101 Mnemonics to Help You Pass the California Bar Exam

I am a big fan of mnemonics.  There is just so much to memorize for the California bar exam – you’re sure to need some help squeezing it all into your head to help you pass.  For some people, mnemonics just do not work or only create more confusion.  You probably know what works for you.  If you don’t fancy yourself a fan of mnemonics, then I suggest that you at least try using a few to see if you can save yourself some time and stress.

Mnemonics deserve a word of caution.  They are just meant as triggers.  You have to know the law itself.  Sometimes they are incomplete, so you have to have the foundational knowledge there to fill in the blanks.  They are just to help you remember a list of items or elements to jog your memory.  There’s no substitute for knowing the law.  These are just to assist you in cramming all of the necessary knowledge into your brain in a short amount of time.

While studying for the California bar exam, I compiled a list of mnemonics that I gathered from different sources and some that I came up with on my own.  I didn’t use all of these – that would be a little overboard.  For the ones that came naturally or for which I needed mnemonics (i.e., I struggled with remembering all of the elements), I made flash cards and put them on posters that I taped to the walls (more on this later).  Some of these are a bit crazy, but I’ve included them in case they work for you.  I’ve put them after the jump because the list is rather long.  See a favorite mnemonic missing from the list?  Add it in the comments section.

Business Associations

Rule 10-b5: “Frank Secretly Purchased Interesting Romanian Decorations”

• Fraud
• Scienter
• Purchase of Securities
• Interstate Commerce
• Reliance
• Damages

Civil Procedure

Diversity jurisdiction requires federal courts to use state rules for P.I.P.S.

• P – Privileges
• I – Incompetency of witnesses
• P – Presumptions and inferences
• S – State SOL

Constitutional Law

A content-neutral regulation must be a reasonable S.O.N. of the 1A:

• S – The restriction must be justified by a Significant government interest
• O – The regulation must leave open ample and alternative channels of communication AND
• N – The regulation must be Narrowly Tailored to further the government’s goal, but doesn’t have to be least restrictive means of doing so

The President always wears his V.E.T.’S C.A.P.

• V – Veto Power over Congressional Acts
• E – Executive Power to “take care” that laws of the U.S. are faithfully executed
• T – Treaty Power
• S – State of the Union recommendation to Congress for proposed legislation
• C – Commander in Chief of the armed forces
• A – appointment power over ambassadors, judges of the Supreme Court, and other “superior officers” of the U.S.
• P – Pardon Power over federal crimes
• S – Power to call a Special Session of Congress

P.I.E.P.E.R. F.I.T. W.A.B.C.D. in Congress (express powers of Congress, enumerated in Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution):

• P – Post office
• I – Investigatory power to find facts in order to pass legislation
• E – Enforcement of federal civil rights under the 13^th, 14^th, and 15^th Amendments
• P – Property Power
• E – Federal Elections
• R – Raising Revenues by taxing
• F – Fiscal power
• I – The power to regulate inferior federal courts and their procedures
• T – Treaty Power
• W – The Power to Declare War
• A – Power over Aliens and their naturalization to become citizens
• B – Bankruptcy
• C – International and interstate Commerce
• D – District of Columbia police power

Contracts

The ingredients for a valid contract are T.A.C.O.

• T – Definite Terms, express or implied
• A – Acceptance of terms
• C – Consideration
• O – Offer inviting acceptance

An offer expires when it gets T.I.R.E.D.

• T – Reasonable Time after an offer is made, or after expiration date expressly stated in an offer
• I – Mental Incapacity or death of offeror or offeree
• R – Revocation of an offer communicated to an offeree before acceptance
• E – Express or implied rejection communicated to offeror
• D – Destruction of the subject matter of the offer or intervening illegality terminates an offer by operation of law

Options can D.I.E. by:

• D – Destruction of subject matter
• I – Intervening illegality
• E – Expiration of a stated option time extinguishes the option

Look at H.A.I.L. to determine whether a breach is material or immaterial:

• H – Hardship on breaching party if total material breach is declared
• A – Amount of benefit bestowed on non-breaching benefit
• I – Whether breach was Innocent
• L – Likelihood of full performance achieved

O.F. M.I.C.E. permits parole evidence:

• O – To establish an Oral condition precedent to legal effectiveness of contract, provided it doesn’t contradict express terms of the contract
• F – Party can’t invoke the PER to shield that party from allegations of Fraud or Misrepresentation
• M – To establish Mutual Mistake or claim for reformation of contract
• I – To establish Illegality
• C – To establish failure of Consideration
• E – To Explain ambiguous or missing terms, or show that no enforceable agreement was ever intended

The exceptions to the Parol Evidence Rule are a D.A.M. F.O.I.L.:

• D – Duress
• A – Ambiguity
• M – Mistake
• F – Fraud
• O – Oral condition precedent
• I – Illegality (including “contrary to public policy)
• L – Lack of consideration

Additional terms will not be added to the contract when O.C.A.N.:

• O – The offeror Objects to additional terms within a reasonable time
• C – The offer expressly Conditions the agreement on accepting the terms in the offer as they are
• A – The additional terms materially Alter the offer
• N – Neither of both parties are Non-Merchants

A J.S.T.R.A.W. clause materially alters an offer if it would cause surprise or hardship to the offeror if the offeror was not made aware of its existence:

• J – Bestowing Jurisdiction on a particular court, or requiring offeror to consent to jurisdiction in particular state
• S – Shortening the SOL to sue for non-conforming goods
• T – Limiting Tort liability
• R – Altering U.C.C. rules for Risk of Loss
• A – Adding an Arbitration Clause (unless customary to do so in the trade)
• W – Adding a clause negating a Warranty (i.e., one of merchantability or fitness)

Remedies available to a seller SPARKLE:

• S – Stopping goods in transit
• P – Suing for the entire contract Price
• A – Demanding Assurances
• R – Re-selling goods to another buyer
• K – Keeping part of a breaching buyer’s deposit, never more than $500
• L – Suing for Lost Profit
• E – Exercising the right to reclaim goods deliver to the insolvent buyer

Lack of contractual capacity arises from the 3Is:

• Infancy
• Intoxication
• Mental Infirmity

SI2R M is a fraud:

• S – Scienter
• I – D lied with an Intent to defraud the P
• I – P suffered an economic Injury
• R – P justifiably Relied on D’s misrepresentation
• M – D misrepresented a Material fact, which induced P to enter the K

A unilateral mistake in calculating figures may allow the mistaken party the remedy of equity of rescission, if he calls the C.O.P.S.:

• C – The computational mistake was Communicated to the other party before that person changed his/her position in reliance on those mistaken figures
• O – The mistake involved was one of Ordinary negligence
• P – The mistaken party gave Prompt notice of the mistake
• S – The mistake will not impose Substantial hardship on the party if not corrected

Generally, contracting parties are free to modify a 3P beneficiary K unless prior to receiving notice of the K modification, the 3PB got M.A.D.:

• M – Manifested an assent called for the in 3PB K., at the request of one of the contracting parties
• A – Commenced a breach of K Action against the promisor OR
• D – Detrimentally relied on the K

Absent express language in a K prohibiting assignment, K rights are freely assignable, except those of S.I.R.P.:

• S – Where a Statute expressly prohibits the assignment of a K right
• I – Where the assignment is coupled with an Improper delegation of a duty under the K to a person unqualified to fulfill that duty
• R – Where the assignment increased the Risk to the other contracting party
• P – Where the services to be rendered are highly Personal in nature (because that would materially alter the bargain)

The theory of impossibility frequently involves the 4 Ds:

• Death
• Danger to life/ill health
• Destruction of the subject matter of the lawsuit
• Delays, temporarily causing performance to become impracticable or impossible

A sales contract contains M.F.E.E.T. warranties:

• M – Warranty of Merchantability
• F – Warranty of Fitness for a particular purpose
• E – Warranty against Encumbrances
• E – Express warranties
• T – Warranty of Title

Express warranties are S.A.D.:

• S – Sample or model, which is the basis of the bargain
• A – Written or oral Affirmation of fact or promise made by the seller relating to the goods
• D – Description of the goods in advertisements, brochures, or catalogs

Crimes

Specific Intent Crimes are B.A.M. A.C.T.S.

• Burglary
• Assault
• Murder, 1D premeditated
• Attempt
• Conspiracy
• Theft (larceny)
• Solicitation

General Intent Crimes are M.B.R.I.K.

• Murder, 2D
• Battery
• Rape
• Imprisonment (false)
• Kidnapping

Defenses to Crimes: “I D.E.M.A.N.D. C.O.P.S.”:

• Insanity
• Drinking
• Entanglement
• Mistake (law/fact)
• Age (minor)
• Necessity
• Consent
• Others (Defense of)
• Property (Defense of)
• Self (Defense of)

A C.U.B. can’t be sentenced to death for felony murder:

• C – D didn’t Commit, command, or request the homicide
• U – D was Unarmed AND
• B – D had no reason to Believe another co-conspirator was armed or intended to engage in conduct likely to result in death

Criminal Procedure

Exceptions to the Warrant Requirement are C.H.E.A.P.S.:

• Consent
• Hot Pursuit
• Exigent Circumstances
• Auto
• Plain View
• Search Incident to a Lawful Arrest

Evidence

A witness must P.U.R.R. before she can testify

• P – Personally perceived the event
• U – Understand and take the oath or affirmation
• R – Remember the event
• R – Be able to Recall the event on the stand

A M.I.M.I.C. can introduce prior crimes, on direct examination

• M – To show D’s Motive for committing a crime
• I – To show D’s specific Intent or guilty knowledge
• M – To show absence of Mistake or accident
• I – To Identify D as perpetrator
• C – To establish a Common plan or scheme

Offer the Business Records of Mr. T.R.U.M.P.

• T – Record must have been Timely made “at or near” the time of the matter recorded
• R – It must have been the habitual, Routine, regular practice of that business to systematically make and keep such a record
• U – Out-of-court declarant must have been Under a duty to supply information for the record, unless the statement falls into another hearsay exception, in which case the statement would be admitted, provided the other 4 T.R.U.M.P. elements are satisfied
• M – The record was Made and the information was kept as part of the regular practice of that business; AND
• P – Business records must identify the source of the information and the person supplying the information for the record must have had Personal Knowledge of the matter recorded

Property

The C.I.A. gives notice to a real property buyer

• Constructive Notice
• Inquiry Notice
• Actual Notice

You can get an implied easement if you find a C.R.A.B.

• C – Both dominant and servient estates were formerly held by a Common Owner
• R – Use of an implied easement is Reasonably Necessary for reasonable use of the dominant estate
• A – Use of the easement was plainly and physically Apparent from reasonable inspection of the land (exception: implied easement for underground water pipes)
• B – Former use of the land subordinated one part of the land for the Benefit of another part

Even if a lease is silent on these topics, a landlord H.E.A.R.S. these implied covenants

• H – Habitability
• E – Quiet Enjoyment
• A – Assignability of the lease
• R – Good Repair (this covenant is made by commercial landlords)
• S – Minimal Security Precautions