Subject library

California law, one subject at a time.

Explore the existing 14 study libraries. Federal MBE principles and California essay distinctions are different study tasks; Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure form one combined MBE category.

• Business Associations (Agency, Partnership, and Corporations)

  Organize Agency, Partnership and Corporations around authority, ownership and duties. Identify whose act is at issue, who may be bound and whose interests need protection before selecting a rule.

  Explore Business Associations

• Civil Procedure (Federal and California)

  Build a procedural timeline: jurisdiction, pleadings, discovery, disposition and review. Knowing where the case is in that timeline helps distinguish a threshold objection from a later merits question.

  Explore Civil Procedure

• Community Property

  Organize property questions by acquisition, source of funds and changes during the relationship. Classification, management and division are distinct steps that should not collapse into a single conclusion.

  Explore Community Property

• Constitutional Law

  Separate threshold justiciability issues, governmental powers and individual-rights analysis. Start by identifying the actor and challenged action before choosing a constitutional test.

  Explore Constitutional Law

• Contracts / Sales

  Begin with the transaction and governing body of law, then work through formation, defenses, performance, breach and remedies. A strong structure prevents remedy analysis from replacing the threshold question of an enforceable obligation.

  Explore Contracts

• Criminal Law

  Organize each potential offense around its act, mental state and other required elements before considering defenses. Analyze participants separately rather than assuming everyone shares the same liability.

  Explore Criminal Law

• Criminal Procedure

  Track the sequence of investigation, detention, questioning, charging and trial. Identify the government conduct and constitutional protection implicated at each step.

  Explore Criminal Procedure

• Evidence (Federal and California)

  Analyze the purpose for which an item is offered before deciding admissibility. Relevance, character, hearsay, privileges and other limitations can present separate questions about the same evidence.

  Explore Evidence

• Professional Responsibility (ABA and California)

  Start with the lawyer’s relationships and duties to clients, courts and others. Organize potential issues by whose interests are affected and what conduct raises the duty.

  Explore Professional Responsibility

• Real Property

  Separate present ownership, future interests, transfers and competing claims. A timeline and a party diagram can make otherwise dense property facts easier to analyze.

  Explore Real Property

• Remedies

  Begin with the underlying wrong and the relief requested. Distinguish monetary, restitutionary and equitable approaches rather than treating all remedies as interchangeable.

  Explore Remedies

• Torts

  Identify the type of alleged wrong before selecting the elements and defenses. Intentional torts, negligence and strict-liability theories require separate analysis even when they arise from the same event.

  Explore Torts

• Trusts

  Separate creation and validity from administration, beneficiary interests and potential remedies. Identify the roles of the settlor, trustee and beneficiaries before applying duties.

  Explore Trusts

• Wills and Succession / Estate

  Start with the documents, family relationships and sequence of events. Distinguish validity, interpretation and distribution instead of assuming a document resolves every succession question.

  Explore Wills & Succession