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Bar Tips

ANALYSIS

Your analysis should weave the relevant and specific facts in with the rule. Do not generalize the facts, instead use the specific facts in your analysis. 

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Good sentence: UCC governs contracts for the sale of good. Goods are movable, tangible items. Here, the contract is for water bottles which are movable, tangible items. Therefore they are goods and the UCC applies. 

Poor Sentence: UCC governs contracts for the sale of goods. Goods are movable, tangible items. Here the K is for goods and the UCC applies. 

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The good example weaves the facts in with the definition of goods, and there is use of the specific facts. Remember to always define legal terms. 

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Prepare a minimum of one sentence of analysis per element. Never analyze more than one element per sentence. A majority of below passing essays show this pattern consistently.

Image by Aaron Burden

BAR EXAM 101

For the love of God be concise and to the point. Do NOT go off on tangents about all the realms of possibilities. Only raise issues that are raised by the facts and limit your analysis to the facts you have. 

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When there are facts missing that you need to complete the analysis, argue in the alternative rather than skipping the analysis completely or concluding prematurely. By doing so, you are losing out on major analysis points. 

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Similarly when the fact is ambiguous, argue in the alternative rather than skipping the analysis completely or concluding prematurely. 

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ESSAY APPROACH

You can either go into an essay with just a mind full of law ready to unload the minute you recognize an issue or (here comes the right way) you can go into an essay with a plan of attack, a game plan. 

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This is precisely what we teach at UBB. One of our recommendations is to 1) Read the call of the question first and then read the fact pattern. During this time you should try to identify as many issues as you can - making notes of those issues in the margins; 2) write out your checklist/attack plan. Use your check list or attack plan to pick up any missed issues; 3) list the issues in the order you are going to raise them in the essay; and 4) WRITE! 

Example of a Checklist for Torts: 

  • Torts

  • Vicarious liability 

  • Negligence 

  • Defamation Privacy 

  • Intentional Torts 

  • Products Liability 

  • Strict Liability 

  • Misc. Torts 

Instead of writing that list out, turn it into a speedy checklist:

  • VL

  • N

  • D

  • P

  • IT

  • PL

  • SL

  • MT

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