OAGB Bar Final Assessment cheat sheet

Personal jurisdiction requires minimum contacts plus fair play: purposeful availment, relatedness, and reasonableness (fair play and substantial justice).

Subject-matter jurisdiction cannot be waived; lack of federal question or diversity (over $75,000, complete diversity) is fatal at any time.

Supplemental jurisdiction (28 U.S.C. § 1367) reaches claims sharing a common nucleus of operative fact but not claims by plaintiffs against nondiverse parties in diversity cases.

Erie doctrine: federal procedural rules govern; substantive state law governs where outcome-determinative and no federal rule, statute, or constitutional provision controls.

Removal requires all defendants' consent, filed within 30 days of service, and is barred for in-state defendants in diversity cases.

A motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6) tests plausibility; Rule 12(b)(2)-(5) waivers occur if omitted from a pre-answer motion.

Summary judgment under Rule 56 requires no genuine dispute of material fact, viewing evidence in the nonmovant's favor.

Claim preclusion bars a later suit on the same claim when there was a final judgment on the merits by a court of competent jurisdiction with identical parties or privies.

Venue is proper where any defendant resides (if all reside in the same state), where events occurred, or where property is located; forum non conveniens is discretionary.

Strict scrutiny: compelling government interest, narrowly tailored means, least restrictive alternative; applies to suspect classifications and fundamental rights.

Intermediate scrutiny: important interest and substantially related means; applies to sex-based classifications and content-neutral time/place/manner regulations.

Rational basis: legitimate interest and rationally related means; default for social and economic legislation and age classifications.

State action doctrine: constitutional rights constrain government, not private actors, absent entanglement, public function, or state encouragement.

Dormant Commerce Clause bars state laws discriminating against interstate commerce absent a legitimate local purpose that cannot be served by nondiscriminatory means.

Privileges or Immunities (14th Am.) is narrow; most incorporation flows through Due Process; Bill of Rights protections apply to states via selective incorporation.

Fourth Amendment: search requires warrant supported by probable cause unless an exception applies (consent, exigency, search incident to arrest, plain view, automobile).

Miranda warnings attach at custodial interrogation; spontaneous statements and public-safety questions are exempt.

Equal protection tiers turn on suspectness; fundamental rights include voting, travel, marriage, and access to courts.

Common law requires offer, acceptance, consideration, and mutual assent; UCC Article 2 governs goods and relaxes firm-offer and modification rules.

Firm offer under UCC § 2-205 must be by a merchant, in writing, signed, and give assurances it will be held open (max three months).

Statute of Frauds categories: marriage, year, land, executor, surety, sale of goods over $500 (UCC § 2-201).

Promissory estoppel requires a promise, reasonable and detrimental reliance, and injustice absent enforcement.

Material breach excuses the nonbreaching party's performance; minor breach permits damages but not excuse.

Expectation damages place the plaintiff in the position of performance; consequential damages require foreseeability (Hadley v. Baxendale).

Anticipatory repudiation permits immediate suit or suspension of performance; retraction allowed until reliance or material change.

Parol evidence rule bars prior or contemporaneous oral agreements that contradict a fully integrated writing; exceptions include ambiguity, fraud, and course of dealing.

Liquidated damages enforceable if reasonable forecast at formation and actual damages are difficult to estimate; otherwise a penalty.

A crime requires actus reus (voluntary act or omission with duty) and mens rea; specific intent, general intent, malice, and strict liability are the four categories.

Accomplice liability attaches when one aids, abets, or encourages with the intent to facilitate; mere presence or knowledge is insufficient.

Felony murder applies to deaths during commission of an inherently dangerous felony; the underlying felony must be independent of the killing.

Fourth Amendment exclusionary rule suppresses evidence from unreasonable searches; good-faith, inevitable-discovery, and attenuation exceptions apply.

Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination bars compelled testimonial communication; Miranda custody plus interrogation triggers warnings.

Sixth Amendment right to counsel attaches at formal charging; Massiah bars deliberate elicitation after attachment.

Double jeopardy bars retrial after acquittal but not after mistrial for manifest necessity or hung jury.

Voluntary intoxication can negate specific intent but not general intent; involuntary intoxication can be a complete defense.

