Category: Torts

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Essay Exam Exam Grading law school academic success Torts

Professor Taking Essay Exam

Professor surprised at reading exam

I created a video, watch a professor take an essay exam, where I take a torts bar exam question I’ve never seen before.  Using bar exam conditions, I limited my time to 30 minutes and took it closed book.  This process was useful for me, because it reminded me of the extreme pressure my students encounter on the bar exam and on law school exams.

Useful Exercise

young woman studyingThere are several reasons why students will find this exercise valuable.  One, it helps them understand that even an expert struggles to complete a bar exam in 30 minutes.  Two, they can observe how an expert uses their time to first prepare to write and then write.  I then wrote the exam using the Nested IRAC method, an organization technique to ensure you don’t miss anything.  Three, they can see an expert make mistakes, and still earn a decent grade on the exam.

The second part of this exercise was to grade the exam using a grading rubric used by many state bar examiners.  I first discussed the grading rubric, then reviewed the bar exam grader’s model answer, and finally reviewed my essay.

Comparing Answers

As I compared my answer to the model answer, I was surprised by a few things. For starters, I noticed that the grader was assigning points almost exclusively for duty and breach of duty. Yet the call of the question asked me to “explain” my answer.  I understood this to mean a full negligence discussion.  That required not only duty and breach, but also actual cause, proximate cause, and damages.  To do this for each of the three plaintiffs was impossible on a 30 minute exam–a poor job in designing this exam.  A more focused question by the bar exam designers would have yielded better answers.  Oh well, c’est la vie.

How Many Points?

Another problem with the essay question was the point allocation of 15% for the final issue on the unforeseeable extent of injury (i.e., the eggshell plaintiff rule).  The call of the question appears to give it equal weight with the first question, which was comprised of three parts. Thankfully, I was running out of time when I got to this issue.  Therefore, I did not spend more time on it than was necessary. But I didn’t know that when I was taking the exam.  So the lesson here is to do your best. There really isn’t a way to know exactly what the grader is looking for.  Make sure to discuss all the main issues, and if you have time then discuss minor issues.

The Documents

Here are the documents I used for this exercise:

 

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Essay Exam Exam Preparation Torts

Rule Statements on Exams that Get Top Grades

Hand writing word rules, for rule statements

There are ways to write rule statements on exams that get top grades.  Many students don’t know how to do this, even though it’s not a difficult skill to master. Specifically, students fail to provide thorough rule statements. A thorough rule statement is one that accurately defines the primary issue, each relevant word in the issue, and any related issues.

Desk in rules statement exampleFact Pattern Example

Brad and Bella are in the same high school math class. One day before class, Brad thinks it would be funny to pull the chair from under Bella as she is sitting down.  He quietly goes to Bella’s chair, and just as she is sitting down he pulls the chair out from her. Bella falls on her rump, but is not physically hurt.  Bella is quite embarrassed by Brad’s action. Discuss all causes of action Bella can bring against Brad.

Poor Rule Statements

A poor rule statement for this question might read: “A tort occurs when someone intentionally hits someone else.” The rule discusses parts of a battery, but fails to mention the tort by name.  It also fails to identify, let alone define, all the relevant terms. It is not enough to identify some amorphous intentional torts and fail to specify battery.

Average Rule Statements

An average essay answer might read like this: “a battery is the intentional contact of another in a harmful or offensive manner.” This is a good basic definition for battery. However, it fails to define the three key elements of battery: intent, contact, and harmful or offensive. You may want to watch this video on battery for a deeper understanding of this tort.

Reached top of mountainSuperior Rule Statements

A superior essay will have a rule statement like this:  “a battery is the intentional contact of another in a harmful or offensive manner.  Intent is defined as someone who desires the act, or has knowledge to a substantial certainty that the contact will occur.  Contact is defined as the physical touching of a human being.  And finally, harmful or offensive is measured by what society deems as harmful or offensive.” As you can see, in addition to the average rule statement, you must also define intent, contact, and harmful or offensive.  Why?  Because these three key terms will drive your analysis.

