Sturm College of Law News
Important News for all Summer 2009 and later Colorado Bar Exam Applicants!
December 04, 2008
Beginning July 2009, the Colorado Supreme Court has altered the essay portion of the bar exam to adopt the Multiple-State Essay Exam (MEE). The exam remains unchanged for February 2009 Colorado Bar Exam applicants.
As background, MEE questions are composed by a team of scholars, practitioners, and judges under the auspices of the National Conference of Bar Examiners [more information available at www.ncbex.org]. Consequently, the scope and format of the essay exam will change to reflect the MEE format, providing test-takers with 8 nationally-created thirty-minute essay questions instead of 9 state-created 25-minute essay questions. Significantly, the subject matter of the exam will change with the addition of Conflict of Laws and the deletion of Administrative Law, Colorado Civil Procedure, and Colorado Domestic Relations from the panoply of available test subjects. Otherwise we have been assured that the essay exam subjects and protocols will remain largely unchanged.
Thus, starting in July 2009, bar exam applicants should anticipate essay questions covering the following subjects as listed on the NCBE website:
- Business Associations
- Constitutional Law
- Contracts
- Criminal Law and Procedure
- Evidence
- Family Law
- Federal Civil Procedure
- Real Property
- Torts
- Trusts and Estates
- Uniform Commercial Code
In sum, starting July 2009, the Colorado Supreme Court has decided to purchase all 3 components of the bar exam from the NCBE: (1) 2 performance tests; (2) 8 essay questions; and, (3) 200 multiple-choice questions. Accordingly, Colorado Bar Exam applicants should expect that the two-day format will remain unchanged starting in July 2009 as follows:
Day 1:
2 performance tests and 8 essay questions (Conflict of Laws, Constitutional Law, Contracts, Criminal Law and Procedure, Evidence, Family Law, Federal Civil Procedure, Real Property, Torts, Trusts and Estates, Uniform Commercial Code);
Day 2:
200 multiple-choice questions (Constitutional Law, Contracts/Sales, Criminal Law and Procedure, Evidence, Real Property, Torts)
Please let us know if you have questions and please visit www.ncbex.org for detailed subject matter outlines!
Note: The Colorado Bar Exam has indicated that it will add Conflict of Laws as an additional essay subject starting in two years to provide current students adequate time to prepare for studying this additional subject over the course of the next two years.