I know it's been a few days since I last posted something regarding my Bar Studies but I'll give you a recap of the last few days.
Sunday - I know did something bar related, but I can't remember it right now. I think I wrote a Constitutional Law Exam and outlined two more.
Monday - Contracts Lecture one. Contracts was the one class my first year of law school where I did tons of work. I briefed every case, I read the hornbook, and I even did practice exams. I did pretty well considering the newness and difficulty of the material. Now however the only thing that I can remember is "Armidillios From Texas Play Rap, Eating Tacos." It's a great way of remembering the overall structure of approaching a contracts question. A for applicable law (either UCC or Common Law), F for Formation of contracts, T for Terms of contract, P for Performance, R for Remedies for unexcused non-performance, E for Excuse of non-performance, and T for Third Party Beneficiaries. (Assignment & Delegation, Accord & Satisfaction, Novation, etc...). The other memory tool I've used is S*$% Fourteen Children Died Testing Contracts Bloody Rigors" (scope-formation-consideration-Defense to formation-TPB-Contract Terms (inc. Performance), Breach, and Remedies). I guess both are just as effective, it just depends on what image you want to have in your head.
Tuesday - Contracts Lecture 2 - Prof. Epstein lays out the material pretty well by explaining the general rule and then providing one sentence fact patterns to see when the rule applies. His lecture pretty much covers the whole of contract law, even stuff that was not covered so much in law school (such as the statute of frauds or third party beneficiaries). Unfortunately after the lecture I was pretty much dead. I don't know if it was from lack of sleep (can't be, I've been sleeping pretty well) or missing my regular caffeine jolt (Coffee works for me, Red Bull is just a bad idea). It took me forever to answer the contracts MBE questions (my eyes felt like lead weights). I spent some time reviewing and updating my Contracts one sheet by integrating the material form the lecture. One nice thing was that I was able to watch a bit of the Euro 2008 Tournament during lunch.
Wednesday - Contracts Lecture 3 - Not too bad today, but I'm wondering why Prof. Epstein is wearing a t-shirt with Sharon Stone on it. (Probably because a shirt about Conviser would void his contract with Bar/Bri, which brings up the subject of conditions.......) Just a quick wrap up of remedies and a discussion of Third Party Beneficiaries. The work for tonight is a little daunting, two sets of Multiple Choice Questions, reviewing for Criminal law (need to make a one-sheet and flashcards) and reviewing todays material. At least there are no assigned essays, otherwise I would not be leaving until the building closes.
On an aside, I have two bad habits that don't bode well for the bar exam, I'm both a news and a politics junkie so I nearly fell off my chair when I saw this in the L.A. Times. I guess Judge K will be subject to the Miller Obscenity Test (1) Appeals to a prurient interest in sex, (2) Patently offensive under the law prohibiting obscenity, and (3) Taken as a whole lacks serious redeeming artistic, literary, political, or scientific value. (And no, you won't find any secret folders or documents on this site.) Maybe he'll argue that the law is vague and over broad, but I doubt it.
WDR.
June 11, 2008
Belated Posting - Contracts Rap
Damn! And here it is I spent all this time trying to find the "Secret Stash."
Posted by: Michael Randall | June 11, 2008 at 09:47 PM