If you cannot sleep or find yourself unable to concentrate due to stress, listen to this tape.

http://shc.siuc.edu/wellness%20pages/stress_resources.htm

Planning for Bar Admission Audio Link

Planning for Bar Admission PowerPoint

Discussion with Recent Grads

How to read the materials for the bar review course.

Everyone learns differently so we will present three approaches here. You will be wise to consider these, talk with friends, ask your bar buddy, and then do what works for you. But to get you started, here are three suggestions:

Method A. Read first, then lecture, then review, using questions.

1. Read the long outline (the short outline has 40% less material) before class.
Read it in 5-7 page chunks – follow the Roman numerals.
Read one chunk. Then do one of these that works for you:
make a flash card;
take notes;
make an outline or a flow chart;
talk it through out loud to any one or any thing that will listen or to no one;
review the short outline for charts, exam tips, etc.
Just do something with the material to make it mean something to you.
Read another chunk and do one of the above.
After 3-4 chunks, review some essay questions (cover up the answers) or multiple choice questions – just to spot issues and see what you can remember.
Continue until you have read all the material.

4. Listen to the lecture; use the lecture handouts and write in the material requested.

5. After the lecture, review any material you just did not understand when you read it and then heard it.

6. Then go to questions for a review. Test yourself. See the recommended essay questions to be used for testing yourself. They are posted here.

7. Start over for the next day.

B. Questions first, then read, then lecture.

Some of you may find it hard to read the material. You might try this method.

1. Go first to the questions and get a sense of what the issues are.
This works best if you review 3-4 fact patterns around one topic, such as specific performance or termination of an agency relationship.

2. Then when you have a sense of what the issues are, how the problem arises, go to the reading on that topic.
After reading just that material,
make a flash card;
take notes;
make an outline or a flow chart;
talk it through out loud to any one or any thing that will listen or to no one;
review the short outline for charts, exam tips, etc.
Just do something with the material to make it mean something to you.

3. Then examine 3-4 fact patterns (essay or multiple choice) on the next issue and repeat.

Be sure to check off the material that you have read because you may need to go back and read some material not studied using the problem method.

4. Then attend the lecture and use the lecture handouts.

5. Then test yourself with additional questions. See the questions we recommend for testing yourself – we handed these out and will soon post some here.

If using this method, watch for the problem postings we will put here to help you find problems to read.

C. Combined.

Perhaps you will want to experiment to see which works for you or maybe you will use one method of subjects you understand fairly well and the other for subjects that are new or difficult for you.

http://media.law.siu.edu/bar/workshop1pm23june09rm108.wmv

listen to this workshop and do at least five practice MPTs before the exam. the test he refers to is not in the BarBri book, but your course will provide you with enough sample tests that you can do five or more practice tests. Hint: do one every other weekend.

Video

go to the mpre workshop on this page and listen to the presentation on how to answer multiple choice questions. Although the focus of that presentation is the MPRE exam and not the MBE, the strategy works for any multiple choice question.

go also to blogs.law.siu.edu/success and watch the presentation on multiple choice questions. Although this presentation is focused on 1L courses, it also teaches the same strategy for how to attack a multiple choice question.

In Jan., 2011, the staff of the Illinois Board of Bar Examiners presented the basic information to 1Ls and 3Ls. To listen to the talk for 1Ls, go here

http://media.law.siu.edu/schmitz/SchmitzProfessionalism12pmJan18Rm120.wmv

to listen to the talk for 3Ls, go here
http://media.law.siu.edu/schmitz/SchmitzProfessionalism1pmJan19Rm120.wmv

MPRE2008booklet to accompany workshop

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SIU Bar Prep Workshop #1
Video

PDF Handout

It's here - your first essay of the week for SIU's 2013 summer supplemental bar program! Please read and follow the directions below.

ESSAY DUE DATE: This essay will be due on this coming Thursday - June 6th. Essays with comments and rubrics will be returned to you by Tuesday, June 11th via email.

DELIVERING THE ESSAY TO ME: You may certainly email it to me at tjohnson@siu.edu. If you prefer to send me a hard copy, slip the paper under my door (room 230) or give it to my secretary (Ms. Carol Manis in room 243). If you slip it under my door or give it my secretary, you should let me know that you have done that.