IRAC Method

Remember, it is not enough to use the IRAC method in an answer.  Even average answers tend to use IRAC, but they miss out on points because they fail to define necessary key terms. You don’t have to define obvious words like “is” or “the.” But you do need to define every term that judges and lawyers find significant. And by significant, I mean words that can be disputed at trial.

Application

Finally, don’t forget that a great rule statement is only the first step in getting a good grade. Some students have superb rule statements, and then bomb the application section of their essay.  It is imperative that you apply the facts to the rules to get higher grades. This isn’t the only thing that differentiates the average answer from the superior answer, but it is a significant factor in students receiving lower grades.

How to Improve

The best way to improve is through practice.  You need to take short practice exams and then get feedback on how you performed.  Most professors will not review your practice exams, so get help from your academic support department or private tutor.  Also, create a small group for the sole purpose of taking practice exams. If you’re not in a group, you may want to watch this video on law school study groups.

 

 

Categories
Essay Exam Torts

Nested IRAC

Eggs in nest.

Most students know about the IRAC method, but few know about Nested IRAC. The IRAC method is where you identify the issue, state the rule, provide some analysis, and then state the conclusion. But nested IRAC involves creating a separate IRAC for each issue and sub-issue on the exam.

Battery Example

Let me demonstrate this through a tortious battery example. If you don’t recall the elements to battery, you may want to watch my video on battery first.

Derek and John are in the same high school math class. One morning, Derek decides it will be funny to pull out John’s chair just as John is about to sit down. Derek pulls out the chair, and John falls on the floor. John is not physically hurt, but he is extremely embarrassed. Fully discuss which, if any, intentional tort Derek committed.

Now, let’s look at the type of answer I get from my first-year law students:

Typical First Year Law Student Answer

The issue is whether Derek committed a battery against John. Battery is the intentional contact of another in a harmful or offensive manner. Intent is when there is the desire or knowledge to a substantial certainty that the contact will occur. The contact must be direct or indirect. The contact must result in harm or offence. Derek desired to cause John to fall, because he went to John’s chair, waited till he sat down, and then pulled out the chair. Though Derek did not touch John, he knew that by pulling out the chair, John would fall on his rear, causing it to contact the ground. Also, though John was not hurt, a person in high school would be offended by being embarrassed by falling on his rear in front of other students. For these reasons, Derek committed a battery.

Problems

Did you notice that this answer does use IRAC and correctly defines battery and each of the three elements? Unfortunately, it does so in a way that leaves the reader confused. This student expects the reader to connect the intent rule in the third sentence with the analysis in the sixth sentence.

Puzzle pieces. For nested IRAC methodNow there are some problems with this approach. First, by putting everything into one giant paragraph, you might miss something important. Second, the person grading the exam might not understand that those two sentences go together. Think of your exam as a jigsaw puzzle. Put pieces together that connect to each other, not three rows apart from each other. Third, your answer will look much more professional with a better organization style, which can make the difference between getting a B or an A on the exam.

Nested IRAC Example

Now, let’s look at nested IRAC. On an exam, every time you have a different concept, even if it’s connected to one concept, you should IRAC that concept in its own paragraph.

Going back to our battery example, you should start with a short introductory paragraph that provides the issue, rule, and then a short conclusion for battery as a whole. You then need additional paragraphs for the sub-issues, or elements as they are called. For battery, that means three more paragraphs: one for intent, contact, and harmful or offensive.

The second paragraph then begins with the issue for that paragraph: The first issue is whether Derek had the intent to commit a battery against John. You then provide the rule, analysis, and conclusion for that issue.

Next, do the same thing for the remaining two elements, leaving you with four paragraphs for this battery essay.

Results

When you use this method, you will write stronger answers because you are less likely to miss an issue. For example, in one large paragraph, you might forget the analysis because it’s hidden in a jumbled mess. But with a nested IRAC, as soon as you notice that your paragraph has only two sentences you’ll know there is a problem. So begin practicing now, and consider using the prewriting essay method I discussed in an earlier episode.

