OK Bar cheat sheet

Subject-matter jurisdiction: federal question under 28 U.S.C. § 1331 requires a federal issue on the face of a well-pleaded complaint; diversity under § 1332 requires complete diversity and amount in controversy exceeding $75,000, exclusive of interest and costs.

Personal jurisdiction: general jurisdiction exists where defendant is 'at home' (place of incorporation and principal place of business for corporations; domicile for individuals); specific jurisdiction requires minimum contacts, relatedness, and fair play/substantial justice (International Shoe; Burger King; Asahi).

Venue: proper in a judicial district where any defendant resides (if all reside in same state), where a substantial part of events occurred, or if no other district, where any defendant is subject to personal jurisdiction (28 U.S.C. § 1391).

Erie doctrine: federal courts apply state substantive law (including statutes of limitations and elements of claims) and federal procedural law (FRCP) under the Rules Enabling Act; if no federal rule on point, apply the forum state's law unless it conflicts with federal policy (Hanna).

Pleading: under Twombly/Iqbal, a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to state a claim plausible on its face; conclusory allegations are insufficient; heightened pleading for fraud with particularity (FRCP 9(b)).

Summary judgment: granted when no genuine dispute of material fact and movant entitled to judgment as a matter of law; movant must show absence of evidence supporting nonmovant's case (Celotex); court views facts in light most favorable to nonmovant.

Preclusion: claim preclusion (res judicata) bars same claim between same parties or privies after final judgment on merits; issue preclusion (collateral estoppel) bars relitigation of actually litigated and necessarily decided issues.

Discovery: mandatory initial disclosures under FRCP 26(a); scope includes nonprivileged matter relevant to any party's claim or defense and proportional to needs of case; work product protection under FRCP 26(b)(3) for documents prepared in anticipation of litigation.

Appeals: final judgment rule (28 U.S.C. § 1291); interlocutory appeals under § 1292(b) require district court certification and circuit acceptance; class certification orders appealable under FRCP 23(f) with discretion.

Standing: plaintiff must show injury-in-fact (concrete and particularized, actual or imminent), causation (traceable to defendant's conduct), and redressability (likely redressed by favorable decision) (Lujan).

State action doctrine: constitutional protections apply to government conduct; private conduct generally not subject to Fourteenth Amendment unless significant state involvement (entanglement, public function, or joint action).

Due process: procedural due process requires notice and opportunity to be heard before deprivation of life, liberty, or property; Mathews v. Eldridge balancing of private interest, risk of erroneous deprivation, and government interest.

Equal protection: strict scrutiny for suspect classifications (race, national origin, religion, fundamental rights) requires compelling interest and narrow tailoring; intermediate scrutiny for sex and illegitimacy requires important interest and substantial relation; rational basis for others.

First Amendment speech: content-based restrictions subject to strict scrutiny; content-neutral time, place, and manner restrictions upheld if narrowly tailored to significant government interest and leave open ample alternative channels (Clark v. CCNV).

Commerce Clause: Congress may regulate channels of interstate commerce, instrumentalities, and activities substantially affecting interstate commerce (Wickard; Heart of Atlanta); post-Lopez, noneconomic activity must have substantial effect on interstate commerce.

Dormant Commerce Clause: state law discriminating against interstate commerce is per se invalid unless state can demonstrate legitimate local purpose that cannot be served by reasonable nondiscriminatory alternatives; nondiscriminatory laws upheld unless burden clearly excessive in relation to local benefits (Pike).

Federal preemption: express (statute explicitly preempts), field (pervasive scheme), or conflict (impossibility or obstacle) preemption; presumption against preemption in traditional police power areas.

Privileges or Immunities Clause (14th Am.) narrowly interpreted (Slaughter-House); fundamental right to travel interstate protected; Bill of Rights selectively incorporated against states via Due Process Clause.

Mutual assent: offer must be definite and communicated; acceptance must be unequivocal and mirror offer (common law) or under UCC § 2-207, additional terms in acceptance do not prevent contract formation between merchants unless material alteration or objection.

Consideration: bargained-for exchange; detriment to promisee or benefit to promisor; preexisting duty rule (performance of existing legal duty not consideration) except under UCC (good faith modification) or third-party duty.

