MD Bar Essay 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What percentage of the total UBE score in Maryland comes from the MEE essays?
- 30% (Correct answer)
- 50%
- 20%
- 10%
Correct answer: 30%
The UBE weights the MEE at 30%, the MPT at 20%, and the MBE at 50%.
Question 2: An MEE fact pattern says a landowner orally promised to sell her farm, and the buyer paid, moved in, and built a barn. The essay should discuss:
- The part performance exception to the Statute of Frauds (Correct answer)
- The parol evidence rule barring the sale
- The mailbox rule for acceptance
- Anticipatory repudiation damages
Correct answer: The part performance exception to the Statute of Frauds
Payment plus possession plus improvements is the classic part performance exception to the land-contract Statute of Frauds.
Question 3: In a family law essay, a court dividing marital property in an equitable distribution state should:
- Divide marital property fairly, not necessarily equally (Correct answer)
- Split all property 50/50 automatically
- Award all property to the higher earner
- Include only property titled jointly
Correct answer: Divide marital property fairly, not necessarily equally
Equitable distribution requires a fair division based on statutory factors, which may not be an equal split.
Question 4: An essay asks whether a shareholder can sue directors for wasting corporate assets. The claim is properly framed as:
- A derivative suit on behalf of the corporation (Correct answer)
- A direct suit for the shareholder's personal loss
- A criminal complaint for embezzlement
- A partnership dissolution action
Correct answer: A derivative suit on behalf of the corporation
Harm to the corporation itself, like asset waste, must be pursued derivatively after demand on the board.
Question 5: When an essay's facts support two plausible outcomes, the strongest answer will:
- Analyze both sides and justify a reasoned conclusion (Correct answer)
- Refuse to pick a conclusion
- Present only the side favoring the plaintiff
- State that more facts are needed and stop
Correct answer: Analyze both sides and justify a reasoned conclusion
Graders reward answers that weigh competing arguments before committing to a supported conclusion.
Question 6: A decedent dies intestate survived by a spouse and two children from a prior marriage. An essay applying the UPC approach should note the spouse:
- Shares the estate with the decedent's children (Correct answer)
- Takes the entire estate automatically
- Takes nothing without a will
- Takes only the family home
Correct answer: Shares the estate with the decedent's children
Under the UPC, a surviving spouse shares with the decedent's children who are not also the spouse's children.
Question 7: Which of the following subjects is tested on the MEE but NOT on the MBE?
- Secured transactions (Correct answer)
- Evidence
- Real property
- Constitutional law
Correct answer: Secured transactions
Secured transactions (UCC Article 9) appears only on the MEE, while the other three are core MBE subjects.
MD Bar Essay 3
What percentage of the total UBE score in Maryland comes from the MEE essays?