JD Advising’s July 2020 UBE Predictions

JD Advising’s July 2020 UBE Predictions

Are you starting to prepare for the July 2020 Uniform Bar Exam? Are you curious as to what subjects might appear on the July 2020 UBE? We have taken a close look at the trends on the MEEs and MPTs and created our July 2020 UBE predictions. Below are the essay subjects and MPTs that we think are coming up!

NOTE: we will post separate prediction posts for the September 9-10 exam and the September 30-October 1 exam. Please continue to check our website/blog for updates. Or, sign up for our newsletter to get updates right in your inbox! 

Check out this post for the latest updates on each state’s bar exam in light of COVID-19.

Update: please see a recap of the summer and fall 2020 UBEs here!

JD Advising’s July 2020 UBE Predictions

Disclaimer: You should NOT solely rely on these July 2020 UBE predictions when you study! You should review all subjects when preparing for the UBE exam. All subjects are fair game for the exam. This is just our educated guess on what will appear on the exam, which we do for fun! Sometimes we are right. Sometimes we are not! Please review our free MEE guide for the highly tested topics and be careful not to ignore any subject!

Update: We predicted that Constitutional Law, Corporations, Evidence, Trusts, and Real Property would be tested, and they were! We missed Secured Transactions and Family Law.

July 2020 MEE Predictions

1. Agency & Partnership

Agency most recently appeared on the bar exam in February 2020 in a crossover essay with Torts. However, Agency has not been tested as a stand-alone subject since February 2017. Furthermore, Agency has not been tested in conjunction with Partnership since February 2016. Thus, it is possible that you may see a pure Agency question, a pure Partnership question, or an Agency/Partnership crossover. Some commonly tested issues include actual authority, apparent authority, ratification, formation and dissolution of general partnerships, and limited liability partnerships. 

We recommend taking a look at the following MEEs, all of which are available for free on the NCBE Study Aids website:

• July 2011 (Withdrawal from a partnership; dissolution of a partnership)
• February 2013 (Liability of an agent if principal is undisclosed; apparent authority; ratification)
• February 2014 (General partnership liability; limited liability partnerships)

Note: Your review should NOT be limited solely to the essays listed above!

Update: This was NOT tested! Instead, Corporations and LLCs was tested (combined with Constitutional Law) —this was a NEW crossover! 

2. Constitutional Law

Constitutional Law was last tested in July 2019, appearing in the last question in a Civil Procedure essay. It has not been tested as a stand-alone subject since July 2018. Thus, we think it is very likely to appear on the July 2020 UBE. Constitutional Law has typically been tested on every other exam since February 2012. Constitutional Law essays generally center upon nuanced topics, including but not limited to the dormant commerce clause, sovereign immunity, whether Congress may “commandeer” the states, and the various speech tests under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

We recommend taking a look at the following MEEs, all of which are available for free on the NCBE Study Aids website:

• July 2010 (First Amendment – public forum, designated forum, and nonpublic forum)
• July 2011 (Equal Protection Clause)
• July 2012 (Commerce power; sovereign immunity)

Note: Your review should NOT be limited solely to the essays listed above!

Update: This was tested (but was combined with Corporations and LLCs and was not tested on its own!) 

3. Corporations

Corporations was last tested in July 2019. This subject is often tested every other administration, so it is likely to be tested in July 2020. The July 2019 Corporations question tested duty of care, the business judgment rule, duty of loyalty, and defenses to a breach of the duty of loyalty. So, it is likely that the Examiners may test other issues in addition to or in lieu of these (e.g., LLCs, direct versus derivative actions, piercing the veil, rules concerning directors’ meetings, or rules regarding shareholder voting.)

We recommend taking a look at the following MEEs, all of which are available for free on the NCBE Study Aids website:

• July 2010 (shareholder voting)
• February 2012 (directors’ meetings)
• July 2012 (LLCs; direct versus derivative actions; piercing the LLC veil)

Note: Your review should NOT be limited solely to the essays listed above!

Update: This was tested!

4. Evidence (possibly combined with Criminal Procedure)

Evidence was last tested in February 2020. It is common for the Examiners to repeat a subject or two from the previous administration. Evidence is a likely candidate to appear on the July 2020 UBE given that it was tested in consecutive administrations in 2013 and 2016. Exam takers may see a pure Evidence question. However, Evidence could also be tested in a crossover essay with Criminal Procedure. In case of a crossover, pay close attention to a suspect’s Miranda rights (most frequently tested!) and a defendant’s Sixth Amendment right to counsel.

We recommend taking a look at the following MEEs, all of which are available for free on the NCBE Study Aids website:

• February 2010 (Lay witness testimony; character evidence; habit evidence; impeachment; relevancy)
• February 2012 (Policy exclusions)
• July 2013 (Hearsay; Confrontation Clause)

Note: Your review should NOT be limited solely to the essays listed above!

Update: This was tested! (Note: it was not combined with Civil Procedure) 

5. Real Property

Real Property appeared most recently in February 2020. However, the Examiners tend to repeat one or two subjects from the previous administration. As such, Real Property is a likely candidate to appear on the July 2020 UBE given that it was tested in consecutive administrations in 2013 and 2018. Real Property essays tend to be more open-ended in nature and more nuanced. Make sure to analyze the facts in each paragraph of the fact pattern carefully!

