Multistate Essay Examination (MEE): Issue Checklists and Rule Statements
How the MEE works
The MEE is six 30-minute essays. Each is graded against an issue checklist, so points come from naming the right doctrine, stating its elements, and applying facts - not from a single conclusion. Beyond the MBE subjects, the MEE tests Business Associations (agency, partnerships, LLCs, corporations), Conflict of Laws, Family Law, Trusts and Estates, and Secured Transactions under UCC Article 9.
Structure that earns points
Open with the governing rule, apply facts element by element, then conclude. When a call asks you to discuss, address every plausible claim and defense, including ones that ultimately fail, because each analysis is separately credited.
Worked example
A corporation's president introduces Agent to Supplier as 'our regional manager,' gives Agent letterhead and an office, and Agent signs a supply contract exceeding an internal $50,000 limit. Supplier never learns of the limit. The corporation is bound: apparent authority arises from the principal's manifestations to the third party, and undisclosed internal restrictions do not defeat it. Had Supplier known of the cap, reliance would have been unreasonable and the corporation could have avoided the contract. Actual authority is absent here, but apparent authority is sufficient.
Traps
Writing conclusions without rule statements; skipping a sub-question because the first answer makes it seem moot; ignoring facts planted to satisfy one element, such as whether a writing bears a signature; and spending so long on the first essay that the last is a single paragraph.