An Essay Approach for the California-Specific Subjects - Dennis Saccuzzo & Nancy Johnson

An Essay Approach for the California-Specific Subjects

By Dennis Saccuzzo & Nancy Johnson

  • Release Date: 2013-09-06
  • Genre: Law

Book Synopsis

An Essay Approach for the California-Specific Subjects (Bar Secrets®) presents actual California Bar Exam fact patterns in each of the California-specific subjects, which include: California Community Property, California Wills, Civil Procedure, Corporations, Professional Responsibility, Remedies, and Trusts.  The fact patterns are organized by subject and are followed by commentaries, model answers, analyses, and instructional frameworks.  
Purpose of the Book
The purpose is to show you how the law is applied in a broad variety of contexts.  The California Bar Examination’s essay section tests a large but definitely limited number of legal principles.  Generally, the fact patterns on the California Bar Examination are simpler than those devised by diabolical law professors, and the range of issues tested is usually more narrow than found in first- or second-year finals in subjects such as contracts, property, torts, crimes, evidence, and constitutional law.  On the other hand, questions that give less than an hour for essays are generally easier than those tested on the 1-hour California Bar Examination essays, because they contain fewer issues.  Careful study of these fact patterns and model answers will richly reward any law student or bar candidate. 
Why this Book is Essential Reading for California Bar Candidates
For those taking the California Bar Examination, a careful study of these fact patterns, models, and commentaries is invaluable.  Models that illustrate how to apply the major principles of law most commonly tested on the California Bar Examination are provided and analyzed for each of the California law subjects.  Although the California Bar recurrently tests the same big issues again and again (for example, subject matter jurisdiction, quasi-community property, and lapse/anti-lapse to name a few), the manner in which these topics are tested has changed in recent years.  Studying older fact patterns is not enough for most people.
What You Must Do to Succeed
Whether it’s a law school exam or a bar exam, to succeed you must practice writing actual fact patterns in each subject, then check yourself by studying a well-written model.  You must augment this practice by issue-spotting several more fact patterns in each subject and again checking yourself by studying a well-written model.  This book can and should be used for either or both of these purposes. 
Two Approaches
One approach to using this book is to take the essays a subject at a time.  Begin with a quick review of the subject, such as the combination outline/flow charts (schema) in the Bar Secrets® substantive law books.  These law books present the rules of law as well as their exceptions, standards, elements and factors in a hierarchical format that mimics the way information is stored and retrieved by the human mind.  With the overview in front of you to use as a reference, and as in an open-book test, read and answer the fact pattern.  Then immediately check yourself to make sure you have identified the relevant issues and properly applied the relevant facts to them.
A second approach is to use the materials in your final study, after you’ve already written out at least two or three fact patterns as described above and made some effort to learn the relevant legal principles.  In using this second approach, you should issue-spot the fact pattern closed-book.  Read the fact pattern and jot down the issues as they appear.  Then carefully study the model.
Source of Law for Models
Our sources of law for the models are the Bar Secrets® series are the 7 substantive law books, which reflect the majority rules in each subject area.  For more information on these books (or on any of our other products like online lectures or grading packages), visit our website at www.barsecrets.com.

Tags in Law : An Essay Approach for the California-Specific Subjects Dennis Saccuzzo & Nancy Johnson ebook , An Essay Approach for the California-Specific Subjects Dennis Saccuzzo & Nancy Johnson epub , An Essay Approach for the California-Specific Subjects Dennis Saccuzzo & Nancy Johnson AUDIOBOOK , An Essay Approach for the California-Specific Subjects by Dennis Saccuzzo & Nancy Johnson ePub (.epub) , An Essay Approach for the California-Specific Subjects book review , Law