Hello All,

All the best to everyone taking the bar exam tomorrow! Remember to stay positive and focus on doing your best, you can do it!

There is still time to join our July 2014 Bar Exam Tips List:

Each bar round I pick a test location and meet up with my students after day one of the bar exam. During this meeting I go over my revised essay predictions for day three (based upon what was tested on day one’s essay) and provide tips on where to focus your studies for day three of the exam.

I also provide an email version of this that I make available to my enrolled students who are at other test locations. This year, I will also make this available to blog followers. If you would like to receive this information, you can join our list here:

Please be sure to select “yes” or “no” in the drop down menus below and click on the “submit” button at the bottom of the form to be added to our list. Be sure to see more exam tips below this form.

Ontario Test Location Bar Exam Meetup:

If you would like to attend our Ontario Bar Exam Meet Up, we have a few spaces available. Send an email to me at: barexamguru@yahoo.com and we will get back to you on a first come, first served basis.  

Okay, and now a few more exam tips list: Areas that I have not mentioned outside of my class sessions include: the tracing rules (from Remedies – First in, First Out, Lowest Intermediate Balance Rule, Replenishment Theory) and Fifth Amendment Takings (specifically what is known as a “Regulatory Taking”). These two areas have not shown up in some time on the bar exam.

If you were to have the tracing rules tested, you would have an essay with a commingled bank account. If you were to be tested in the area of Regulatory Takings you would have a regulation that took away (limited, decreased, etc.) some use of the land. Past exams have included: an ordinance that provided the public the right to picket on private property and also statutes that limited land development due to a need to protect the habitat of an endangered species. If you were to see something like this, you would need to address the Fifth Amendment Taking issue and explain that while the statute or ordinance does not amount to an “actual physical taking”, the landowner may have a claim under a regulatory taking theory (this still allows for “just compensation”).

A little more on Property . . .

Property – As I mentioned in an earlier post, Property could repeat on the July 2014 bar exam (it was tested on the February 2014 bar exam). So if Property is tested tomorrow or on Thursday, what might likely show up? Well, Landlord/Tenant is one of the most commonly tested areas of Property. So, that is always fair game. However, Easements (it has not been tested in quite some time) is very possible (either alone or in a possible land sale contract setting or even with Landlord/Tenant). And as I mentioned in an earlier post, Covenants and Equitable Servitudes are possible.

If you were to get an essay on Easements and it was in the land sale context – the scenario could go like this: Betty is granted an easement by Grant for a 20-foot road. She receives this easement by express grant, but never records. Betty uses the road and ultimately paves a thirty-foot wide road and begins using it for part residential and part commercial use. Grant sells his land (the servient tenement, the land that is burdened by the easement) to Buyer. The issues become 1) Does Betty have a valid Easement, 2) Does Buyer take the land subject to Betty’s easement etc.The above scenario generates many discussable points.

To determine whether Betty has a valid easement you should follow the Easements approach:

1. Is the easement appurtenant or in gross? (this should be a very short discussion)

2. Is the Easement affirmative or negative easement? (this should be a very short discussion)

3. Creation – how was the easement created (PING)?

4. Scope – what is the scope of the easement and was the scope exceeded – or was the easement overburdened?

5. Was the easement terminated?

With respect to whether Buyer takes the land subject to Betty’s easement will likely require a few discussions: 1) a discussion of notice (actual notice, inquiry notice and constructive notice) and potentially recording act statutes and 2) a potential Warranty Deed discussion where you discuss the present and future covenants (six total).

**Incidentally, I think that an essay involving an Easement is just as likely an essay testing scenario in Property as is a straight Covenants/Equitable Servitudes essay.

Further Predictions for day three: I will continue posting on my blog through the bar exam (but, to get the complete inside view, please sign up for our tips list). After I know what was tested on day one, I will provide my suggestions of areas to focus on for day three’s essays (revised predictions for day three’s essays). However in order for me to do so, since I am not sitting for the test, I need to hear from examinees as to what was actually tested. My students will contact me, but, the more examinees I hear from, the more I will know and the more focused I can be about making suggestions for areas to study on day three.

Help me help you: So, if you have a moment, please feel free to email me on Tuesday during your break with your thoughts on what was tested. The more I know, the more I can offer to you. I can be reached via email at: barexamguru@yahoo.com

Hang in there, I know these last hours can be tough, but, be positive and believe in yourself!

Best of luck to all who are taking the bar exam! Thank you for the following and for your positive feedback via email – it is greatly appreciated, I love hearing from you!

Lisa Duncanson