Guest: Professor Scott Burnham, University of Montana School of Law

Topic: Conflicts: Choice of Law

Running Time: 9:25

Click here to download the mp3 file: Burnham_ChoiceOF_Law.mp3

Prof. Burnham, author of many CALI lessons and podcasts, discusses choice of law in contract cases.Choice of law occurs when there is an issue of which jurisdiction’s law the courts will apply to a substantive issue.Choice of law is not a question of where a case will be heard, but instead what law applies when hearing the case.Prof. Burnham discusses how parties can influence what law will apply as well as what restrictions apply when doing so.Also discussed are the older and revised versions of UCC Art. 1, specifically the requirement of a reasonable connection with the jurisdiction and determining whether the contract has a significant relationship with the jurisdiction.

Guest: Professor Scott Burnham, University of Montana School of Law

Topic: Exam Tips: How to be better prepared and more successful at taking law school multiple choice tests.

Running Time: 11:14

Click here to download the mp3 file: Burnham_MCQuestions.mp3

Prof. Burnham, author of a number of CALI lessons and podcasts provides students with advice on multiple choice exam questions. Prof. Burnham goes into the different aspects of a multiple choice question: the stimulus, options, key, and distracters. Additionally, Prof. Burnham discusses the different types of multiple choice questions such as questions that test a student’s ability to recall information, those that draw on materials discussed in class, and those that require analysis. Students are taught how to respond to the call of a question, apply IRAC to multiple choice questions, as well as different tactics for eliminating options in a question. At the end of this lesson students will know how to decipher what type of question is being asked, how to spot the specific issue in the question, and how to eliminate the other choices.

Guest: Professor Jennifer Martin, Western New England College School of Law

Topic:Exam Advice: A discussion of common errors that students make and can avoid when writing a law school essay exam.

Running Time: 11:20

Click here to download the mp3 file: Martin_commomessaymistakes.mp3

In this podcast, Prof. Jennifer Martin discusses the top ten mistakes law students make in law school examinations. These are poor issue spotting, poor issue spotting, poor knowledge and understanding of the law, poor application of the law to the facts, giving only conclusory answers, lack of organization, errors in the facts, failure to understand the role you are given in the examination, padding, fact inventing, and question begging. Included in this discussion is guidance on spotting the issues, avoiding being bottom line oriented, how to use the facts, how to approach a question, and using words efficiently. Prof. Martin also discusses the hallmarks of a good essay answer. These answers are lawyerlike, responsive to the question asked, logical, thought out, well organized, fact and issue centered, and use cogent reasoning and good rule application.

Prof. Martin is also the author of a number of CALI lessons and other podcasts.