WRITING OR TYPING: Approach these essays (and all your practice essays) in the way that you will for the bar exam. Thus, if you plan to type for the bar exam, then type your answers. If you plan to write, then write your answers to these essay questions. If you write, I will gladly accept scanned electronic copies of your essays.

INCLUDE YOUR NAME AND CONTACT INFORMATION ON YOUR ESSAY: Occasionally, we may have a question about the work you have turned in. Having your contact information helps us to easily get a hold of you if we have any questions about your essay.

BARBRI/KAPLAN STUDENTS (THEMIS students scroll down for your essay directions)

Essay - TORTS- Please use the February 2009 Torts Question in your essay book. The text of the question is set out below.

Penny lives in an apartment on Oak Street across from the Fernbury Baseball Park (“the Park”). The Park is owned and maintained by the Fernbury Flies, a professional minor league baseball team. As she left her apartment building one day, Penny was struck in the head by a baseball that had been hit by Dennis, a Flies player, during a game.

The section of Oak Street that adjoins the Park was once lined with single-family homes. Over the past two decades, these homes have been replaced by stores and apartment buildings, causing an increase in both car and pedestrian traffic on Oak Street.

The ball that struck Penny was one of the longest that had been hit at the Park since its construction 40 years ago. During the last 40 years, Flies’ records show that only 30 balls had previously been hit over the Park fence adjoining Oak Street. Fifteen of the balls hit out of the Park onto Oak Street were hit during the past decade.

The Park is surrounded by a 10-foot-high fence, which was built during the Park’s construction. All other ballparks owned by clubs in the Flies’ league are surrounded by fences of similar type and identical height. These fences are typical of those used by other minor league teams in the United States. However, in Japan, where ballparks are often located in congested urban neighborhoods, netting is typically attached to ballpark fences. This netting permits balls to go over a fence but captures balls before they can strike a bystander or car.

After being struck by the ball, Penny was taken by ambulance to a hospital emergency room. After tests, the treating physician told Penny that she had suffered a concussion. The physician prescribed pain mediation for Penny. However, because of a preexisting condition, she had an adverse reaction to the medication and suffered neurological damage resulting in the loss of sensation in her extremities.

Penny has sued Dennis, the player who hit the baseball that struck her, for battery and negligence. Penny has also sued the Fernbury Flies. She seeks to recover damages for the concussion and the neurological damage resulting from the medication.

1. Does Penny have a viable tort claim against Dennis? Explain.

2. Does Penny have a viable tort claim against the Fernbury Flies? Explain

THEMIS STUDENTS

Essay - PROPERTY - Please use the February 2009 Property Question in your essay materials. The text of the question is set out below.

Several years ago, Parent, the record owner of a farm in fee simple absolute, conveyed the farm as a gift “jointly in fee to my beloved daughters, Jessie and Karen, equally, to share and share alike.” Parent delivered the deed to Jessie and Karen. The deed was never recorded.

Two years ago, Jessie borrowed $60,000 from Credit Union, securing the loan by granting Credit Union a mortgage on her interest in the farm. Credit Union properly and promptly recorded the mortgage.

Six months ago, Jessie validly contracted to sell her one-half interest in the farm for $90,000 to Buyer, who was very anxious to acquire Jessie’s interest. Buyer paid Jessie $40,000 as earnest money and agreed in the contract to accept a deed with no warranties of any kind and to accept the title regardless of whether title was marketable. Buyer had no actual notice of the mortgage Jessie had granted to Credit Union.

Two months ago, before closing the sale with Buyer, Jessie died, survived by Karen. At the time of Jessie’s death, the loan secured by Credit Union’s mortgage was still outstanding. Jessie’s will provided: “I give all my real property to Devisee and all of my personal property to Legatee.” Both Devisee and Legatee survived Jessie.

Last month, the executor of Jessie’s estate executed a deed purporting to convey a one-half interest in the farm to Buyer in exchange for the balance of the purchase price.

The jurisdiction has a notice-type recording statute and a grantor-grantee index system.

Did Parent convey the farm to Jessie and Karen as “tenants in common” or as “joint tenants with right of survivorship”? Explain.

Assuming Jessie and Karen acquired a joint tenancy with right of survivorship in the farm, what are the rights, if any, of Karen, Credit Union, and Buyer in the farm? Explain.

