Give Conclusion and Issue Statements the Attention They Deserve

Bar exam essay writing isn’t anything examinees haven’t heard before. Be organized. Follow a structure. Incorporate facts. Tie those facts back to the rules. And, oh, know the rules.

Examinees can follow a variety of formats on the bar exam to obtain a high-scoring response. And, in fact, some examiners have come out and said that examinees do not specifically look for a particular format or structure. (“There is no one form of answer which is preferable for all questions,” according to the Tennessee Board of Law Examiners.)

With that said, there are certain best practices that examinees should follow to ensure completeness and readability of their bar exam essay responses.

Students can follow IRAC, CRAC, CIRA ... the list goes on.

But I recommend CIRAC.

And while the two most important components of any bar exam response are the Rules (R) and Analysis or Application (A) sections (after all, examinees cannot expect to pass if they do not sufficiently know the law or examine specific facts to address those legal principles contained in the rules), the Conclusion and Issue statements should not be ignored.

That’s why I encourage students to follow CIRAC as the “go-to” structure for bar exam responses—even though examiners typically care more about how an examinee reaches the conclusion rather than the conclusion itself, and even though examiners, for the most part, already identify the big issues in the test question.

So why include Conclusion and Issue statements when they won’t count much in terms of points in the end.

Conclusion Statements

By beginning your response with an opening Conclusion statement, you’re giving the exam grader a head’s up as to how you’re going to resolve the issue. You’re providing a roadmap or a blueprint for what’s to come in your response.

This is helpful because, sometimes, what examinees think they actually wrote in their bar exam essays isn’t exactly what they, in fact, wrote. This isn’t unusual as their responses are written during a timed, extremely stress-filled situation unlike anything examinees have experienced before. The immense pressure of the bar exam can sometimes lead to ambiguous and poorly written arguments.

By providing exam graders a clue as to what will be forthcoming, you’re assisting the graders to decipher unclear or incomplete language and to tie up any loose ends that they might not be able or willing to do if they do not know what the end result will ultimately be.

Issue Statements

In addition to beginning your bar exam response with a Conclusion statement, you should also include an Issue statement—and not just any kind of Issue statement, but a “narrow” issue statement.

What’s a narrow issue statement?

Here’s what it’s not — It’s not simply a copying of the call of the question. After all, examiners aren’t assessing your ability to copy information from the test question and to paste it into your answer response. Also, you’re not impressing anyone, particularly the graders, by identifying the legal question that’s already been given to you.

Here’s what it is — It’s a statement that focuses on the element, requirement, exception, defense, or part of the larger rule that is dispositive of the legal question posed. It’s a lead-in sentence to your responses that helps you focus on that particular “thing”—the element, requirement, exception, defense, etc.—that will be responsible for ultimately answering the legal question. It turns a broad question (for example, is there a battery?) and into a more nuanced question (for example, is there a harmful or offensive touching necessary for a battery?).

More specifically, in a question about battery in which the call of the question might be, ”Is the defendant liable for battery?,” then a good narrow Issue statement would be, “At issue is whether the defendant created a harmful or offensive touching to the plaintiff,” if the reason why there was no battery is because the element of a “harmful or offensive touching” is missing. Obviously, a bad Issue statement would simply regurgitate the call of the question (“At issue is whether the defendant is liable for battery.”).

Similarly, in a question about negligence in which the call of the question was, “Is the defendant liable for negligence?” a good narrow Issue statement, depending on the actual discussion, might be “At issue is whether the defendant breached his duty of care” or “At issue is whether the defendant proximately caused the plaintiff’s injuries.”

The narrow Issue statement will help you focus on a more specific rule when writing the rest of your answer and will impress graders in the process.

So, as you’re practicing writing those responses to bar exam questions, follow CIRAC and give the Conclusion and Issue statements the attention they deserve.