Civil Procedure Exam Writing Techniques

The purpose of this section is to give you some useful advice to create a writing style that you feel comfortable with. The structure of the writing can be memorized, but the skill of applying the facts to the rule of law takes a lot of practice.

This section is organized to show you a structure and a common approach to writing about issues that show up in the majority of exams in Civil Procedure. The preface for this section has a general discussion for increasing issue-spotting skills and outlining ability for civil procedure problems. This is followed by a topical outline. The topical outline is followed by a series of written answers to specific issues from the practice exams listed in this book. The examples include analysis of structure, review of majority/minority law, usage of keywords, and organization of answers to use fewer words for better impact.

ISSUE SPOTTING STRATEGY

Civil Procedure is a topical subject that requires mastery of the prima facie case of civil procedure law for each topic. Civil procedure can be divided into nine basic topics. They are:

Jurisdiction By Territory

Subject Matter Jurisdiction

Federal and State Law

Pleadings

Parties

Discovery

Pretrial

Trial

Post Trial

While reading the fact pattern again and again for a civil procedure question, you will find that the best way to issue spot is to work on one issue at a time and get the answer. The best advice to follow is to ask questions such as: 'Is there anything in these facts that requires a discussion of Jurisdiction by Territory (etc.) to answer the interrogatory?' This method requires that you memorize the prima facie case elements for each topic. Complete prima facie case elements are in the M.A.D.™ Civil Procedure book or the Law Outlines in Disk™ for Civil Procedure. For your benefit, we have included a keyword outline for each section. Prior to your exam for civil procedure, you should be able to write down this entire outline from memory in just a few minutes and be able to elaborate on each topic in detail. Let's face facts; what you cannot write down the night before the exam will be the issues that you miss on the exam the next day. If you can only write down 80% of these items the only way you are guaranteed to get an A on your exam is to get lucky by having the professor only test the 80% of the information that you know about.

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