Self-defense requires reasonable belief in imminent unlawful force; deadly force only against imminent death or serious bodily harm.

Relevance requires probative value and materiality; Rule 403 excludes if probative value is substantially outweighed by unfair prejudice, confusion, or waste.

Character evidence is inadmissible to prove conduct in civil cases; in criminal cases, defendant may open the door, and prosecution may rebut.

Hearsay is an out-of-court statement offered for the truth; prior consistent statements, prior inconsistent statements under oath, and party admissions are exclusions.

Hearsay exceptions: present sense impression, excited utterance, then-existing state of mind, business records, public records, ancient documents, learned treatises.

Confrontation Clause bars testimonial hearsay absent unavailability plus prior opportunity to cross-examine (Crawford).

Impeachment includes prior inconsistent statements, bias, conviction of a crime (Rule 609), and reputation for truthfulness.

Privileges: attorney-client (confidential, legal advice), spousal (confidential communications, plus testimonial in criminal cases), physician, clergy.

Best Evidence Rule requires the original to prove contents of a writing, recording, or photograph unless excused.

Expert testimony requires qualification, reliable methodology, and relevance (Daubert/Kumho Tire).

Estates: fee simple absolute, fee tail, life estate, and leasehold; future interests include reversion, remainder (vested or contingent), executory interest.

Rule Against Perpetuities: no interest is valid unless it must vest, if at all, within 21 years after a life in being at creation.

Concurrent estates: joint tenancy (right of survivorship, four unities), tenancy in common (no survivorship), tenancy by the entirety (spouses).

Recording acts: race, notice, and race-notice; a subsequent BFP prevails over a prior unrecorded interest under notice or race-notice statutes.

Adverse possession requires actual, open and notorious, exclusive, continuous, and hostile possession for the statutory period.

Covenants run with land if writing, intent, touch and concern, notice, and horizontal/vertical privity are satisfied.

Easements: express, implied, necessity, prescription; termination by merger, release, abandonment, or estoppel.

Mortgage priority follows recording; foreclosure extinguishes junior liens but not senior liens; redemption rights include equitable and statutory.

Landlord-tenant: covenant of quiet enjoyment, constructive eviction, and duty to mitigate under modern rules.

Negligence elements: duty, breach, causation (actual plus proximate), and damages; duty is owed to foreseeable plaintiffs (Palsgraf).

Standard of care: reasonable person; professionals use customary practice; children use age, intelligence, and experience; landowners vary by entrant status.

Res ipsa loquitur requires exclusive control, no plaintiff contribution, and an event that ordinarily does not occur without negligence.

Strict liability for abnormally dangerous activities and wild animals; products liability under strict liability, negligence, or warranty.

Defenses: comparative negligence (pure or modified), contributory negligence (limited jurisdictions), assumption of risk.

Intentional torts: battery, assault, false imprisonment, trespass, conversion; transferred intent applies across victims and torts.

Defamation requires defamatory statement, publication, fault, and damages; public figures need actual malice (New York Times v. Sullivan).

Damages: compensatory (economic and noneconomic), punitive for egregious conduct, and nominal for intentional torts without injury.

Vicarious liability: respondeat superior within scope of employment; independent contractors generally exempt unless inherently dangerous activity.

IRAC structure: Issue (framed as a question), Rule (authority), Application (facts to rule), Conclusion (predictive answer).

CREAC/CREX: Conclusion, Rule, Explanation (case law), Application, Conclusion; useful for persuasive briefs.

Case briefing: facts, procedural posture, issue, holding, reasoning; distinguish holding from dicta.

Synthesis: reconcile multiple authorities to derive a governing rule; note majority, minority, and trend.

Analogize and distinguish: compare material facts; explain why differences matter to the legal outcome.

Bluebook citation: case name, reporter, court, year; pinpoint cites; signals (see, e.g., cf., but see) carry meaning.

Counterargument: acknowledge adverse authority, then distinguish or limit it; do not ignore unfavorable precedent.

Plain language: short sentences, active voice, defined terms; avoid legalese and nominalizations.

Predictive memo vs. persuasive brief: memo is objective and addresses both sides; brief advocates one position.