Academic & Bar Support

From academic workshops, individual counseling, peer guidance, academic skills development sessions, and stress management, to simply answering questions you have about course selection, registration, and program requirements, and more, the Office of Academic and Bar Support has you covered.

Academic Skills

Academically accomplished fellows are automatically assigned to first year students during the first few weeks at the College of Law. Fellows are available to answer questions about skills such as briefing, outlining, studying and taking exams. The Fellows will hold weekly sessions on the academic skills essential to law school success. You are free to attend weekly small group sessions with the other students assigned to your fellow or set up individual weekly sessions at your convenience or both! Resources are available to 2L and 3L students upon request.

The Director of Academic and Bar Support, Professor Kelly Curtis, is also available for individual sessions with students to discuss their academic performance and strategies for success. Please email lawacademicsupport@syr.edu to schedule an appointment.

Bar Readiness

Students preparing for the bar may wish to meet to discuss summer bar plans, living arrangements, financial concerns, how to approach conversations with spouses regarding expectations and other concerns that may vary from student to student. To make an appointment, email barsupport@syr.edu.

Helix Bar Review

Syracuse Law has partnered with legal education nonprofit AccessLex Institute to offer its interactive Helix Bar Review prep course free of charge to its students.

Helix Bar Review is a state-of-the-art, comprehensive bar review program that offers:

• Full access to the course up to 20 weeks before the bar exam. This early access is in contrast with other bar review programs, which restrict full access until 10 -12 weeks before the exam. It also enables students to kick start their preparation, balance their multiple responsibilities in law school, at work, or at home.
• Personalized pathways and flexible options designed to adapt to your individual learning style and to help you efficiently shape and use you study time.
• Traditional components of a bar review course—such as substantive law outlines, practice questions, and flashcards—that are connected to state-of-the-art active learning and other methods that support long-term retention. 
• Multiple instructional design innovations, such as short videos, illustrations, checklists, performance tests, gamification, live “Ask the Experts” webinars that target frequently missed questions and misunderstood concepts, and intensive day-long workshops called “Pass Classes.” 
• Currently, Helix Bar Review offers study materials for the Uniform Bar Exam (UBE), Multistate Essay Exam (MEE), Multistate Bar Exam (MBE), Multistate Performance Test (MPT), and Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam (MPRE). AccessLex is developing state-specific courses and anticipates it will release materials for non-UBE states, such as Florida and California, in 2023.

Questions? Contact freebarprep@syr.edu.