July 2018 Texas Bar Exam Forum

[Guccifer91]

Not sure I answerd my essays correctly . Just know I typed a lot of bs

[RaiderTTU]

So..now that it’s all over with...and to the best of my knowledge.. The 2018 July Bar Exam
1) Corporations:
A) Was the Shareholders meeting timely and proper?
B) Proxy shares

2) Guardianships:
A) Was the appointment of the guardian eligible and qualified to be appointed legal guardian of Ward?
B) Did the court err in terminating the appointed guardian without notice or hearing?
C) Can the terminated appointed guardian seek to be reappointed by the court and when must the suit be brought?

3) Wills:
A) Per Stirpes question distribution: What distribution?
Valid probated will: Revocation by divorce, descendant murders his father, Didclaimer,...

4) Partnerships:
Limited Liability Partnership-
A)Who is liable on the contract debt between general and limited partners?
B) Is a limited partner liable for his own tort in the scope of ordinary business?

5) Consumer Law:
A) Does Carl have a claim under the DTPA?
B) What defenses does Dan have under the DTPA?
C) What are Carl’s remedies?

6) Real Property:
A) Who has priority between: mechanics lien(FML), mortgage loansecured by a deed of trust, ad valorem taxes
B) What is the proper proceeding for a non-judicial foreclosure and what must be posted in the notice

7) Oil and Gas:
A) What rights does Oil Co have in Ranch? (One co-tenant enters into a lease with Oil Co for mineral estate without other spouses consent)
B) What rights does Oil Co have in Greenacre? Fee Simple Determinable
C) Does Bank have a valid lien on Greenacre? (Rural Homestead-need not be contiguous)

Commercial Paper:
A) Is Employer(principal) liable to Supplier for dishonor of check? Agency
B) Is Employee(agent) liable to Supplier for dishonor of check? Agency
C) Is Employer(principal) liable to Tents? Promissory Note-Agency
D) Is Employee(agent) liable to Tents? Promissory Note-Agency: Kenny Smith signs his name on promissory note as agent

9) Family Law:
A) Was the prenuptial agreement valid?
B) Are the provisions under the prenuptial agreement valid?
-Inheritance to be deemed as separate property
-No spouse is to pay child support in case of divorce
-Spouse will be legally entitled to 60% of estate

10) Secured Transactions:
A) Who has priority in TV? Bank PSP vs Buyer in ordinary course
B) Who has priority? PMSI vs PSP

11) Family Law:
A) What are the Grandmother and daughters rights as to child?
B) Religious grandparents would like to refuse the childs possession or access to mother (drug user)
C) Do Grandparents have standing to bring suit?

12) Wills:
A) Intestate distribution:
Intestate definition
Community Property
120 hour rule (Spouses die within 120 hours of each other)
Father has descendant one of whom is not a descendant of the spouse.
Seperate Property- Inception of Title Rule
Retirement Account
Life insurance policy designated from spouses to spouse
Checking account (JTWRS)
Wife has no children only Aunt Donna
Husband has one descendant one of whom is not the from the spouse (previous marriage)

[Mschilds]

Exactly what my issues were.


Good luck!!!


quote="Guccifer91"]

yeah guys this is insanely counterproductive, esp considering it's only 10%. Dunno how the "curve" is going to workout (to the extent that I understand the curve they do at all), but I guarantee you everyone who took had to at least think twice about literally half those crim questions.

So is the consensus that the MPT was hard to finish in time. What were the three headers? Something like: 1) The evidence was not material, would not have changed the result at trial and therefore did not prejudice the defendant; 2) the State did not have possession of the exculpatory material and therefore the material was not suppressed; and 3) there was no violation of the spousal privilege and 804(b)(6) because the marriage was conceived with the purpose of preventing the wife from testifying. One case per each heading but not enough time to do the application portion adequately for all three headers. Right? RIGHT[/quote]

[TXAT33]

Not sure I answerd my essays correctly . Just know I typed a lot of bs

When I didn't know the answer, I made my answers long and just threw in shit I remembered. For instance, I forgot exactly what it took for grandparents to have standing in a SAPCR suit over Mother's objection. So I bullshitted out the "1 year and 6 months exclusive possession" rule with the child's best interest riddled in. But I also spat out some policy at the end of it.