Assuming Jessie and Karen acquired a joint tenancy with right of survivorship in the farm, who is entitled to the balance of the purchase price Buyer paid the executor of Jessie’s estate? Explain.

Below please find additional TORTS essay for you to turn in for this week's weekly essay. Some of you let me know that the essay I assigned was already assigned by your commercial prep course. This sometimes happens as we are drawwing from the same source of essays - those actually used in previous bar exams. It is however rarely my intention that such overlap occurs. My goal is to give you additional practice and more personal feedback. Thanks to all of you who let me know about this!

If you have already completed the essay I assigned earlier and would like to turn that one in for comments, feel free. If you would like to do this one instead, you of course can. If you would like to do both and turn both in for comments, I will allow that as well due to the mix up. Just remember that anything you turn in will be due by Thursday, June 6th. This will give us enough time to carefully review, comment, fill out the rubric and return by Tuesday June 11th.

Sorry again for the mixup.

ADDITIONAL TORTS ESSAY Please see the Torts essay dated February 2008 in your materials.

Last month, Paul attended a fund-raising lunch at Library, where he purchased and ate a chicken salad sandwich. Later that day, he became severely ill and was diagnosed with food poisoning. As a result of the food poisoning, Paul developed a permanent digestive disorder.

Several other people also became sick after eating lunch, and the Health Department determined that the chicken salad was contaminated with salmonella bacteria. According to the Health Department, raw chicken often contains salmonella bacteria. Although the risk of salmonella contamination cannot be eliminated, proper preparation and cooking can ensure that the chicken is safe for eating. The chicken must be thoroughly cooked, and all utensils or surfaces that come in contact with raw chicken must be thoroughly cleaned with hot water and soap before further use.

The Reading Club had initiated and planned the Library’s first and only fund-raising lunch. Ann, Bill, and Chuck independently volunteered to make the chicken salad. Each made a separate batch of salad, using their own recipes and working individually at their own homes. Another volunteer combined the three batches of salad at Library, and a Library employee sold sandwiches at the lunch. All lunch profits went to Library.

Ann, Bill, and Chuck each purchased their chicken from Supermarket. The chicken was contained in packages labeled with a prominent warning describing the risk of salmonella contamination and the precautions necessary to avoid that risk.

A Health Department spokesperson has said that “Someone who made the chicken salad did not take proper precautions.” Ann, Bill, and Chuck all claim they took the proper precautions.

Paul has consulted an attorney about bringing a tort action against: (1) Library, (2) Supermarket, and (3) Ann, Bill, and Chuck. If Paul can prove only the facts outlined above:

1. Can Library be found liable to Paul under a strict liability theory? Explain.

2. Can Supermarket be found liable to Paul under a strict liability theory? Explain.

3. Can Ann, Bill, and Chuck be found liable to Paul under either a strict liability or negligence theory? Explain.

ESSAY DUE DATE: This essay will be due on this coming Thursday - June 13th. Essays with comments and rubrics will be returned to you by Tuesday, June 18th via email.

DELIVERING THE ESSAY TO ME: You may certainly email it to me at tjohnson@siu.edu. If you prefer to send me a hard copy, slip the paper under my door (room 230) or give it to my secretary (Ms. Carol Manis in room 243). If you slip it under my door or give it my secretary, you should let me know that you have done that.

WRITING OR TYPING: Approach these essays (and all your practice essays) in the way that you will for the bar exam. Thus, if you plan to type for the bar exam, then type your answers. If you plan to write, then write your answers to these essay questions. If you write, I will gladly accept scanned electronic copies of your essays.

INCLUDE YOUR NAME AND CONTACT INFORMATION ON YOUR ESSAY: Occasionally, we may have a question about the work you have turned in. Having your contact information helps us to easily get a hold of you if we have any questions about your essay.

ALL STUDENTS

It is with some trepidation that I post the next essay without an alternate. Some things have changed and I am trying to manage all of the schedules and assignments from various commercial bar graders. With that said, if you have not covered this topic or have had this essay assigned, please let me know and I will post another)

Essay - REAL PROPERTY - Please use the July 2007 Question in your essay book. The text of the question is set out below.

