BarMax Bar Exam Instructors

BarMax Content Director Celeste Pagano Boles holds a B.A. with High Honors from the University of California at Berkeley and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. After five years of transactional practice, Celeste completed a teaching fellowship at Temple University’s Beasley School of Law and became a professor at two other law schools, teaching Contracts, Property, Legal Writing, and other courses. Celeste passed the bar in three states before the UBE was an option, clerked in two federal courts, and tutored the bar exam privately before joining BarMax full-time in 2019. Now, she leads a talented team of content creators and instructors working together to help BarMax students achieve their dreams."

Jennifer, an attorney licensed in California and Nevada, graduated cum laude from UNLV-Boyd School of Law in 2006. Shortly thereafter, she began teaching law, focusing on academic success and bar readiness in addition to subjects like criminal law, remedies, and products liability. In the intervening years, Jennifer has taught at three law schools and helped hundreds of applicants prepare for the California, Nevada, and Florida bar exams, as well as the Uniform Bar Exam and the MPRE. Jennifer believes it isn't enough to simply learn the law; one has to also learn how to convey knowledge of the law in a way the examiners will reward. When not helping applicants pass the bar exam, Jennifer enjoys reading, playing softball (badly), and fostering pets through the SPCA."

Melissa graduated from the University of Michigan with a Bachelors of Arts with a concentration in History. She received her Juris Doctor from Wayne State University and graduated cum laude. She is an active member of the Michigan State Bar and the California State Bar and has been admitted into the Eastern District of Michigan and the Central District of California Federal Courts. In private practice, she was a prosecutor for several municipalities and was Lead Corporate Counsel for a private mortgage lender. Currently, Melissa has focused on tutoring for the Bar Exam for over the past two years."

Nate received his B.A. from the University of Florida and his J.D. from the New York University School of Law. His career as a lawyer has been focused on human rights and public interest law, and he has worked on rights of people with disabilities, mechanisms for the enforcement of human rights in international contexts, and environmental protection and greenwashing litigation. He has years of experience in teaching and truly enjoys helping students achieve their studying and career goals. In his free time, Nate enjoys drawing, writing, photography, and learning languages."

Using BarMax, Emily passed the UBE with a score of 331. She holds a a B.A. from Auburn University and a J.D. from Cumberland School of Law. While in law school, Emily was chosen as a Caruthers Student Teaching Fellow. In this role, she helped first-year law students learn legal writing skills including issue identification, legal research, and analysis. She went on to graduate in the top six percent of her class. Currently a practicing attorney, Emily retains a passion for teaching the skills students need to succeed in the law. After personally benefiting from the BarMax program, Emily loves to guide other BarMax students through bar preparation to help them achieve their goals"

As a first-generation student, Jamal understands some of the challenges that students may face, and works to leverage each student's individual learning style to help them develop strategies for overcoming these challenges. Jamal, a California lawyer, has a J.D. from UC Berkeley Law and a bachelor's degree from the University of Illinois at Champaign Urbana. While in law school, Jamal was a member of the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology as well as the Immigration Clinic. Growing up in Chicago provided Jamal with both passion and perspective for helping those coming from impoverished backgrounds achieve success. That passion shines through in his willingness and desire to help students who may have diverse backgrounds and learning styles."

At BarMax, Abraham (Abe) Bran loves helping his students conquer their bar exam fears and develop effective study strategies. Abe is a bilingual (English/Spanish) attorney licensed in both California and the District of Columbia. He earned a B.A. in Economics and Spanish from Tufts University, a J.D. from Southwestern Law School, and an MBA from Claremont Graduate University. During law school, Abe served as a teaching assistant in multiple courses, including Contracts, Torts, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, and Criminal Procedure. Abe also works as a staff attorney at the Central American Resource Center on issues related to citizenship and immigration. He is actively involved with the Los Angeles County Bar Association, theTufts Lawyers Association, and the Beverly Hills Bar Association."

Whitney, a Maryland licensed attorney, obtained a B.A. in Sociology and Criminology from the Pennsylvania State University and earned her J.D. from Howard University School of Law. Whitney excelled on the Uniform Bar Exam with a score of 313. She understands that studying for the Bar Exam is a unique experience for everyone because people learn differently, so she does not employ a one-size-fits-all approach. Whitney is highly passionate about helping students reach their fullest potential."

Lavanya began her bar teaching career in 2002 while working in bar programming and accommodations for students with disabilities at the Washington College of Law at American University. She developed a passion for helping students overcome hurdles to bar passage and went on to develop and teach course content to students taking the bar exam at several law schools and two bar prep companies. Lavanya has counseled numerous foreign students and retakers in addition to traditional bar exam students; she is adept at teaching the skills and content required to pass the bar exams of several states. Additionally, she has worked as a corporate lawyer, a food writer, a cooking teacher, and an entrepreneur developing a line of Indian cooking sauces. She has four daughters and loves science fiction."

Gregory holds a B.A. summa cum laude from Yale University, a J.D. cum laude from Harvard Law School, and an LL.M. from the Temple University James E. Beasley School of Law, where he was a teaching fellow for two years. He passed the bar in two states. Greg has been teaching commercial law, contracts and evidence for over two decades, offering courses designed to help neurodiverse learners prepare for the bar exam and practice. He is currently a professor at Mitchell Hamline School of Law, where he is an innovator in online legal education, having led a team that designed and got approval in 2013 for the first hybrid JD program at an ABA-accredited law school. Greg's drive for helping his students succeed led him to learn everything he could about the CA and UBE bar exams. He has since joined the BarMax Content & Instruction Team as a content writer, grader, and tutor."