Update for 2020: I was preparing to take the Uniform Bar Exam (UBE) in February 2020, so I began updating these materials. However, Colorado decided to let me apply for admission to the bar on motion, so the only updates I have are revised versions of my summaries of the law of contracts, torts, and criminal law and procedure.
The bar exam study materials on this site are provided free of charge as a service to law students. Most of the diagrams are presented in both jpg and pdf form. If you are studying for the bar exam or law school exams, you might want to print these out and paper your walls with them.
I created these diagrams and used them to study for the July 2006 California bar exam. I passed. That said, I make no guarantee of accuracy or suitability for your purposes.
The book links and product discount codes on this site are often affiliate relationships, which means that I may receive a payment based on your purchases. I take care to recommend only books I have actually read and found to be useful, and products I have examined and found to be of high quality.
All of the materials on this site are copyright 2013-2020 by Brendan Conley. The materials are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. You may reproduce them for noncommercial purposes provided you credit the source. If you reproduce them online, please provide a link back to this site. You may also edit and improve them provided you share the results in the same way. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for improvements to the diagrams, please Leave a Comment on the site or email me at brendan@brendanconley.com. If you make improvements, feel free to send them to me if you would like to share them with others. I also enjoy hearing from law students who have used the diagrams to study for exams. I wish you the best of luck in your endeavors.
Sincerely,
Brendan Conley
Hi Brendan,
Thanks for your materials! Great job.
Why did you do Just the Rules for just Contracts and Crim Law? Just curious.
Thanks Michael! There’s Just the Rules for Torts as well. Those were subjects from my first year of law school. I guess at that point in my studies I thought I needed to write out all the rules, and later I didn’t. What I present here is by no means complete. Just passing along whatever I have. Good luck in your studies!
Brendan : thank you for your big picture subject graphs and charts. My question Brendan is did you answer the evidence essay questions by memorizing your evidence chart? form 1…..form 2…..etc. ?
Hi Marc! For me, the big picture flowcharts were helpful for reminding myself that I really do have everything I need in my head. So if I’m finding myself lost on an evidence essay question, I can take a deep breath and remember that there are really only five things I have to consider: the Form of any Question, Relevance, Presentation, Hearsay and Privileges. Addressing those things in that order keeps an essay answer organized. As for the task of memorizing the details at each step, I would say yes, the charts can be helpful for that as well. I had them posted on the walls of my apartment, so for instance I could run through the list of objections in my head, then glance up at the chart to check whether I remembered them all correctly. But flashcards (paper or electronic) are also helpful for memorization, and spaced repetition works wonders. Good luck!
Thank you Brendan for your quick response. Yes I will try reviewing my evidence and
other subjects in a big Picture format. I also really like your criminal law , contracts and
remedies. I’m a visual learner so I better start using visuals.
I would love love love to see you do civ pro
That would be a fun one, and it does seem like a flowchart would be helpful. I may put one together one day.
To echo previous comments, THANK YOU for these study aids. Bar prep courses are helpful, but your “big picture” charts and other concise illustrations are the cherries on top of outline sundaes.
Thank you for your altruistic efforts to give back to the overworked and underpaid law student!! Your materials are fantastic and again I say: thanks!
Great resource. I am prepping for July 2016 CA bar exam after finishing school in 2009 so this is a great resource and review! Thank you! I will visit the site often!
It is well known that the Bar exam is difficult to pass. In fact, it is one of the most difficult bar exams in the United States.
The Bar exam is a comprehensive exam. Why do so many bar candidates fail the exam? The reason is simple.
While law school professors test the student’s knowledge of the law, Bar examiners test the student’s application of the law. They assume that students already know the black letter law and most do. Application of the law shows the bar examiners that a student has the skills to be a lawyer.
Students should incorporate into their bar study plan a review of 10 prior California tested essays per subject, 10 prior California tested performance exams and 3000+ multistate bar questions.
What I found really useful was the California Bar Exam Care Package: https://gumroad.com/l/baroutlines . They were by far the most helpful bar outlines I used to help me pass the California Bar exam on my first try.
The outlines were really concise and only contained the information I really needed to know to pass. It also came with very helpful Performance Test advice as well as great notes for the multi-choice MBE section. I highly recommend them.
Best of luck!
Hi Brendan,
Are these charts and rule statements tailored to California law or are they MBE?
Thanks!
Although I created them to study for the California bar exam, at that time there was no state-specific information on the California bar exam, so everything is of national relevance.
Hello. I was wondering if these outlines are updated for 2017-2018 bar exams.
