for the results, and being a licensed attorney). His portrayal of these unsure days is right on, evoking the turmoil and thrill all at once. Mary Frances Wilkens
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Product Description

Alex Wellen is an excited, ambitious, and overwhelmed twenty-something law student trying to integrate into one of the most powerful and promise-filled cities in the world—New York. As he moves from graduating student to licensed lawyer—the second most important nine months he ever spent “gestating”—Alex fantasizes about the glitzy, high-powered lifestyle of a Manhattan attorney. He imagines hobnobbing with the elite, eating at the best restaurants, and being a guest at the most coveted social events—but in this city of overachievers, he is reminded every step of the way that he did not go to Harvard. Can he overcome the profession’s snobbery by wearing overpriced ties from Barneys, seat-filling at the VH1 fashion awards, cavorting with B-list celebrities, and throwing TriBeCa loft parties?

Is it enough for him to look and play the part?

Along the way, we meet his fellow sufferers in the dread-inducing bar exam cram courses, his girlfriends and roommate, the law firm recruiters interested in hiring him (and those who aren’t), and the new associates who work with him at a high-profile law firm, some of whom, the odds are, won’t pass the bar.

Savvy and entertaining, Wellen’s story is The Paper Chase meets Sex and the City—a career memoir for anyone who has discovered his or her life’s goal, yet must overcome tremendous obstacles to attain it.

Barman is an honest, revealing, and hilarious portrait of a lawyer as a young man.
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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Harmony; 1 edition (September 16, 2003)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1400048915
  • ISBN-13: 978-1400048915
  • Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,198,437 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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More About the Author

Alex Wellen
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Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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First Sentence:
I WAS GETTING a little panicked. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
electronic legal research, rocket docket, seat filler, disposable unit, bar examiners, fashion awards
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, New Jersey, Aaron Reinstein, Toms River, John Madison, Alex Wellen, Atlantic City, Child Prodigy, Margaret Denton, David Markey, Grandma Mary, Marcy Rosenblatt, Owen Thompkins, Walla Walla, Career Planning Office, Trial Run, Dennis Braise, Mark Wahlberg, Supreme Court, United States, Victoria's Secret, Wall of Pain, Empire State Plaza, Javits Center, Joe Bloggs
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Customer Reviews

33 Reviews
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4.5 out of 5 stars (33 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Paper Chase meets 1L meets Cad, October 3, 2003
By L. James (Cleveland, OH) - See all my reviews
There comes a time in the education of all law school students when they ask themselves: is it too late to fake my death, change names and become a janitor? Alex Wellen's BARMAN perfectly captures the soul-sucking process that precipitates this question. In his very funny memoir, Wellen recounts dealing with the quiet humiliations of attending a second tier law school, scoring a demeaning summer internship, cramming for the New York bar exam and landing his First Big Job-- sorting through documents in a stuffy room without windows. A dash of "Sex in the City" is woven throughout as well, as Wellen grapples with the challenges of building relationships and a professional identity at the same time. Most of all, this is an awfully well-rounded coming of age tale that will appeal to everyone, but particularly to anyone mulling a legal career. Proceed not lest ye read this book!
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Barman/Everyman, April 18, 2004
picked up 'Barman' looking for information, any information, on what law school, post law school experiences were like for someone not coming from Yale or Harvard. What I learned from Alex Wellen's book was not just what the process of becoming a lawyer was like, because during the process--with he relates with wit and honesty--Wellen seemed to discover for himself that passing the bar, and becoming a lawyer didn't necessarily define who he was or his worth. It didn't change who he was. I think it's worth remembering for anyone considering law school. What I got out of reading 'Barman' was that if I try, whether I fail or succeed, I will come out a different person on the other side of the experience, but still a person; one with value and who deserves happiness. It's a healthy way to approach law school, life or any other challenge, and maintain a sense of self without getting swallowed up by the process. I'm sure it's a book I'll refer to again as I continue my own process of getting into law school, and beyond.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars View from the other side, July 5, 2005
By Jason A. Miller (New York, New York USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)      
This review is from: Barman: Ping-Pong, Pathos, and Passing the Bar (Paperback)
It's nearly a decade since I started law school, and over five years since I sat for the New York bar exam. The novelty of "Barman" lies in the fact that its author, unlike the writers of "The Paper Chase" and "One-L", didn't go to a top tier law school. Alex Wellen went to Temple, ranked by U.S. News & World Report as a second tier school. I can do the author one better -- my midwestern law school didn't reach Tier 2 until after I graduated, and dropped out again this year. I also didn't finish in the top 10% of my class, as did Wellen, and had to wait a lot longer to land with a NYC law firm. So my philosophy from the first chapter was that while Wellen may have had it rough, he still had a comparatively easy time compared to many of us among the great unwashed.