If you’re still not convinced, here is a comprehensive discussion on the benefits and dangers of using the IRAC method.

 

 

Categories
Torts

US v Carroll Towing

US v Carroll Towing is one of Judge Learned Hand’s most famous tort opinions. Judge Learned Hand served on the second circuit court of appeals, and is often called the greatest circuit court judge. For more biographical information, here is a good article on Judge Learned Hand.

Contract with US Government

The case starts off in the New York City harbor during World War II. The Pennsylvania Rail Road was shipping flour owned by the United States government in its railway cars. When the railway cars arrived in New York City, the railroad rented the barge Anna C. from Connors Marine. They then moved the railway cars onto the barge in the harbor.

As part of their rental agreement, Connors Marine promised to provide a sailor. The sailor, or what the case calls a bargee, was supposed to be on the barge between 8 am and 4 pm every day. Because of wartime conditions, barges were daisy-chained to each other from the pier, extending out into the harbor.

The Scene

tug boats and barges, like the ones in US v Carroll TowingThe Anna C. was moored at pier 52 along with five other barges, all lashed one right next to the other. Over at the next pier, called the public pier, four barges were secured in the same manner. The captain of the tugboat Carroll found these two rows of barges and needed one of
the barges in the public pier next to the Anna C. But to get his barge he needed to remove a rope that connected the two rows of barges.

So the captain of the tug sent two employees onto the barges to remove the rope—the case calls one of the employees a bargee and the other a deckhand. They untied the rope and got their barge, but they forgot to retie the rope once they were done.

Drifting Boats

After a few minutes the rope that secured the Anna C. broke from the pier and all six barges started to float away. It was about 2:00 p.m.

After drifting for a few minutes, the Anna C. crashed into the propeller of a nearby tanker, ripping a hole in the Anna C.’s hull that could not be seen from outside the ship because the hole was under the water line.

The captain of the tugboat rushed back and secured the Anna C. to the pier, but he was unaware of the hole. The Anna C. filled with water and sank into the harbor, destroying all the flour owned by the United States.

It is clear that if Anna C.’s employee had been on board he would have found the hole and kept the Anna C. from sinking.

Negligence

The issue in US v Carroll Towing is whether Connors Marine breached its duty of care by failing to have an employee on board the Anna C. during working hours, as required by its contract. (As an aside, check out this video for a little more help on issue spotting.)

Learned Hand used the following algebraic formula to explain breach of duty: B<PxL. B is the burden of taking adequate precautions; P is the probability of harm and; L is the gravity of the harm. For a more detailed explanation, you can watch a video the explains the Learned Hand formula in more detail.

As applied to this case, the burden for Connors Marine was keeping an employee on the barge during working hours. Next, we look at the probability of harm. In a busy wartime harbor with many barges being moved in and out, that is fairly high. Finally, we look at the gravity of harm. If a barge were to break loose, the harm would likely cause significant damage. Learned Hand held that Connors Marine, the barge owner, breached its duty of care and was therefore negligent for failing to have an employee on board the Anna C. when she sank.

If you are still struggling with the Learned Hand formula, you may want to use the elaborative interrogation technique,

 

Categories
Torts

Proximate Cause

Raise your hand if you perfectly understand proximate cause (aka “legal cause”). No one? Read to the end as I explain how this concept works and how to use it on an exam.

Definition

In every tort, a plaintiff must prove that the defendant was not only the actual cause of the injury, but also the proximate cause of the injury. Proximate cause requires the plaintiff’s harm to be a reasonably foreseeable consequence of the defendant’s wrongful action. In a negligence case, there must be a relatively close connection between the defendant’s breach of duty and the injury.

