MEE: Structured Essay Analysis
What the MEE tests
The North Dakota Bar’s MEE component has six 30-minute essays in three hours. It draws from twelve subject areas, including 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. Each answer is graded on issue spotting, accurate rule statements, factual application, and clear organization-not on a single “right” conclusion.
Approach
- Read the call of the question first; it tells you which parties and issues to address.
- Outline before writing: issue, rule, application, conclusion.
- State the rule with its elements; for goods, use UCC Article 2, not common law.
- Apply facts element by element; do not merely repeat the fact pattern.
- Address competing arguments and say which is stronger.
- Use headings for each issue and answer every sub-question.
Worked example
A will leaves $100,000 “to my brother Ben if he survives me; if not, to Ben’s children.” Ben predeceases the testator, leaving two children. The issue is whether the gift lapses. The rule: a lapsed gift falls into the residue unless an anti-lapse statute or a substitute-gift clause saves it. Here the will expressly provides a substitute gift to Ben’s children, so the children take the $100,000; no anti-lapse analysis is needed. Stating “the gift lapses” without addressing the “if not” clause misses the point.
Traps
Writing a conclusion without a rule; discussing only one party; missing a remedies or damages issue; using constitutional standards without naming the tier of scrutiny; and ignoring the call’s instruction to “discuss” rather than “decide.”