But when I knew it, I kept it pretty succinct. Like with the order of the property liens essay with the valid mechanic's lien, that took me like 14 minutes to the out.

I felt a lot better about today than I did yesterday, especially about the AM section. I had Consumer Law for my first essay in the PM and it was extremely simple and I think I (and everyone else) nailed that one. It was the easiest version of a Consumer Law problem you can get. I believe #8 was the prenup agreement, which was also a straight forward one.

From 9-12, I thought it got a little tricky. 3 out of 4 of them I wasn't that confident in. Commercial Paper wasn't that hard of a question, but I feel like I should have put more in there.

For whatever reason, I thought the Family Law question was pretty hard. I was thrown off with the JMC order with the Grandparent and thrown off about some of the facts about the Mother. I just hadn't really seen the questions asked like that with that fact pattern and it threw me off.

Finally I think Secured Transactions was a tad bit unusual as well about the transfer of the installment K security. I BS'd something that I thought made sense.

But I feel 10 times better about today than I did yesterday. The PM section made me want to freaking cry. That was brutal. So I'm happy that I feel alright about today. I was certain I was going to fail after yesterday because of that PM section.

[rbbt808488000416]

How strictly are these essays graded? For example, if I missed the per stripes distribution in one of the wills questions, and just answered the question as if it was per capita, do I still get some points? Missing that issue would make all of my distributions incorrect, but I'm hoping I would still get points for applying per capita distribution correctly.

[rbbt808488000416]

Also, I was looking at the MBE scaled score distribution from last July.. basically if you do slightly above average on the MBE (145 or 150 scaled score) and average on the other parts of the rest, you only need to be in the top 25% or so on the essays to pass. Last July being near the bottom 10% would get you a score of 120 on the essays, which is still enough to pass with scaled scores near 150 on the other parts of the test.

This is encouraging, especially considering the fact that I just made stuff up on those family law questions.

[Jinjuice]

Anyone know how the P&E are graded, like I know they worth 5 points ea, but do they give partial credit? Let's say you got the answer right for the wrong reasons, for example if something was hearsay or nonhearsay but completely used the wrong exception, etc.

[Guccifer91]

Anyone know how the P&E are graded, like I know they worth 5 points ea, but do they give partial credit? Let's say you got the answer right for the wrong reasons, for example if something was hearsay or nonhearsay but completely used the wrong exception, etc.

Gin and Juice

[Guccifer91]

Anyone getting the runs trying to replace their bar study adderall with caffeine pills?

[NonbindingPrecedent]

Anyone know how the P&E are graded, like I know they worth 5 points ea, but do they give partial credit? Let's say you got the answer right for the wrong reasons, for example if something was hearsay or nonhearsay but completely used the wrong exception, etc.

According to Barbri's P&E Workshop (the criminal portion was delivered by a former chair of the BLE) partial credit is indeed given. Each question will be broken into multiple components (i.e. the actual yes/no response, the explain, and other specific components). Each part of a question will not necessarily be given equally weight (although all questions with the sub-parts aggregated are equal). The BLE does not produce the grading rubric until after the exam, however, once they develop the rubric they use it consistently for grading all exams.

[HMG1986]

Anyone know how long C&F should take?

I attended law school out of state, but one of my classmates who also took TX received the all's good check on her C&F.

I've only ever gotten two notifications from my analyst. One back in March for a credit report, which I sent right away. Second was when I asked if she ever received my fingerprints.

Anyone else have radio silence?

[NonbindingPrecedent]

Anyone know how long C&F should take?

I attended law school out of state, but one of my classmates who also took TX received the all's good check on her C&F.

I've only ever gotten two notifications from my analyst. One back in March for a credit report, which I sent right away. Second was when I asked if she ever received my fingerprints.

Anyone else have radio silence?

When it comes to C&F, no news is usually good news. Going through C&F is like going through airport security. The less issues you have .... the less you deal with the TSA. Sometimes they have to check your leg or something in your bag. Some people get a full patdown. A select few, however, may be on the no fly list and never get through.

In Texas the analyst will do the initial review and flag it if there is an area of concern. Most applications just get cleared by the analyst. If they are contacting you, it is probably because there is something in your application that peaked their interest (not necessarily grounds to not pass C&F --- just enough to get flagged on something). Unless you got something major to be worried about --- you should be in the clear. It takes a lot to not pass C&F.