Proximate cause is sometimes difficult for students to grasp. Why? Because it can be used to eliminate liability for a negligent defendant who caused the harm to the plaintiff. You are probably asking: why would the law eliminate liability for someone who was at fault in causing the plaintiff’s injury? In very rare cases, the events leading to the injury are freakish, remote, or improbable; or, there may be a superseding intervening event that injured the plaintiff. In these cases, the defendant is not the proximate cause of the injury, even though all the other elements are met.  (See my video on intervening causes for a more in-depth explanation on unforeseeable intervening events).

When deciding if someone is not the proximate cause of an injury, the law looks for an unforeseeable type of injury or superseding intervening event. A superseding intervening event is another term for an unforeseeable intervening event. When examining an unforeseeable type of injury, the law ignores the unforeseeable manner or extent of injury.

Rat on Fire

For example, in one case, the owner of a building negligently maintained an exposed pilot light, which had the potential to cause a fire. One would have expected the carpet or someone’s clothes to catch on fire, but instead, in this case, a rat ran by the exposed flame, its fur caught on fire, it ran into a hole, and the building caught on fire, causing damage to the plaintiff’s property in his apartment.

Now, though the manner of how the building caught on fire was unforeseeable, it was still a foreseeable consequence that the owner’s negligence would result in a fire. Therefore, the owner was the proximate cause of the fire.

Eggshell Plaintiff

Also, the law ignores the unforeseeable extent of injury in what is called the eggshell plaintiff rule. For example, if someone negligently backs into the car of a 95-year-old, causing her outrageously high medical bills, the defendant is still the proximate cause of the injury. You take the plaintiff as you find them.

In real life, plaintiffs prove proximate cause 99.99% of the time. In other words, proximate cause isn’t difficult to prove. So why do we spend so much time discussing a topic that has so little real-world application? Because proximate cause is the darling of law professors and bar examiners! For a more detailed discussion, you can read the proximate cause article by Professor Paul Hayden.

Example: Boiling Enamel

Cauldron. Used in proximate cause hypothetical

Let’s work through a fact pattern. Duffy is in the road construction business, and uses boiling enamel as part of the construction process. Duffy sets up a cauldron near a busy road, but he fails to set up any barriers in front of the boiling enamel. He also fails to place a person in front of the enamel to direct traffic away from it.

For the first element in a negligence action, Duffy had a duty to act reasonably under the circumstances. Second, Duffy breached his duty because a reasonable person would have taken a few basic precautions. For example, he should have placed a barrier around the boiling enamel. Also, he should have had people with flags on the road to get people to slow down. Under these facts, Duffy clearly acted unreasonably.

Suppose though that instead of a car crashing through and hitting the enamel, we have an airplane with engine problems. Pilot sees the road and decides to land. He lands at a point near Duffy, at which point the boiling enamel splashes on Perry. Under these facts Duffy isn’t the proximate cause of the harm because the airplane was a superseding intervening event that broke the causal link.

Foreseeability is the Norm

In real life, injuries are almost always a foreseeable consequence of the negligent conduct. If someone is speeding down the road, the foreseeable consequence is an injured pedestrian or another car. When a waiter fails to clean up a water spill, it’s reasonably foreseeable that someone is going to fall. Or, if an airplane mechanic fails to put enough oil into an airplane’s engine, it’s reasonably foreseeable that the plane will crash. It is only in strange cases, like Palsgraf v. Long Island Railroad where foreseeability becomes an issue.

Exam Tip

On an exam, always mention proximate cause in its own paragraph after you establish actual cause. When the harm is foreseeable, three to four sentences will suffice. But if the fact pattern deals with an unforeseeable type of harm or unforeseeable intervening event, then you need to discuss proximate cause in more detail. Don’t forget that reasonable minds can differ in these cases. So pick one side or the other and explain why you believe the defendant is or is not the proximate cause.

If proximate cause is still confusing, our tutors are available to help you master this difficult concept. If you want to explore this complex area, read Causation in the Law by H.L.A. Hart.