Statute of Frauds: writing required for marriage, year (cannot be performed within one year), land, executor, surety, sale of goods over $500 (UCC § 2-201); exceptions: specially manufactured goods, admission, payment, part performance (common law).

Parol evidence rule: final written agreement supersedes prior or contemporaneous oral agreements; exceptions for ambiguity, fraud, mistake, condition precedent, or consistent additional terms (UCC).

UCC perfect tender: buyer may reject goods if they fail in any respect to conform (UCC § 2-601); seller may cure within contract time (§ 2-508); buyer's acceptance does not waive remedies for nonconformity if timely notice.

Impracticability/frustration: discharge if performance made impracticable by unforeseen event without fault of party (Restatement § 261); frustration of purpose if principal purpose substantially frustrated without fault.

Anticipatory repudiation: unequivocal statement or act indicating inability or unwillingness to perform; nonbreaching party may treat as breach and sue immediately or await performance; retraction allowed until material change in position.

Third-party beneficiary: intended beneficiary may enforce contract; incidental beneficiary may not; vesting of rights upon assent, suit, or reliance; promisor may assert defenses against beneficiary.

Liquidated damages: enforceable if damages difficult to estimate at contract formation and amount is reasonable forecast of probable loss; otherwise unenforceable penalty.

Elements of crime: actus reus (voluntary act or omission where legal duty), mens rea (mental state: purposely, knowingly, recklessly, negligently under MPC), concurrence, causation, and resulting harm.

Fourth Amendment: reasonableness of search and seizure; warrant requires probable cause, particularity, and neutral magistrate; exceptions include search incident to arrest, automobile, plain view, consent, exigency, inventory, and stop-and-frisk (Terry).

Exclusionary rule: evidence obtained in violation of Fourth Amendment inadmissible in prosecution's case-in-chief; exceptions: good faith reliance on warrant, inevitable discovery, independent source, attenuation, impeachment.

Fifth Amendment: privilege against self-incrimination applies to testimonial compulsion; Miranda warnings required before custodial interrogation; waiver must be knowing, voluntary, and intelligent; invocation must be unambiguous (Berghuis v. Thompkins).

Sixth Amendment: right to counsel attaches at initiation of adversarial judicial proceedings (formal charge, preliminary hearing, indictment, information, arraignment); right to jury trial for serious offenses (imprisonment > 6 months); confrontation clause.

Criminal defenses: insanity (M'Naghten: unable to know wrongfulness; MPC: unable to conform conduct), self-defense (reasonable belief in imminent unlawful force, proportional), duress, necessity, entrapment (government inducement + lack of predisposition).

Homicide: murder requires malice aforethought (intent to kill, intent to cause serious bodily injury, reckless indifference to unjustifiably high risk, felony murder); manslaughter is unlawful killing without malice (voluntary: heat of passion; involuntary: criminal negligence).

Sentencing: Eighth Amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishment; proportionality review for noncapital sentences (Ewing); death penalty requires individualized sentencing and may not be imposed on juveniles (Roper) or intellectually disabled (Atkins).

Double jeopardy: no second prosecution after acquittal or conviction, no multiple punishments for same offense (Blockburger test: whether each offense requires proof of element not required by other).

Relevance: evidence having any tendency to make a fact more or less probable and the fact is of consequence; relevant evidence may be excluded if probative value substantially outweighed by danger of unfair prejudice, confusion, waste of time (FRE 403).

Character evidence: inadmissible to prove conduct in conformity, except for criminal defendant's character trait, victim's character (self-defense), or witness's character for truthfulness; evidence of other crimes for MIMIC purposes (motive, intent, mistake, identity, common plan) admissible with limiting instruction.

Hearsay: out-of-court statement offered for truth of matter asserted; exclusions: prior inconsistent/consistent statements under oath, identification, party-opponent admissions (FRE 801(d)).

Hearsay exceptions (declarant unavailable): former testimony, dying declaration, statement against interest, personal/family history; exceptions (regardless of availability): excited utterance, present sense impression, business records, public records, learned treatises, ancient documents.

Confrontation Clause: testimonial hearsay inadmissible unless declarant unavailable and defendant had prior opportunity to cross-examine (Crawford); non-testimonial hearsay governed by reliability (Ohio v. Roberts).

