NY Bar - Should I take Evidence or Wills? Forum

[phildunphy]

I have space for either Evidence or Wills & Estates for the fall. Which will be more useful when studying for the NY Bar? As in, which subject will be more of a pain in the ass to learn in 2 months? Or is there another course entirely I should consider that will be more useful than both? Thanks!

[bmonroe]

Take evidence. Wills is always tested on the NY bar, but it's not that difficult to learn (IMO)

[ilovetheatre]

Evidence. It is on the MBE and may be tested in an essay.

[3|ink]

I don't know anything about NY wills, but I'm betting evidence is harder.

[ilovetheatre]

I don't know anything about NY wills, but I'm betting evidence is harder.

NY goes UBE July 2016, so NY wills won't even be an issue. It will be the MPT (20%), MEE (30%), and MBE (50%). Score high enough on the MBE and there's no need to worry about the rest. Wills may appear in an essay, but Evidence will definitely be on the MBE.

[BCgirl]

Evidence is SO much harder than Wills and honestly, I would say the single hardest MBE subject to learn by yourself. It's also useful for whatever you might do in the future as a lawyer, even if you're deadset on a transactional track.

[sd5289]

Definitely Evidence. It requires a familiarity with the subject matter that will be better developed if you are exposed to it earlier rather than later.

[Hutz_and_Goodman]

Evidence. Wills is important for the NY bar (always an essay question) but you can teach it to yourself in a couple days. Evidence and Property are the two hardest multiple choice topics and it would be a lot harder to learn evidence without a course.

[JenDarby]

Neither. Wills might be the easiest subject area and Law & Order provides a sufficiently solid Evidence base.

Take bar prep to study for the bar. Unless you are going into lit and Evidence will be otherwise relevant or you have a particular interest, it's a waste of a class. Take something easy or subjectively "fun".

[Randomnumbers]

I took most of the bar 'prep' courses in law school - evidence, commercial law (UCC and secured transactions), etc. If it can be tested on the MBE, I tried to take it. I didn't take Trusts and Estates, but I did several trust and will things during my summers. Everyone says "don't worry about it, you'll learn it in bar prep". I propose another theory: take the classes and then bar prep is super easy. If you have the courage to not be a lemming and skip over the stuff in bar prep that you are confident you know, after a brief review of it, you save so much time. Learning the subject matter in law school and briefly reviewing it in bar prep is so much easier than learning everything in bar prep. My bar prep was *super* easy.

[JenDarby]

I propose another theory: all bar prep is *super* easy.

Seriously though, bar prep is designed to teach you bar subjects and most people don't have work or any other big conflicts.

[sd5289]

I propose another theory: all bar prep is *super* easy.

^ I agree with this. I didn't take T&E, Wills, Admin, or Corporations, and they were some of the easiest bar prep subjects for me. I think I may have complicated subjects like Family Law, which I had taken in law school, just because that depth of information had me going "but what about X?" during the lectures and when reading the outlines.

Caveat: Secured Transactions was still a shit show (something else I also didn't take), but I think that's a universal for everyone.

ETA: I think the reason I said Evidence above is because of its presence on the MBE and the fact that I will use it heavily in my career. So take that post with a grain of salt.