No, these are unchanged from 2006.
hi Bredan, thank you so much for your sharing!
Mr. Conley, my name is REED BINGHAM, I am a retired Firefighter from Long Beach Fire Dept (CA). I retired at the rank of Battalion Chief in /02. I also graduated from Western State School of Law in 1998. I currently teach part-time at Orange County Juvenile Hall in Orange, CA just down the street from Disneyland!!
I am currently writing a book in conjunction with my former co-worker, who retired as head of LBFD’s Investigation Division and currently runs a fire science program at Chemeketa Community College in Oregon. The book will be titled “Fire Investigation For Company Officers”. I am taking some time to write about some of the legal technicalities that present themselves before/after/during an investigation and the intricacies of testimony at a trial that would present themselves to a person unaccustomed to testifying at a trial. In so doing I am also touching on some of the evidentiary issues that present themselves. I came across your outlines and they are awesome. I would like to ask if we could use your ‘Evidence’ outline (pictured above). We will be happy in the book to acknowledge the outline as being created by you. Again, thanx much and I look forward to hearing from you…REED BINGHAM
Sounds like a great project! Thank you for asking for permission. The diagrams are all licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means anyone can reprint them for nonprofit purposes provided they credit the source. Also, I would be happy to grant permission for you to reprint the diagram you mentioned in your book, whether it is nonprofit or for-profit. Please do credit Brendan Conley and/or brendanconley.com. If it’s possible to show me a copy of the book when it’s published, that would be neat to see too. Thanks!
Mr. Conley, Thanx for your prompt. The book is essentially a commercial venture in that we receive royalties from the sales. It is designed to be a text book in Fire Science classes as well as reference for personnel studying for promotional exams. We would probably make changes only in presentation, from color to black and white as the publishers absolutely cannot stand color illustrations. We will gladly credit you and see you get a copy of the book upon completion. We are seeking to target an audience throughout the country who are already first responders and want to 1) upgrade their status to company officers (Captain, Lieutenant, etc) 2) increase their ability to testify competently and truthfully with a minimum of stress. I know from my personal experience about testifying at trial as well as sitting through the discovery process that it is difficult if one is not familiar with the process. There is also the fact of testifying regarding civil matters, such as wrongful termination actions from the training portion of the profession. Feel free to let me know if it is ok for us to use the outlines, we will gladly provide a copy of the book and credit you and your works. Thank you again, REED BINGHAM
Sounds great. Permission granted, and I look forward to seeing the book! When it is published, you can send a copy to Law Office of Brendan Conley, 7320 E. Fletcher Ave., Tampa, FL 33637.
Thank you, Brendan! Your kind gesture is a great help to law students like myself!
Brendan, Thank you for providing these outlines. It’s a huge help! I’m on a tight budget and this really means a lot!!!
hello sir , can these be used to prepare for the Bar exams in New York in 2019?
Yes, while of course keeping in mind that there may be recent or region-specific law that you need to know that is not on these charts. Good luck on your bar exam!
Thank you for these outlines and charts! I was going to put together a table for remedies and your chart was very helpful! It is people like you who decide to share with others that make the world a better place. I hope to follow your example. Thanks again!
Thx so much
Hello, is any of your material strictly for UBE?
Not really, but it should still be useful. I did update my Contract, Torts, and Criminal Law and Procedure outlines for the UBE in 2019, because I thought Colorado was going to make me take the UBE, but they ended up admitting me on motion, so that’s the only UBE-specific content. But based on my experience updating those topics for the UBE in 2019, working from my original outlines for the California bar exam in 2006, there were very few changes. Constitutional law changes whenever the Supreme Court says so, but other than that the legal principles tested on bar exams are very stable over time, and I think there is very little difference between the various state bar exams and the UBE.
Hi Brendan, Hope all is well with you!!
Thank you very much for these amazing outlines and contributions. Its amazing to there are still people who support others in exchange for nothing!
Just a quick question if you dont mind, as you updated the Contracts, Torts, and Crim Law and Procedures for 2020, are the big picture charts and visuals of these topics also considered up to date? Im just asking as Im a foreign-educated exam taker so I might not be able to notice any discrepancies. Any assistance on those visuals is greatly appreciated!!
Many thanks,
Mohammad
When I updated those outlines for 2020, I did not notice any big changes, nothing that made me feel that I needed to update any of those diagrams. All U.S. bar exams test the same bedrock principles of law, and those don’t change much.
I think I ran upon these a few years ago. So happy to have them now. Much appreciated.