Privileges: attorney-client (confidential communication for legal advice, crime-fraud exception), physician-patient (varies), spousal (confidential marital communications and testimonial privilege), clergy, psychotherapist.

Impeachment: prior inconsistent statements (under oath subject to perjury), bias, sensory deficiency, reputation/opinion for truthfulness, prior convictions (felony or crime involving dishonesty, subject to FRE 403 balancing), specific instances of conduct.

Authentication: sufficient evidence to support finding that item is what proponent claims; self-authenticating documents (FRE 902); chain of custody for fungible items; best evidence rule requires original writing to prove content unless exception.

Expert testimony: qualified by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education; reliable principles and methods reliably applied (Daubert); may not testify to legal conclusions or state of mind of defendant.

Estates: fee simple absolute (infinite duration), fee tail (historical), life estate (measured by life), leasehold (term of years, periodic, at will, at sufferance); future interests: reversion, remainder (vested or contingent), executory interest.

Concurrent ownership: joint tenancy requires unity of time, title, interest, and possession plus right of survivorship; tenancy in common no survivorship; tenancy by entirety for married couples (unity of person).

Landlord-tenant: covenant of quiet enjoyment; constructive eviction if interference substantial; implied warranty of habitability (residential); security deposit rules; holdover tenant liability.

Easements: affirmative or negative; appurtenant or in gross; creation by express grant, implication (prior use, necessity), prescription, estoppel; termination by merger, release, abandonment, prescription, end of necessity.

Covenants and equitable servitudes: covenant runs with land if writing, intent, touch and concern, notice, horizontal and vertical privity; equitable servitude requires same but remedy is injunction; defense of changed conditions.

Recording acts: race (first to record), notice (first to acquire without notice), race-notice (first to record without notice); bona fide purchaser without notice prevails; inquiry notice, record notice, actual notice.

Mortgages: lien theory vs. title theory; foreclosure sale; deficiency judgment; priority by recording; purchase-money mortgage priority over prior liens; subordination agreements.

Zoning: police power; nonconforming uses; variances (area and use); special exceptions; spot zoning invalid if arbitrary; vested rights; regulatory takings (Penn Central factors; Lucas per se taking for total deprivation).

Deeds: requirements: writing, signature of grantor, identify parties, words of grant, describe land, delivery and acceptance; types: warranty, special warranty, quitclaim; recording.

Intentional torts: battery (harmful/offensive contact with intent), assault (apprehension of imminent harmful/offensive contact), false imprisonment (confinement with intent), trespass (physical invasion of land), conversion (substantial interference with chattel).

Negligence: duty (reasonable person standard, special relationships, premises liability), breach (custom, res ipsa loquitur), causation (actual cause: but-for; proximate cause: foreseeability), damages (actual harm).

Premises liability: trespasser (duty to refrain from willful/wanton harm), licensee (duty to warn of known dangers), invitee (duty to inspect and warn of latent dangers); attractive nuisance doctrine for child trespassers.

Strict liability: abnormally dangerous activities (factors: high risk, likelihood of harm, inability to eliminate risk, not common usage, inappropriate location, value to community); wild animals; product liability for defective products.

Products liability: manufacturing defect, design defect (consumer expectation or risk-utility test), failure to warn; strict liability requires defect, causation, and harm; defenses: misuse, assumption of risk, comparative fault.

Defamation: defamatory statement, publication, fault (negligence for private figure, actual malice for public figure/official), damages; per se if libel, loathsome disease, professional misconduct, unchastity; privileges: absolute (judicial, legislative), qualified (fair report, opinion).

Invasion of privacy: appropriation of name/likeness, intrusion upon seclusion, public disclosure of private facts, false light; defenses: consent, truth, privilege.

Nuisance: private nuisance (substantial, unreasonable interference with use and enjoyment); public nuisance (unreasonable interference with right common to public); remedies: damages, injunction, coming to nuisance defense limited.

Damages: compensatory (special and general), punitive (gross negligence or intentional), nominal; mitigation of damages; collateral source rule; comparative negligence (pure, modified, slight/gross); joint and several liability; contribution and indemnity.

