A Note on Essays

First, the key to mastering bar exam essays is practice. This can’t be stressed enough, practice really DOES make perfect. If you are taking the MEE, you have 30 minutes to write an essay. That is a SKILL, and all skills should be practiced. It might feel tedious, but resist the urge to just outline essays, or just read sample answers. Write essays out fully, as if it were the bar exam. Practice what you are going to perform.

Having said that, a few general tips based on common errors I see when I’m giving feedback:

Legal terminology: Use legal terminology, or terms of art. This might seem obvious, use the correct terms for things. For example, write actual causation, not “but for” causation. You can explain actual causation by using the term “but for”, but if you can, start with the accepted legal term of art. (however, on the day of the exam, if your mind goes blank, and you are struggling to think of the correct legal terminology, of course, just say “but for”, or whatever term comes to mind.)

Use the facts and explain them, even if it seems obvious: The hypothetical that you’ve been given has been created with certain facts for a reason. If you aren’t using most of the facts in your hypo, you are either missing issues or leaving out key analysis. Checking that you’ve used facts will also help prevent your analysis from being merely a conclusion. This often means explaining your reasoning, if it seems very obvious that something is, indeed, offensive. It might not be obvious to the grader, so explain!

In addition, you aren’t required to bring in things that are not in the fact pattern, so while some inferences are necessary, try to avoid making too many. Remember, you only have 30 minutes!

Use numbering: If the hypo has multiple calls of the question, and labels them as 1, 2, 3, or 1a, 1b, 1c, your answer should be labeled accordingly. This might seem minor, but it is important. It makes reading your essay easier, and shows that you’ve paid attention to detail.

Headings are not issue statements: Headings are useful, and I encourage them. However, they are not issue statements, or conclusions, and should not be part of your paragraph. For example, a heading could be “Battery” while the first sentence of your essay should be “The issue is whether Bob committed a battery” or “Bob did commit a battery when he punched Jim.” 

Take one issue at a time: Try not to lump your issues together. Most of the essays I read are good at separating out the larger issues, or claims. However, they still lump together too many elements. So, for example, if you are discussing negligence you want to state the general rule for negligence, then you might have a separate IRAC for duty, for breach, etc. That doesn’t mean you always need to do that, but if you need to explain the rule for duty, make sure it’s a separate issue. 

Finally, PRACTICE. Again and again. And, on the day of the bar, don't be afraid to write a rule that's less than perfect! Good luck!