Essay Writing for the Bar Exam

Always, write for an uninformed audience – i.e.  assume your audience knows nothing about the law.  Bar examiners test you as if you are meeting your client for the first time.

What are the examiners looking for?

The examiners are looking for 4 things when you write your essay:

• Substantive Legal Knowledge

 The examiners look for your knowledge of the law involved in the question and specific rules within the question that are relevant under the facts.  Relevancy is the key.  Students fail the essay portion of the exam because they don’t know the law.  It is not enough to know the elements of a rule, you must know when the rule is relevant

•  Analytical Ability

 You must show the grader that you know what to do with the facts – people fail the essay portion because they are conclusory and they fail to show facts supported by their conclusion.

• Effective Communication

 You need to show the examiners that you have effective communication skills.  If you are poorly organized  you will move down in points.  Remember that your writing skills do matter as, to a lesser extent, spelling and grammar.

•  Principled Advocacy

 The trend in essay writing is for some sort of legal ethics and professional conduct component within the main subject essay.  Ask yourself, is the action ethical?

What you  need to do to pass the essay

Read the call of the question for issue spotting

Practice Time Management:  Always watch your time

Practice Writing

Keep sentences short and concise