Owen owned vacant land (Whiteacre) in State B located 500 yards from a lake and bordered by vacant land owned by others. Owen, who lived 50 miles from Whiteacre, used Whiteacre for cut-ting firewood and for parking his car when he used the lake.

Twenty years ago, Owen delivered to Abe a deed that read in its entirety:

Owen hereby conveys to the grantee by a general warranty deed that parcel of vacant land in State B known as Whiteacre.

Owen signed the deed immediately below the quoted language and his signature was notarized. The deed was never recorded.

For the next 11 years, Abe seasonally planted vegetables on Whiteacre, cut timber on it, parked vehicles there when he and his family used the nearby lake for recreation, and gave permission to friends to park their cars and recreational vehicles there. He also paid the real property taxes due on the land, although the tax bills were actually sent to Owen because title had not been registered in

Abe’s name on the assessor’s books. Abe did not build any structure on Whiteacre, fence it, or post no-trespassing signs.

Nine years ago, Abe moved to State C. Since that time, he has neither used Whiteacre nor given others permission to use Whiteacre, and to all outward appearances the land has appeared unoc-cupied.

Last year, Owen died intestate leaving his daughter, Doris, as his sole heir. After Owen’s death, Doris conveyed Whiteacre by a valid deed to Buyer, who paid fair market value for Whiteacre. Neither Doris nor Buyer knew of the Owen-to-Abe deed. Both Doris and Buyer believed that Owen was the owner of Whiteacre at the time of his death. Buyer promptly and properly recorded the deed from Doris and immediately went into possession of Whiteacre.

Last month Abe returned to State B. When he discovered Buyer in possession of Whiteacre, he sued Buyer for possession.

State B has enacted the following statutes:
1. Actions to recover possession of real property shall be brought within ten years after the cause of action accrues.
2. No conveyance or mortgage of real property shall be good against subsequent purchasers for value and without notice unless the same be recorded according to law.

Who is entitled to possession of Whiteacre? Explain.

SIU Bar Prep Workshop #2

Video
PDF Handout

SIU Bar Prep Workshop #3

Video


PDF Handout

ESSAY DUE DATE: This essay will be due on this coming Thursday - June 20th. Essays with comments and rubrics will be returned to you by Tuesday, June 25th via email.

DELIVERING THE ESSAY TO ME: You may certainly email it to me at tjohnson@siu.edu. If you prefer to send me a hard copy, slip the paper under my door (room 230) or give it to my secretary (Ms. Carol Manis in room 243). If you slip it under my door or give it my secretary, you should let me know that you have done that.

WRITING OR TYPING: Approach these essays (and all your practice essays) in the way that you will for the bar exam. Thus, if you plan to type for the bar exam, then type your answers. If you plan to write, then write your answers to these essay questions. If you write, I will gladly accept scanned electronic copies of your essays.

INCLUDE YOUR NAME AND CONTACT INFORMATION ON YOUR ESSAY: Occasionally, we may have a question about the work you have turned in. Having your contact information helps us to easily get a hold of you if we have any questions about your essay.

ALL STUDENTS

Essay - Agency and Partnership - Please use the July 2009 Agency and Partnership Question in your essay book. The text of the question is set out below.

Six months ago, Andy, Ben, and Carol executed a document entitled “Metropolitan Limited Partnership Agreement” (“the agreement”). Under the terms of the agreement, Andy, Ben, and Carol were to be “limited partners” in the “Metropolitan Limited Partnership” (“MLP”). The agreement provided that each would contribute $500,000 to the venture, which they each did.

The agreement also provided that Warren would be the “general partner” of MLP, but Warren never signed the agreement.

The agreement further provided that the venture would buy undeveloped land and hold it for development. The land was purchased, and a deed for the land naming MLP as grantee was executed, delivered, and recorded. In the MLP name, Andy, Ben, and Carol also hired a marketing company, Marketing, to develop a campaign to resell the land as “Metropolitan Estates.”

Two Months after the agreement was executed by Andy, Ben, and Carol, Marketing sued MLP, and Any, Ben, and Carol individually, for nonpayment of amounts due to Marketing for services it had provided to MLP. MLP is unable to pay Marketing because the land, its only asset, has substantially depreciated due to an economic downturn.

Immediately after Marketing filed suit, Andy, Ben, and Carol filed a certificate of limited partnership in the name of MLP in the appropriate state office.

