Multistate Essay Examination (MEE) Subjects
Multistate Essay Examination (MEE) subjects
The MEE is a three-hour, six-question essay component of the UBE; each question is designed for 30 minutes. It draws from twelve subjects: Business Associations, Civil Procedure, Conflict of Laws, Constitutional Law, Contracts, Criminal Law and Procedure, Evidence, Family Law, Real Property, Torts, Trusts and Estates, and Secured Transactions. Questions frequently combine subjects, so the call may require a rule from one area applied to facts that raise another.
Core approach
Use IRAC or CREAC, but make the rule statement compact and spend most words applying facts. Identify the governing law: the MEE generally tests majority/common-law rules unless the call specifies a statute or UCC Article 2 or 9. For each issue, state the rule, explain the policy or elements, apply each element to named facts, and reach a conclusion. If the question asks “discuss,” analyze plausible alternatives rather than announcing one answer. If it asks whether a court should rule a certain way, answer yes or no and justify it.
Worked example
Debtor grants Bank a security interest in “all inventory now owned or later acquired” and Bank files a financing statement. Later Supplier sells inventory to Debtor on credit and takes a purchase-money security interest (PMSI). Supplier files its financing statement 25 days after Debtor receives the inventory. Debtor defaults. Under UCC Article 9, a PMSI in inventory has priority over an earlier floating lien only if the PMSI is perfected when the debtor receives possession and the PMSI holder sends an authenticated notification to the earlier secured party. Supplier perfected too late and sent no notification. Bank’s earlier perfected security interest therefore has priority, even though Supplier’s interest is a PMSI.
Traps
Answer the call, not every issue you can imagine. Do not recite rules without applying them. Watch for cross-issues: a family-law question may turn on a contract or evidence rule. Resolve ambiguities explicitly (“if the court finds X, then Y”). Do not cite outside cases unless the prompt supplies them. For secured transactions, check attachment, perfection, and priority in that order; a PMSI is not automatically superior in inventory.