As I was familiar with Wellen's journey, I paid more attention to the mechanics of his writing, bearing in mind his opening caution that his book was inspired by true events. Most readers may not know, for example, that Wellen described taking a portion of the New York bar exam (the multistate performance test) that wasn't introduced until several years later. Also, the thinly-veiled description of his law firm becomes even thinner if you study the patent on the final page of the book (this may have been intentional, of course). Finally, after describing every moment of his nine month journey from law school graduation through swearing-in to the bar, Wellen informs us in a very brief quota that he quit the profession less than a year later.

I mention these points only to praise with faint damns. I can't think of too many other things wrong with "Barman". Wellen captures the emotional spiral of studying for the bar quite effectively. So too does he capture the dread of waiting for results, and of looking for signs and portents in such miniscule details as the size of the envelope in which his results were delivered. The state of Michigan pulled a similar nasty trick on me in November 1998.

One final caveat: Large portions of this book escape the law altogether. Whereas One-L hardly ever ventured beyond the Harvard campus, Barman stretches from the wild West of Oregon to hostel laundry rooms in Western Europe. We get a lot of stories from Wellen's social life (most of his girlfriends did not wait for the third date to express their affection) as well as his slapstick attempts to convert his TriBeCa loft into a swingin' bachelor pad. These episodes add texture to Wellen's law school routine and help prevent the book from becoming monotonous.

Girlfriends of potential law students may cast off their worries, however: not all of us who survived law school had as much fun as Wellen.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars A must read for anyone considering corporate law
In Barman, Temple Law graduate and aspiring lawyer Alex Wellen documents his time spent in young lawyer no man's land- between the time he graduates law school and passes the bar,... Read more
Published 3 months ago by J. Waisnor

3.0 out of 5 stars Good to Skim
I was a little disappointed in this book, after having to skim through a lot of filler to find the good parts. Read more
Published 17 months ago by NY Librarian

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Fun Read
I started this book at 12:30 AM. I finished it at 6 AM. I NEVER do that. Ever. If you're looking to get a glimpse of law school life, etc. Read more
Published 20 months ago by C

5.0 out of 5 stars Could not put it down!!
Alex Wellen has captured all the madness, urgency and utter panic that envelops the life and times of anyone who is taking the bar. Read more
Published on August 15, 2007 by J. Crawford

5.0 out of 5 stars Fast Read
A friend recomended this so I bought it. I loved it! Really intersting and funny. I appreciated the unpolished perspective on a life I am pursuing.
Published on March 8, 2007 by M. Reese

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun and Funny
Alex Wellen is a very funny fellow. I liked "Barman" because Alex tells his story in an engagingly self-deprecating way, yet his feel-it-now style reveals the dehumanizing... Read more
Published on December 24, 2006 by John DeDakis

5.0 out of 5 stars Engrossing and Entertaining!
One of the rare gifts of good writing is an honest voice. In Alex Wellen's "Barman", you can hear his raw voice as he struggles through young adulthood and the modern rite of... Read more
Published on July 30, 2006 by Bookworm

1.0 out of 5 stars WAAAH POOR ME I ONLY WENT TO TEMPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!
A friend of mine loaned me this book. Thankfully I didn't spend money on it.

Allow me to provide a brief summery of this book:

"WAAAHA PITY ME I DIDN'T... Read more
Published on April 5, 2006 by A. Hutchinson

1.0 out of 5 stars How do books like this get published???
This book was the most self-indulgent, meandering, boring piece of self-congratulation that I have read in YEARS. Read more
Published on March 18, 2006 by Anne Elise Hughes

5.0 out of 5 stars read it all in one night
Very hard book to put down! This guy goes through the full range of emotion - humor, stress, romance (or at least several hook-ups), personal tragedy, relief. Read more
Published on February 15, 2006 by William J. Murphy

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