NE Bar cheat sheet

Civil procedure: a federal court needs subject-matter jurisdiction, venue, and personal jurisdiction; removal is available only by defendants, within 30 days of service, and never for in-state defendants on diversity grounds.

Evidence: hearsay is an out-of-court statement offered for its truth; prior consistent statements rebut charges of fabrication or improper influence, and prior inconsistent statements under oath are substantive only if given at a prior proceeding.

Torts: negligence requires duty, breach, actual cause, proximate cause, and damages; comparative negligence reduces recovery, and joint and several liability persists where the jurisdiction retains it.

Contracts: UCC Article 2 applies to goods; a merchant's firm offer needs a signed writing and lapses after 90 days; the perfect tender rule governs unless the parties are merchants with an installment contract.

Constitutional law: strict scrutiny applies to suspect classifications and fundamental rights; intermediate scrutiny to sex; rational basis to economic regulation; state action is a threshold requirement for Fourteenth Amendment claims.

Criminal law: specific intent, malice, general intent, and strict liability are the four mens rea categories; felony murder requires a death during an inherently dangerous felony, and the merger doctrine bars underlying felonies that are integral to the killing.

Real property: a deed requires delivery with intent to convey; recording acts protect subsequent purchasers; adverse possession requires actual, open and notorious, exclusive, continuous, and hostile possession for the statutory period.

Evidence: a co-conspirator's statement is admissible against a party if made during and in furtherance of the conspiracy; statements after the conspiracy ends are not admissible under this exception.

Agency: an agent has actual authority if the principal manifests consent; apparent authority arises from the principal's manifestations to a third party; ratification requires knowledge of the material facts and acceptance of the benefit.

Partnerships: a general partnership is an entity distinct from its partners; each partner is an agent of the partnership for carrying on business in the ordinary course, and dissociation does not necessarily dissolve the partnership.

Corporations: directors owe the duty of care and loyalty; the business judgment rule presumes informed decisions; a controlling shareholder owes fiduciary duties, and entire fairness applies to self-dealing transactions.

Trusts: a trust requires a settlor, intent, trust property, ascertainable beneficiaries, and a valid purpose; spendthrift clauses restrict voluntary and involuntary alienation by beneficiaries.

Family law: premarital agreements must be in writing and voluntarily executed with fair disclosure; child custody is determined by the best interests of the child, and a court may modify support on a substantial change in circumstances.

Conflict of laws: a court applies its own forum's choice-of-law rules; the traditional approach uses lex loci, the most significant relationship test governs torts, and the validity of a marriage is generally determined by the law of the place of celebration.

UCC Article 9: a security interest attaches on value given, debtor rights in the collateral, and a security agreement; perfection occurs by filing, possession, or control, and a purchase-money security interest in consumer goods is perfected automatically.

Wills: a will requires testamentary intent, capacity, and statutory formalities; a validly executed later will revokes an earlier one, and a specific devise adeems when the property is not owned at death unless the antilapse statute saves it.

The MPT is a closed-universe exercise: all governing law is in the File and Library, so resolve the task from those materials and not from remembered rules.

Read the task memorandum first to identify the required deliverable (office memo, client letter, brief, contract provision, or closing argument), the audience, and the tone.

Allocate roughly 90 minutes per MPT task: about 30 minutes to read and outline, 45 minutes to draft, and 15 minutes to review; the two tasks are weighted equally.

The Library contains authorities that may be controlling, persuasive, or distinguishable; use the facts in the File to analogize and distinguish each authority explicitly.

The File contains the operative facts, correspondence, and often distractor documents; cite facts by page or document reference, and never invent facts not present in the File.

Thesis-first structure: state the conclusion at the outset, then apply the rule to the facts, then address counterarguments and the likely outcome.

Formatting counts: use headings that mirror the required sections, and include a short statement of facts only when the task requests it or when the reader needs orientation.

Time management: do not exceed the word or page limit; unsupported assertions, missing citations, and unresolved factual conflicts are the most common score losses.

Nebraska has a unicameral, nonpartisan Legislature; its courts include county courts, district courts, the Court of Appeals, and the Nebraska Supreme Court, and the Nebraska Constitution may be amended by initiative petition.

Nebraska is a title-theory state for mortgages; a mortgagee's interest is a lien on title, and a deed of trust with power of sale is common, with the statutory redemption period and notice requirements governed by Nebraska statute.

Nebraska recognizes the doctrine of equitable adoption and applies the best interests of the child standard in custody; grandparent visitation requires a showing of a preexisting relationship and is evaluated under the parental fitness standard.

Nebraska's pretermitted heir statute protects after-born or omitted children; a will must be signed by the testator and two witnesses, and Nebraska recognizes holographic wills only if executed with statutory formalities.

Nebraska is a modified comparative negligence state: a plaintiff's recovery is reduced by the plaintiff's percentage of fault, and recovery is barred if the plaintiff's fault is 50 percent or more.

Nebraska's workers' compensation statute is the exclusive remedy for work-related injuries; the Nebraska Workers' Compensation Court has exclusive jurisdiction, and appeals go to the Court of Appeals.

Nebraska's Uniform Commercial Code adopts Article 2 for goods and Article 9 for secured transactions; filing is with the Nebraska Secretary of State, and real property recordings are with the county register of deeds.

Nebraska's Open Meetings Act requires reasonable notice and public access to meetings of public bodies; violations may void actions taken and expose members to civil penalties.