 

Categories
Torts

Res Ipsa Loquitur

woman with purple hair told to leave meeting. Used for res ips loquitur

Today I want to discuss the Torts concept res ipsa loquitur. A Latin phrase, which translated means “the thing speaks for itself.” Though for something that should speak for itself, it sure causes a lot of confusion! (For some interesting information on the doctrine, consider reading this article on the effect of the res ipsa loquitur doctrine).

The Context

In negligence cases a defendant can only be found liable if the defendant breached a duty owed to the plaintiff. But sometimes, there is no direct evidence that the defendant did anything to violate the duty of care.

Man walking by building. res ipsa loquitur if window fallsFor example, suppose that someone owns a 10-story office building. One of the sealed windows towards the top, pops out, falls down, and severely injures a pedestrian. At the time the window fell, the office was vacant. In a lawsuit, the building’s owner might try to argue that he doesn’t know why the sealed window popped out. And since he doesn’t know, he must not be negligent. What do you think about that argument? It does have a certain appeal to it. But we should all agree that sealed windows in office buildings don’t magically pop out unless someone is negligent.

To combat this kind of silly argument, res ipsa loquitur was born when the only evidence is circumstantial. Circumstantial evidence allows a jury to make an inference based on what is known. In the window example, we know that there was a sealed window and that it popped out. The inference is that the building owner breached his duty of care.

The History

Latin marble writingThe phrase res ipsa loquitur comes from a mid 19th century British case called Byrne v. Boadle. For purposes of this article, all you need to know is that the world would have been better off if the court had not used Latin. And instead, stated that it was providing a rule for the use of circumstantial evidence in establishing breach of duty.

The Rule

The question of what evidence and instructions can be heard by the jury is up to the judge. In a res ipsa loquitur case, the judge will allow the jury to get a res ipsa loquitur instruction if the following three elements are met:

  1. The harm suffered is most likely caused by the negligence of someone. If it was an act of nature, like a hurricane, then the plaintiff loses on this element.
  2. It is more likely than not that defendant was negligent. (There has to be some connection to the defendant, and it has to be fairly apparent that the defendant breached his duty of care. Some of the cases that you read might state this element differently, saying that the defendant had exclusive control of the object which caused the harm. These cases tend to be older, and those cases never held for absolute control, which is why the more modern rule states that it is more likely than not the defendant’s negligence. After all, how else does a sealed window inexplicably pop out of a building unless the building owner was negligent, either while installing the window or failing to make reasonable inspections?)
  3. The Plaintiff was not at fault. (Obviously, a plaintiff that contributes to the negligent act cannot use res ipsa loquitur.)

Keep in mind that by proving all three elements, a plaintiff does not automatically win their case. What the plaintiff gets is a jury instruction that allows the jury to make an inference that defendant breached the duty of care. The jury can decide to make or not make the inference.

How to Use on an Exam

Treat each element of the res ipsa loquitur test separately. This means providing one full IRAC paragraph for each element, as explained in the video on Nested IRAC. If you try to place all of the elements in one giant paragraph, you’re going to have one big res ipsa loquitur mess. To be clear, a res ipsa loquitur discussion requires 4 paragraphs. The first paragraph will mention the phrase, that it is used to get an inference for the breach of duty, that the judge makes the decision as to whether the jury gets a res ipsa loquitur instruction, and that the jury is free to either accept or reject the inference. The next paragraph will deal with the first element. And finally, the third paragraph deals with the second element. And the final paragraph will deal with the third element. One paragraph for each element.

If you really want nail a res ipsa loquitur question on an exam, check out this tip on how to answer an essay question before seeing it. Also, if you are struggling with Torts, I highly recommend Understanding Torts, a study aid that I have required my students to read since 2001.

Now that you’ve read the article, I hope that res ipsa loquitur!

 

 

Categories
Torts

Trespass to Land

No trespassing sign for trespass to land

Trespass to Land may seem unimportant, but let it serve as a reminder to all you 3Ls that you need to be reviewing early to prepare for the bar exam. And for the 1Ls and 2Ls, why not quiz yourself to see if you actually remember the four elements of this tort.  To review what you covered during your first few weeks of Torts, considering watching a video on the six intentional torts.

