97 / 216
LAW-2177 Fundamentals of Law
Mr. James A. Janda,
4 credits day; 4 credits evening.
Description: The primary purpose of this course is to prepare students for the both the MBE and
essay portions of the bar examination. More specifically, the course would have a three-fold
focus.
First, on a substantive level, the course will expose students to the essential, frequently-tested
principles and concepts in each of the subjects on both the Multistate Bar Exam (MBE) multiple
choice and essay portions of the bar exam. The MBE is a two hundred question multiple choice
test that encompasses the following seven subjects: (1) Civil Procedure; (2) Constitutional Law;
(3) Contracts (including article 2 (Sales) of the Uniform Commercial Code); (4) Criminal Law
and Procedure; (5) Evidence; (6) Real Property; and (7) Torts. The essay portion of most state
bar exams encompass the seven MBE subjects as well as approximately a dozen other subjects
(e.g., Agency, Business Associations, Domestic Relations, Federal Jurisdiction, the Federal
Rules of Civil Procedure, Professional Responsibility, Trusts, Unfair or Deceptive Trade
Practices (Chapter 93A), UCC. art. 3 (Commercial Paper), UCC art. 9 (Secured Transactions)
and Wills).
Second, on a skills level, the course will provide students with techniques and approaches
necessary to properly answer bar exam multiple choice questions and to draft organized, well-
written bar essay responses. Students will receive weekly assignments requiring them to answer
multiple choice questions and draft answers to essay questions, and the instructor will provide
frequent feedback to students on their performance. In addition to the classroom instruction
during the semester, students will have several opportunities to meet individually with the
instructor to review their progress.
Third, on a practical level, the course will expose students, through both assignments and in-
class exercises, to the typical fact patterns and scenarios that frequently appear both on the
multiple choice and essay portions of the exam. For the MBE, the course will use multiple choice
questions that have actually appeared on past bar exams and that the National Conference of Bar
Examiners has released. For the essay portion of the exam, the course will use questions that
have appeared on essay portion of bar exams in the past.
Faculty comments
: Faculty Comments: This course is designed to provide students in their last
year of law school with a thorough grounding in the format, structure and substance of the
multiple choice and essay components of the bar exam. After an initial introduction to the format
and scoring of the bar exam, we will spend two full classes on each on the seven MBE subjects,
targeting frequently tested topics on both the MBE and essay portions of the exam. We will then
have a series of classes focusing on the state-specific subjects on the essay portion of the exam,
again targeting the highly-tested topics.
Teaching method: The instructor’s teaching style will combine lectures on the substantive law
with discussion of problems to illustrate applying the substantive principles to properly answer
both multiple choice and essay questions.
Methods of Evaluation: