“The importance of misdirection incorporated into your act cannot be stressed enough. Factors include where your audience is positioned, where and when they look and what they are thinking about. Basically, misdirection is making sure that [they] stay focused on the magic and don’t start trying to figure out how the trick is done” – www.goodtricks.net
The last entry of You and the Bar Exam introduced you to the terminology that you will encounter in your studies for the Multistate Bar Exam. This entry discusses the three perspectives that an astute applicant should bring to his or her MBE strategy: perspectives from which to analyze each of three broad categories of questions.
Let’s go back to the Double Bullet Catch for a moment to illustrate the notion of these different perspectives. In my description of the trick I left out an important element of discovering the “scam” in it. That element is where you, the spectator, are located and the visual perspective of the trick that your location allows you. If you are standing in front of the magicians you might be best served by looking at their mouths, into which they will eventually sneak the real bullets that the audience marked up. If you are off to the side or behind them you might be best served by observing the movements of their arms and hands, looking for those upward motions that could appear to target their mouths.
Each Bar applicant is well served by paying attention to what perspective each question is asking her or him to employ. For the most part, there are three.
As a Judge, you will be asked to identify the correct outcome to the hypothetical that is contained in the Root of the question.
Call: If the walker asserts a claim against the company alleging that the leash used by the trainer was defective, the court should find for:
(A) the company, because the walker was not a purchaser or consumer of the product.
(B) the company, because the leash had been submitted to all reasonable tests and inspections before being marketed.
(C) the walker, because the dog was a dog of average size and strength.
(D) the walker, because it was foreseeable that the leash would eventually weaken and break when used as it was meant to be used.
As an Advocate, you will be asked to determine the most effective argument in favor of his or her client’s position, as set forth in the facts contained in the Root.
Call: Which of the following would be the prosecuting attorney’s most effective argument in response to that assertion?
(A) the defendant’s conduct indicated an intent to kill the wife.
(B) the defendant’s conduct indicated an intent to inflict great bodily harm on the wife.
(C) the defendant did not catch the wife in flagrante delicto.
(D) in the defendant’s position, a person of ordinary temperament would not have become angry enough to lose normal self-control.
As a Scholar, you’ll be asked to recognize the legal significance of a particular fact or to select the most applicable rule.
Call: Which of the following interests does the ex-husband have the power to convey to the buyer?
(A) the right to possess the reality until the ex-husband’s death.
(B) the right to possess the realty until his wife’s death.
(C) the right to possess the realty until the death of the buyer.
(D) no right to possess the realty.
No student of the MBE should lose site of the value of extended and meticulous study of legal rules and their applications. That said though, identifying question structures and having practiced perspectives, strategies and tactics at hand on test day will help you to perform at your highest level.
