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Summary: Excellent fun
Review: A great primer for anyone of any age contamplating law school or preparing for the Bar. A great read--one you will pass on, again and again. Buy this book!
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Summary: Barman Nails It !
Review: Alex Wellen has captured the American Law School Experience. More than that - Alex has written a compelling modern coming-of-age tale. This is a must read for anyone in law school, considering lawschool, and anyone who just wants to enjoy themselves immersed in a good book! Laugh endlessly while reflecting on the greater meaning of life. Discover that the end is worth the journey, and the journey doesn't always end where you think it will.
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Summary: Me too!
Review: Alex Wellen wrote an inspirational, educational and very funny book. I'm glad I bought it. More? I laughed out loud (rare) and cried (not quite as rare since starting law school). I found validation (everyone is afraid of the Bar) and community (Alex lived through Madison's beating and so will I, dammit!). With a family as supportive/beautiful as his we would all come to the understanding that becoming an attorney CANNOT dictate our "place in the universe".
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Summary: I laughed, I Cried
Review: Alex,I loved your book!!!! I am a mother of a 2nd year law student at NYU (Yale Grad) all first tiers and can relate so well to your angst. I cried - I laughed out loud and have been touting your book as a must read. I am going to buy a 2nd copy and send it to my son - no sense in his reinventing the wheel. I am glad everything worked out for the best and thanks for sharing your story. Joyce
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Summary: Excellent Roller Coaster Ride
Review: An excellent ride through Alex's last year of law school, the prep and dread of the bar exam, and his first year out of law school. Alex lays it all out there in a humorous, comical, and self effacing manner.
What an enjoyable book, and a must read for all law students or those thinking of law as a career.
Rating: 
Summary: A good fun read, especially for lawyers and law students
Review: As a graduating law student that is panicking about the prospect of taking the bar, this was a perfect book to read right now. It was a light and funny easy read that provided some much needed comic relief as well as even some unexpected insight. I definately think this book is probably much more amusing for law students, lawyers, or people who have lawyers or law students in their family -- the author puts to words a common experience that so many have faced. I might think that for some non-lawyers certain passages or details about substantive law or even the bar exam might seem unnecessarily drawn out. (actually, that might be true for the legal readers also). (However, there were only a handful of those, and on balance the book gives the non-lawyer clear insight into this world). Overall, the author is able to articulate with great clarity the peculiarities of legal culture, and its own hierarchy. Also, as some reviewers have noted, I was pleased how he does not unnecessarily go out of his way to be hypercritical about the legal profession. Not that its bad to be critical, but you don't necessarily want to read hundreds of pages of someone else's rant about their disenchantment -- which is what I was originally afraid it would be. Wellen point outs the profession's flaws with appropriate irreverence, but his tone is very even and is more in the manner of descriibng something for what it is and letting the reader decide what their conclusions are. And you get the sense overall that he does have respect for the profession, although I note in the jacket cover that he no longer practices. Overall, it was a good fun book.
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Summary: Coming of Age in the Big City
Review: Barman is a fantastically fun and smart book about how it feels to come of age in the city. Wellen had the courage to break the mold of such tales. Where others have found only anomy and pathos, Wellen finds humor and hope. He doesn't ask for our sympathy when his younger self runs afoul of those ubiquitous characters from early adulthood: the evil landlord, the unstable girlfriend, the intimidating boss. He encourages us to remember what good times those were. Bright Lights, Big City be damned. Barman gets it right.
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Summary: BARMAN is a must read ...
Review: FIVE (5) TYPES of people should absolutely purchase BARMAN: 1) ASPIRING law school students; 2) CURRENT law school students; 3) ANYONE who has ever taken a bar exam and enjoys a good laugh, or cry; 4) ATTORNEYS who would enjoy reminiscing about the beginnings of their legal careers; 5) LAW PROFESSORS so that they may reaquaint themselves with this painful and at times absurd process. If you don't fall into any one of the FIVE TYPES above but know someone who does buy it for them- it's a great primer for the legal wannabe. BARMAN is funny, honest, and best of all accurate in its portrayal of typical law school life and the birthing process of "baby" lawyers via the bar exam. The best part of the story is that the author's experiences are "par for the course" when it comes to the majority of law school students. Wellen attended a good but not "great" law school. Readers will relate to Wellen's story because most of us did not get into our "dream" school. What unfolds in BARMAN is a story that 98% of law school types will immediately recognize as true. That is why BARMAN will endure as recommended reading for those who think that they want to become a lawyer.
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Summary: The Barman
Review: I bought Barman after Alex came and spoke at my lawschool. Barman, like his speech, really hit home. Any law student can relate to what Alex talks about in this book, especially those of us outside of the elite Tier 1. Barman shows you what awaits after law school- the bar, job-hunting, and hopefully success. Hopefully we can all be as successful in our law careers as Alex was in his!
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Summary: Riotously Funny and Oh, SO True!
Review: I finished this hysterical offering from Alex Wellen in one splendid, heartwarming, cringe-inducing, riotously funny afternoon that left my sides hurting from all the laughter. What makes this book so wonderful is that the humor is so organic to the story; as probably any lawyer could tell you, it is representative of a seemingly universal experience for all members of the bar - the initiation ritual known as the Bar Exam. Wellen's recounting of his early experiences preparing for that endurance test, nervously awaiting the results, and anxiously attempting to please his new bosses in private practice is told with an easy, graceful familiarity that doesn't presume too much, and an achingly honest tone that makes you cringe right along with him, even as you realize you're laughing aloud (but *with* him, not *at* him!). Simply a fantastic read. Well done.
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