Definition

Trespass to land occurs when someone has the intent to enter the land in possession of another. The four elements of the tort trespass to land are intent, enter, land, and possession.

To meet the element of intent, the defendant must either desire or know to a substantial certainty that they will interfere with another’s right of possession. For example, Duffy is rushing home and decides to run though Neighbor’s yard as a short cut. Duffy has the requisite intent. Keep in mind that an honest but mistaken belief as to the ownership of the property is irrelevant, so long as there is the intent to enter the land of another.

Baseball glove demo of trespass to landThe next element is to enter. The entering of another’s land results in trespass to land, including a single footstep that results in no actual damages. Entering can occur when: (1) a person enters the land; (2) a person refuses to leave the land after he was invited onto the land; (3) a person causes another person to enter the land; (4) a person causes an object to enter the land; or (5) a person fails to remove his personal property from the land.

Land is defined as the ground, the air space above the ground, and the material beneath the ground. It also includes anything attached to the land. Examples of things attached to the land include buildings, trees, or flag poles.

Possession means that the property must be in the lawful possession of another person.

To recap, trespass to land occurs when someone has the intent to enter the land in possession.

Outline

When you create an outline for Trespass to Land it should look something like this:

Trespass to Land

  1. Intent: the defendant must either desire or know to a substantial certainty that he or she will interfere with another’s right of possession.
    1. An honest but mistaken belief as to the ownership of the property is irrelevant, so long as there is intent to enter the land of another.
  2. Enter: entering of another’s land
    1. enters the land,
    2. refuses to leave the land after he or she was invited onto the land,
    3. causes another person to enter the land,
    4. causes an object to enter the land, OR
    5. fails to remove his personal property from the land
  3. Land: ground, airspace above the ground, and material beneath the ground
    1. Could also be anything attached to the land (buildings, trees, flag poles, etc.)
  4. Possession: the property is in the lawful possession of another person.

Trespass to Land Resources

Don’t forget to check out my ebook on the intentional torts. And if you really want to challenge yourself, try out some of the free exam questions that I used in actual law school exams.

If you’re interested in some of the remedies available for the plaintiff when recovering from the trespass to land, here is an article on trespass to land remedies.

Categories
Torts

Intentional Torts

Intentional torts checklist

If you are a first semester law student taking a midterm exam, intentional torts are likely on the exam. This means you will likely see some questions on Intentional Torts. In this blog post I will help break down what you should write about on an essay exam. Also, what to keep in mind on a multiple choice question.

Intentional Torts

These six torts require an intentional act directed at a victim or a victim’s property. Intent in this context requires that the wrongdoer either committed the act on purpose (or desired the outcome). A second way of establishing intent is when the wrongdoer knew to a substantial certainty that the result would occur. The intent requirement is different from the two other types of torts, negligence and strict liability.

Negligence and Strict Liability

Negligence focuses on the unreasonable conduct of the wrongdoer, while strict liability looks at certain activities that the law classifies under the strict category. For example, keepers of wild animals, products liability, or those that use explosives. For some interesting statistics, you may want to read about the different type of tort actions brought in the United States.

Once a plaintiff is successful in establishing that an intentional tort has occurred, the defendant can avoid liability by proving that there is an affirmative defense that applies. An affirmative defense is a legally recognized excuse for a person that committed the act to avoid liability. These defenses include consent, necessity, self-defense, defense of others, and defense of property.

Court gavel coming down intentional torts case

Damages

Once a jury determines that a person is guilty of committing a tort, the final step is for the jury to determine the amount of damages that should be awarded.  Tort law is very generous and attempts to place the victim back into the place they would have been if the injury had never occurred. This means that a plaintiff may recover all damages that are reasonably related to his or her injury.

Summary

The topics you could discuss on an intentional tort exam question:

  1. Intent: unless the essay indicates that intent is present, then you absolutely need to establish the intent element. Intent requires that the wrongdoer either committed the act on purpose, desired the outcome, or that the wrongdoer knew to a substantial certainty that the result would occur.
  2. Elements of the tort: this will depend on the tort. For example, here is a video on battery.
  3. Affirmative defense: a wrongdoer will argue this to avoid liability even though he or she did in fact commit the tort of which he or she is being accused. These defenses include:
    1. Consent
    2. Necessity
    3. Self Defense
    4. Defense of Others
    5. Defense of Property
  4. Damages: the jury will determine the plaintiff’s recovery. The general rule is that the plaintiff should receive an amount that will place them in the position he or she would have been if the injury had never occurred.

Good luck on those midterms!

For a better understanding of the intentional torts, you can check out our book on the intentional torts or our course: Introduction to the Intentional Torts. If you want something that is covers all of Torts, you will want to look at Understanding Torts by Diamond, Levine, and Bernstein.

Categories
Essay Exam law school academic success Torts

IRAC: Law School Essay Formatting Method

Organization boxes representing IRAC method

The IRAC method is the most popular organizational method used on law school exams, with IRAC standing for Issue, Rule, Analysis (or Application), and Conclusion. Without a solid organizational system, students miss issues and fail to do the kind of deep analysis that law professors are looking for.  Having graded thousands of law exams I can tell you that no student has ever gotten an “A” without good organization skills.

The Method

Issue

The issue statement provides the topic that you are going to discuss in the paragraph.  For example, one paragraph might deal with the intent element in a battery action.  The issue statement might read: Does Henry have the necessary intent to commit a battery? If the essay deals with contract formation, then the issue statement might state “Does John have a valid contract with Maria.” The key is to let the reader know what you are about to discuss. This means providing enough information so that the reader understand what is going to follow. Also, when writing a law school essay, you should assume the reader does not know the facts or the law. You must lead the reader along, explaining everything. If you don’t explain it, then don’t expect to receive credit.

Rule

Sign says "know the rules." Used in IRAC

The second sentence in the paragraph is the rule. For intent, you should have something like this: Intent is defined as the desire or knowledge to a substantial certainty that the contact would occur. You must not only provide rules for the main issues, but also definitions for any legally significant terms.

Analysis

Third comes the analysis, which is the section that connects the facts to the rule. Here, you want to demonstrate that you understand why and how the facts are connected to the rule of law. The biggest mistake in this section is when students merely copy facts from the question they were given. Without explaining why the facts are important, all you are doing is sharing a story. Narratives get few to no points when graded.

Conclusion

And finally, provide a short conclusion, which must follow from your analysis. For example, it might read like this: Henry meets the intent element for battery. By the way, if you are struggling with battery, you might want to take a course on the intentional torts.

Nested IRAC

When you follow the IRAC method, it is not enough to IRAC only main issue, like negligence, contract formation, or involuntary manslaughter. You must create a separate IRAC for each element or legal term. This is called Nested IRAC, and students who organize their answers this way end up with higher grades. In a tortious battery, you will always need at least four paragraphs. The first paragraph to introduce battery, and then paragraphs for intent, contact, and harmful or offensive.

Form and SubstanceA plus law school graded exam for law school exam bank.

Please keep in mind that IRAC, as good as it is, will not move you into the “A” category by itself.  Unfortunately, there are students that earn D’s and F’s while using the IRAC method. In other words, IRAC is not a panacea that does the heavy lifting on an exam.  So yes, use IRAC as a formatting tool and then work hard on Issue spotting and Analysis. That is what will help you the “A” grades you want.

Exam Preparation

Your essay will only be as good as your exam preparation.  Work on creating a strong law school outline, as that is where the R in IRAC comes from. Next, learn the rules well by using the Leitner box flash card method. Finally, you can write most of an essay before you ever see it with the model answer preparation method. All this takes lots of time, at least initially. But soon you will master the science behind exam taking, which will lead to higher grades and less preparation time.

 

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