Oklahoma civil procedure: Oklahoma Pleading Code (12 O.S. § 2001 et seq.) mirrors federal rules but differences exist; service of process under 12 O.S. § 2004; statute of limitations: tort 2 years (12 O.S. § 95), contract 5 years (12 O.S. § 95), real property 15 years; comparative negligence under 23 O.S. § 13 (modified, 50% bar).

Oil and gas: Oklahoma follows rule of capture; mineral owner has right to drill and produce; pooling and unitization under Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC); forced pooling (52 O.S. § 87.1); surface owner's rights under Surface Damages Act (52 O.S. § 318.2 et seq.); oil and gas liens (42 O.S. § 144).

Indian law: Oklahoma has significant Indian Country (McGirt v. Oklahoma, 2020); tribal sovereignty; Major Crimes Act (18 U.S.C. § 1153); General Crimes Act (18 U.S.C. § 1152); Public Law 280 (Oklahoma not mandatory); tribal jurisdiction; ICWA (25 U.S.C. § 1901 et seq.); tribal trust lands; hunting and fishing rights.

Water law: Oklahoma uses dual system: riparian rights for landowners adjacent to watercourses and prior appropriation for groundwater (Oklahoma Groundwater Law, 82 O.S. § 1021 et seq.); stream water belongs to public (Oklahoma Stream Water Rights, 82 O.S. § 105.1 et seq.); OWRB permits; federal reserved water rights.

Oklahoma real property: Oklahoma Title Examination Standards; marketable title; recording statutes (Okla. Stat. tit. 16); mechanic's liens (42 O.S. § 141 et seq.); homestead exemption (Okla. Const. art. XII); adverse possession (15 years, 12 O.S. § 93); oil and gas leases.

Oklahoma contracts: Statute of Frauds (15 O.S. § 136); usury limits (Okla. Const. art. XIV, § 2); consumer protection (Oklahoma Consumer Protection Act, 15 O.S. § 751 et seq.); Uniform Commercial Code as adopted in Oklahoma (12A O.S. § 1-101 et seq.).

Oklahoma criminal procedure: preliminary hearing; arraignment; Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals has exclusive appellate jurisdiction in criminal cases; post-conviction relief (22 O.S. § 1080 et seq.); Oklahoma Evidence Code (12 O.S. § 2101 et seq.) mirrors FRE; victim rights (Okla. Const. art. II, § 34).

Oklahoma water law: groundwater permits from Oklahoma Water Resources Board (OWRB); stream water permits; priority system; beneficial use; overlying landowner rights; Oklahoma Water Resources Board rules (OAC 785).

Oklahoma oil and gas: Corporation Commission jurisdiction over drilling, spacing, and pooling; forced pooling orders; mineral ownership; lease provisions; implied covenants (reasonable development, marketing); royalties; Oklahoma Oil and Gas Conservation Act (52 O.S. § 86.1 et seq.).

Legal analysis: identify the legal issue from the file and library, state the applicable rule accurately from the provided authorities, apply the rule to the facts, and reach a conclusion; use only the provided library, not outside law.

Fact analysis: extract relevant facts from the file, distinguish material from immaterial facts, resolve conflicts in facts, and note missing facts that could affect the analysis; avoid ignoring unfavorable facts.

Problem solving: identify the client's objective, evaluate alternatives, consider practical consequences, and recommend a course of action with reasons; address ethical and professional responsibility issues if present.

Organization: structure the response with clear headings, logical sequence (e.g., issue-by-issue), topic sentences, and transitions; use IRAC or CRAC format as appropriate; follow the task memo's instructions on format (e.g., memo, brief, letter).

Written communication: write clearly and concisely, use plain English, avoid legalese, proofread for grammar and spelling, and tailor tone to the audience (client, court, supervising attorney); cite authorities as instructed.

Time management: allocate time to read the task memo, skim file and library, outline, and write; typically 90 minutes per MPT; prioritize high-value issues; do not over-research; produce a complete answer.

Task memo: identifies the client, the legal problem, the required document, and any specific instructions (e.g., focus on certain issues, length limits); follow it precisely; it is the primary guide for the response.

File: contains facts, correspondence, pleadings, transcripts, and other documents; may include irrelevant or conflicting information; use it to support analysis; do not assume facts not in file.

Library: contains statutes, cases, regulations, and other authorities; may include outdated or overruled cases; use to extract rules; distinguish holdings; apply to facts; do not cite outside library.