[NonbindingPrecedent]

FYI the BLE posted the questions for the July P&E and essays on their website ... in case you want something more to agonize about

[HMG1986]

Anyone know how long C&F should take?

I attended law school out of state, but one of my classmates who also took TX received the all's good check on her C&F.

I've only ever gotten two notifications from my analyst. One back in March for a credit report, which I sent right away. Second was when I asked if she ever received my fingerprints.

Anyone else have radio silence?

When it comes to C&F, no news is usually good news. Going through C&F is like going through airport security. The less issues you have .... the less you deal with the TSA. Sometimes they have to check your leg or something in your bag. Some people get a full patdown. A select few, however, may be on the no fly list and never get through.

In Texas the analyst will do the initial review and flag it if there is an area of concern. Most applications just get cleared by the analyst. If they are contacting you, it is probably because there is something in your application that peaked their interest (not necessarily grounds to not pass C&F --- just enough to get flagged on something). Unless you got something major to be worried about --- you should be in the clear. It takes a lot to not pass C&F.

Whew, that's good to know and completely makes sense. I didn't even think about it in my momentary freak out, but I guess it would stand to reason that if you have a lengthy work history (I'm 32, so probably a bit more extensive than many bar takers) it probably takes your analyst longer to process C&F.

[R808488000416]

Anyone else notice a change on their C&F investigation status?

[Raisingthebar1]

Anyone else notice a change on their C&F investigation status?

Yes. Sometime during the week of September 10th, my status updated. When I login to my Atlas account under "Application Information" below the date the application was downloaded by the BLE and above the "Payment Information" section, it says:

"Character And Fitness Investigation Status: Approved
You are obligated to amend your application as needed so that your responses remain full, frank, true, and correct."

The BLE never sent me an email explicitly saying that they have approved my C&F. The only reason I found out was in August they sent me an email requesting a supplemental document relating to something in my application. Just recently in September they me a message saying the missing item was received. When I logged into my Atlas account, I saw that not only was the status of the missing item marked "completed/closed," but my account also updated my C&F status.

I would not read much into beyond what your C&F status is. Most C&F files are handled by the license analyst directly if there is no flags or only minor flags. They probably have been tracking and closing out files internally for years. As they transition more of their functions to be digital, they probably have enabled viewing this status online in Atlas now. This makes sense, as the BLE is probably moving a bunch of their internal functions over to ILG Technologies products. ILG is a niche software vendor that makes products for state bar admission agencies. They probably use an internal tool made by them to track C&F applications now. The software probably has a new (or recently enabled feature) to sync this up to applicant's Atlas portals. I would not read into this status update as some premature indicator of bar passage.

[Baaah]

This is not a newly enabled feature, your character and fitness was just recently approved. Mine was updated as approved in the beginning of June. It definitely is not an indication of whether you passed the exam.

[dtjustice]

Just an FYI the study group on WhatsApp is ongoing so feel free to join if you are taking any future Texas bar or wanna discuss any previous exam you've taken.... we need all the support we can get!!

Text or message me through WhatsApp with your first name so I can add you to the group!

Deb
325-267-1160

[Electricella]

So, final countdown for Texas! How is everyone?
November 1 is my guess, do you all agree?

9 days!....

[OMLS48]

Let's use this thread (as opposed to the shorter one) to commiserate and drive each other insane while anxiously waiting.

[BigCityDreams]

Currently going insane these last few days of waiting...

[Electricella]

Let's use this thread (as opposed to the shorter one) to commiserate and drive each other insane while anxiously waiting.

Agree!!!!
Why do I feel like there are only a couple of people agonizing?)

[OMLS48]

I think it helps to know, pretty much, when to expect results. Lurkers have less of an incentive to come on here and ask questions. I'm sweating it pretty bad though.

[airtexas13]

Everyone is absolutely sweating it, though it's still a bit far out to start spamming the refresh button the BLE website. This isn't my first exam in Texas, and for some reason I can't keep my cool this year and have been looking for results for a month now! This is despite knowing good and well they won't come out until Nov.

Take it easy everyone!

[I10attorney]

Rest assured you are not alone, Electricella! Your post prompted me to FINALLY register an account and post after years of lurking. Like many, I have numerous family and work obligations, yet I can't focus on anything not bar related. The last few months have been excruciating. They could, at the very least, post the model answers...geez
In solidarity