We recommend taking a look at the following MEEs, all of which are available for free on the NCBE Study Aids website:

• February 2012 (Easement creation and termination; future advances)
• February 2013 (Constructive eviction; landlord-tenant: surrender; landlord’s duty to mitigate)
• July 2013 (Implied warranty in properties sold by a builder; warranty deed; taking a home “subject to” the mortgage versus assuming the mortgage)

Note: Your review should NOT be limited solely to the essays listed above!

Update: This was tested!

6. Trusts

The Examiners generally alternate between testing Decedents’ Estates and Trusts. In July 2019, the Examiners included a challenging Decedents’ Estates’/Conflict of Laws crossover and a Wills issue on one of the Multistate Performance Tests. Because the Examiners seemingly doubled down on Decedents’ Estates in July 2019 and also included a Wills issue on one of the Multistate Performance Tests in February 2020, it is more likely that Trusts will appear on the July 2020 UBE.

We recommend taking a look at the following MEEs, all of which are available for free on the NCBE Study Aids website:

• • July 2009 (Cy pres; Uniform Principal and Income Act; duties of the trustee)
  • July 2012 (Termination of a trust; class gifts)
  • February 2013 (Amendment of a trust)

Note: Your review should NOT be limited solely to the essays listed above!

Update: This was tested (combined with Wills!) 

Wild Card: Civil Procedure

Our wild card subject for the July 2020 UBE is Civil Procedure. While Civil Procedure recently appeared in February 2020, it is still the most heavily tested subject. Since July 2011, the Examiners have tested this subject on the MEE on every exam except for two! So, we recommend always being ready for Civil Procedure. Most recently, the Examiners have chosen to alternate between testing more mainstream topics within Civil Procedure and other topics that are more nuanced.

We recommend taking a look at the following MEEs, all of which are available for free on the NCBE Study Aids website:

• July 2012 (Leave to amend; summary judgment)
• February 2013 (Claim preclusion; issue preclusion)
• July 2013 (Diversity jurisdiction; domicile; venue)

Note: Your review should NOT be limited solely to the essays listed above!

Update: This was not tested! 

If you want to make your own predictions, please see our UBE frequency chart!

Note: We want to emphasize that you should not rely solely on these predictions! You should still study all of the subjects and focus on the most highly tested topics within each subject. We are simply letting you know our July 2020 UBE predictions.

Note: You should review our free MEE guide for the highly tested topics or purchase our MEE one-sheets or MEE seminar to maximize your knowledge of the MEE material!

Check out this video on our July 2020 MEE predictions!

July 2020 MPT Predictions

On the July 2020 MPT, you will have to complete two tasks if you are sitting in a Uniform Bar Exam jurisdiction. This is worth 20% of your overall bar exam score. The Examiners typically want to see whether students can write both persuasively and objectively. Therefore, it is much more common for students to see one objective task and one persuasive task. Check out our predictions for the July 2020 MPT below.

Update: A persuasive brief (actually a persuasive cover letter that “functions the same as a brief”) was tested. An objective memo was tested. 

1. Persuasive brief

The objective memo and persuasive brief make up at least 70% of all tasks tested during the last 15 years.  Therefore, we think it is highly likely that examinees will be asked to complete one of these tasks. Since July 2012 students were asked to write an objective memo 14 times and a persuasive brief nine times. The persuasive brief was last tested in February 2019. Thus, our best guess is that examinees will be asked to write a persuasive brief on the July 2020 UBE.

If you are unfamiliar with how to format a brief, take a look at our post on how to format a persuasive brief on the MPT. 

To get some practice with persuasive briefs, we suggest that you complete a few tasks under timed conditions to figure out your strengths and weaknesses. We recommend taking a look at the following MPTs, all of which are available for free on the NCBE Study Aids website:

• July 2012: Ashton v. Indigo Construction Co.
• February 2013:In re Guardianship of Will Fox
• February 2014: In re Rowan

Update: tested!

2. An Opinion or Demand Letter

After the objective memo and the persuasive brief, the next most common MPT tasks are opinion letters and demand letters. The last time examinees were asked to write a letter was in February 2016. We think that if you are asked to complete a persuasive brief for one of the tasks on the July 2020 MPT, the other task will most likely be a letter – either a demand letter or an opinion letter.

We suspect that if you are given a persuasive brief, you are more likely to be assigned an opinion letter because that tests objective writing skills. Opinion letters are generally written to clients. They provide an objective view of the possible courses of action available to them. If you are feeling unsure about this task, check out our post on how to draft an opinion letter. Demand letters generally ask the recipient of the letter to take a particular action, thus it is a persuasive task. If you are looking for tips, take a moment to read our post on how to format a demand letter.

To get some practice with letters, we suggest that you complete a few tasks under timed conditions to figure out your strengths and weaknesses. So, we recommend taking a look at the following MPTs, all of which are available for free on the NCBE Study Aids website:

• July 2009: In re City of Bluewater
• July 2012: State of Franklin v. Soper
• February 2013: In re Wendy Martel

Update: not tested

Note: Again, we want to emphasize that you should not rely solely on these predictions! You should take the time to review all of the commonly tested tasks on the MPT (objective memo, persuasive brief, demand letter, opinion letter) in addition to a few uncommon tasks. It is also worth it to review our free MPT one-sheet, our MPT guide and our MPT Seminar if you need extra guidance.

If this is a section of the exam that you struggle with, we recommend practicing MPTs beginning with the first week of bar prep!

We hope you found our post on the July 2020 UBE predictions helpful!

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