Two weeks after the certificate of limited partnership was filed, Zack went onto the land owned in the name of MLP and fell down an uncovered well. Zack died as a result of injuries suffered in the fall. Zack’s estate has filed a wrongful death action against Andy, Ben, and Carol individually.

1. What type of entity is MLP? Explain.

2. Can Marketing recover from Andy, Ben, and Carol personally for the amounts it is owned by MLP? What steps must it follow if it tries to do so? Explain.

3. If Zack’s estate is entitled to damages, can it recover from Andy, Ben, and Carol personally for the wrongful death claim? What steps must it follow if it tries to do so? Explain.

ESSAY DUE DATE: This essay will be due on this coming Thursday - June 27th. Essays with comments and rubrics will be returned to you by Tuesday, July 2nd via email.

DELIVERING THE ESSAY TO ME: You may certainly email it to me at tjohnson@siu.edu. If you prefer to send me a hard copy, slip the paper under my door (room 230) or give it to my secretary (Ms. Carol Manis in room 243). If you slip it under my door or give it my secretary, you should let me know that you have done that.

WRITING OR TYPING: Approach these essays (and all your practice essays) in the way that you will for the bar exam. Thus, if you plan to type for the bar exam, then type your answers. If you plan to write, then write your answers to these essay questions. If you write, I will gladly accept scanned electronic copies of your essays.

INCLUDE YOUR NAME AND CONTACT INFORMATION ON YOUR ESSAY: Occasionally, we may have a question about the work you have turned in. Having your contact information helps us to easily get a hold of you if we have any questions about your essay.

ALL STUDENTS
Essay - Evidence - Please use the February 2008 Evidence Question in your essay materials. The text of the question is set out below.

Victor was taken by ambulance to a hospital. Standard hospital practice requires the admitting nurse in the emergency room to record all information provided by a patient about the cause of the patient’s illness or injury. Following that practice, the admitting nurse, Nurse, asked Victor: “What happened?” Victor responded: “I was stabbed with a big knife. Dan did it.” Nurse immediately wrote Victor’s statement in the appropriate place in the hospital record.

One week after his hospital admission, Victor unexpectedly died as a result of the stab wound. Dan was charged with Victor’s murder.

When Victor’s wife, Wife, heard of Dan’s arrest, she was shocked. She told Friend, “When Victor and I were alone together in the hospital, he told me who stabbed him, and it wasn’t Dan!” But Wife refused to tell Friend whom Victor had identified as his assailant.

During the trial, in order to prove that Dan stabbed Victor, the prosecutor offered the hospital record made by Nurse that contained Victor’s statement that Dan stabbed him. The prosecutor cannot locate Nurse to testify at trial. Defense counsel objected to admission of the hospital record and the statements in it, but the court overruled the objection.

During the presentation of Dan’s case, defense counsel suggested that Victor had been attacked by Stepson, Wife’s child by a previous marriage. Defense counsel called Wife as a witness and questioned her concerning Victor’s statement to her about the identity of his assailant. Wife refused to answer on the basis of the marital privilege. The prosecutor objected to the questions directed to Wife on the grounds that they sought to elicit hearsay. The court sustained both Wife’s claim of privilege and the prosecutor’s hearsay objection.

1. Did the trial court err in admitting into evidence the hospital record containing Victor’s statement? Explain.

2. Did the trial court err in sustaining Wife’s claim of privilege? Explain.

3. Did the trial court err in sustaining the prosecutor’s hearsay objection to Wife’s testimony? Explain.

Below is an additional essay for this week. Some of you informed me that your commercial bar provider has already assigned the Evidence question I posted earlier. I am adding the Commercial Paper question as an option. Please note that you are free to turn in either one, but you may only turn in one. Some of you have already turned in your evidence essay and if you have, you are done for the week in terms of turning in an essay to me. But, if you prefer to do something else, you have the commercial paper essay below as an option.

Essay- COMMERCIAL PAPER - Please use the February 2009 Commercial Paper Question in your essay materials. The text of the question is set out below.
Drawer wrote a check, drawn on Bank, to Payee for $3,000 and delivered the check to Payee as payment for services Payee had performed for Drawer. Before Payee had a chance to deposit the check in her bank account, she was robbed at gunpoint by Thief, who took her handbag with the check in it. After Thief discovered payee’s check in her handbag, he used the examples of Payee’s signature on various pieces of identification inside her wallet to create a perfect forgery of Payee’s signature on the back of the check.

The next day, Thief agreed to buy a used car from Seller for $3,000. Thief offered Seller the $3,000 check stolen from payee as payment for the car. Thief told Seller that his friend Payee, owed him $3,000 and had signed the check over to him so that he could use it to pay for the car. Seller was initially reluctant to take the check in payment for the car. However, Thief showed Payee’s driver’s license to Seller, explaining that Payee had lent him her ID while she was at work. Seller saw that the signature on the check matched the signature on the driver’s license, so he was convinced that Thief was telling the truth and that Payee had negotiated the check to Thief. Acting in good faith, Seller took the check in payment for the car, gave Thief the car keys, and signed the certificate of title over to him. Thief drove off in the car.

The next day, Seller took payee’s check to Bank and tried to cash it, but Drawer had stopped payment on the check after payee had told him that the check had been stolen. Accordingly, Bank’s teller refused to pay the check.

Does Seller have a right to recover the amount of the check from any of payee, Drawer, Bank, or Thief? Explain as to each.

ESSAY DUE DATE: This essay will be due on this coming Friday (the due date is extended due to the holiday) - July 5th. Essays with comments and rubrics will be returned to you by Tuesday, July 9th via email.

DELIVERING THE ESSAY TO ME: You may certainly email it to me at tjohnson@siu.edu. If you prefer to send me a hard copy, slip the paper under my door (room 230) or give it to my secretary (Ms. Carol Manis in room 243). If you slip it under my door or give it my secretary, you should let me know that you have done that.

WRITING OR TYPING: Approach these essays (and all your practice essays) in the way that you will for the bar exam. Thus, if you plan to type for the bar exam, then type your answers. If you plan to write, then write your answers to these essay questions. If you write, I will gladly accept scanned electronic copies of your essays.

INCLUDE YOUR NAME AND CONTACT INFORMATION ON YOUR ESSAY: Occasionally, we may have a question about the work you have turned in. Having your contact information helps us to easily get a hold of you if we have any questions about your essay.

ALL STUDENTS
Essay- CORPORATIONS - Please use the February 2006 Corporations Question in your essay materials. The text of the question is set out below.

Green Corporation (“Green”) was properly incorporated in State A. Green’s articles of incorporation authorize 100 shares of common stock (“Common”) and 300 shares of Class A nonvoting cumulative preferred stock (“Class A Preferred”). Each Class A Preferred share is entitled to a quarterly dividend of $1. Green’s articles provide that, if Green fails to pay this dividend for four consecutive quarters, each Class A Preferred share becomes entitled to one vote on all matters voted on at shareholders’ meetings until all arrearages have been paid.

Deb owns all 100 shares of the Common and 100 shares of the Class A Preferred. Ed owns the remaining 200 shares of the Class A Preferred. Neither Deb nor Ed is a director or officer of Green.

Green has been experiencing financial difficulties for some time and has not paid the Class A Preferred dividends for more than four consecutive quarters. On Sept. 2, Green’s board unanimously adopted a proposal to dissolve the corporation. The board then called a special meeting of the shareholders to vote on this proposal. The notice of the special meeting indicated that a special meeting would be held at the corporation’s principal office on October 15. The notice did not state the purpose of the meeting. The notice was sent to Deb. She received it on September 10.

On October 13, two days before the special meeting, Deb and Ed met for dinner. At dinner, Deb asked Ed to serve as her proxy at the special meeting because she could not attend. Ed was surprised because he had not received any notice of the special meeting from Green. Nonetheless, Ed told Deb that he would attend the meeting and vote her shares.

On October 15, at breakfast before the meeting began, Ed first learned of the proposed dissolution of Green. Ed immediately called Deb to inform her of the proposal. Deb directed Ed to vote all of her shares in favor of the proposal. Ed went to the meeting and voted Deb’s shares in favor and his own shares against the proposal to dissolve Green.

1. Was the special shareholders’ meeting called to dissolve Green properly held? Explain.

2. Was the proposal to dissolve Green properly adopted by its shareholders? Explain.