California Bar Subjects

Written subjects

For the current legacy California examination, essay and Performance Test questions may involve 13 subjects. The State Bar publishes a content map for each area, which is the best place to identify the topics and jurisdiction-specific rules within scope.

• Business Associations
• Civil Procedure
• Community Property
• Constitutional Law
• Contracts
• Criminal Law and Procedure
• Evidence
• Professional Responsibility
• Real Property
• Remedies
• Torts
• Trusts
• Wills and Succession

Essays can combine subjects. A fact pattern about a business dispute may raise contracts, remedies and civil procedure. A family property question can combine community property, wills or trust issues. Practise identifying every plausible issue without forcing an unrelated topic into the answer.

MBE subjects

The multiple-choice portion uses NCBE's MBE and covers seven subjects: Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Contracts, Criminal Law and Procedure, Evidence, Real Property and Torts. The MBE has 200 questions. These subjects overlap with the written list, but the format and scope are not identical. California-specific rules can matter in essays even where MBE questions use generally accepted principles.

The MBE subject outline is maintained by NCBE. Use it for national multiple-choice study, and use California's content maps for written issues. Treating one outline as a substitute for the other can leave local doctrine uncovered.

Where California law matters

California-specific rules are especially important when the official map identifies a local distinction. Community property is a central example, including classification, management, obligations and division. Professional Responsibility requires California's rules alongside the separate MPRE. Evidence, civil procedure, remedies and succession can also involve state-specific law.

For each subject, make a paired outline: the general rule and the California variation. Do not memorize a state difference without understanding when it applies. In an essay, identify the governing law from the facts, then state the rule appropriate to that issue.

The Performance Test is a skill assessment

The PT may arise in any subject or a fictional area of law because the task supplies a file and legal library. Preparation therefore emphasizes reading instructions, extracting rules from provided materials, applying facts and producing the requested work product. Memorized California doctrine alone does not solve a task that provides its own governing law.

The transition to NextGen

California will administer the NextGen UBE beginning July 2028. That administration and February 2029 will have no California component. The State Bar is developing a California component for no earlier than July 2029. The future NextGen content scope includes foundational concepts and practical skills, and differs from today's 13-subject written map and MBE component.

Candidates should choose subject materials for the exact administration. A student testing in February 2028 studies the current California written and MBE structure. A student testing in July 2028 prepares for NextGen using the corresponding NCBE blueprint. Future California-component content should not be treated as finalized until the State Bar publishes it.

Build a subject map for study

1. Download the official California content maps for the current exam date.
2. Separate written topics from the seven MBE subjects.
3. Mark rules that differ from the majority or federal approach.
4. Practise essays that combine subjects and write a concise issue checklist.
5. Use MBE sets for national multiple-choice application and review errors by doctrine.
6. Practise PT tasks with new law supplied in the file and library.
7. If your date is July 2028 or later, switch to the applicable NextGen content scope.

Subject frequency can vary by administration. No published subject list guarantees which topics will appear on a particular essay. Broad preparation and accurate issue selection are more reliable than betting on a predicted topic.

Build subject clusters around the facts that connect them

The 13 written subjects form a scope, but exam problems often connect them through a transaction or dispute. A business breakup may raise entity authority, contract formation, fiduciary duties, remedies and civil procedure. A death during marriage may connect community-property classification, succession and trust administration. Learn the subjects as distinct rule systems, then practise moving between them when the facts require it.

For each subject map, identify the California rules that differ from a national outline, the elements likely to decide a claim and the remedies that follow. A two-column outline can preserve the distinction: “general rule” and “California rule.” Add a third note only when an exam instruction supplies a different rule or a fact activates a special exception. This keeps local differences available without turning every rule into an exception list.

Business Associations and Civil Procedure

Business Associations questions can involve formation, authority, ownership, fiduciary obligations, limited liability and dissolution. Begin by identifying the entity and the actor's role. A partner's authority, a corporate officer's authority and a member-managed LLC's authority arise from different sources. Then ask whether the challenged act binds the entity, breaches a duty or creates personal responsibility. Do not assume that ownership percentage alone answers authority or fiduciary-duty questions.

Civil Procedure questions place those substantive disputes in a court process. Determine subject-matter jurisdiction, personal jurisdiction and venue; identify the pleadings and motions; then track amendments, joinder, discovery, judgment and preclusion. A later question about whether an owner is personally liable may depend on whether the owner was joined and had an opportunity to litigate. Procedural posture is part of the legal problem, not background decoration.

Community Property, Trusts, and Wills and Succession

Community Property asks how property and obligations are characterized, managed and divided. Trace acquisition date, source of funds, domicile and any transmutation or reimbursement facts. A bank account title may be evidence, but the source and timing of deposits can matter. Do not jump from “earned during marriage” to a final division without considering separate contributions, debts and the issue asked.

Trusts and Wills and Succession focus on transfer intent, validity, property subject to a disposition, fiduciary duties and the rights of beneficiaries or heirs. Distinguish revocable from irrevocable arrangements, present transfers from testamentary gifts, and a personal representative's role from a trustee's. When property has a community or separate character, classification can determine what the decedent could dispose of and what passes by operation of law.

Evidence, Professional Responsibility and Remedies

California Evidence questions require attention to the governing code and the purpose for which proof is offered. Relevance is not the same as admissibility. Hearsay, character, impeachment, privilege and authentication are separate filters. A statement may be offered to show notice rather than truth, but a recorded assertion can contain additional hearsay layers. Identify the exact inference the proponent asks the factfinder to draw.

Professional Responsibility calls for identifying the lawyer-client relationship, the duty involved, the affected client or third party and any required consent or disclosure. Duties can arise at intake, during representation, when handling property, when a conflict develops and at termination. California-specific rules may differ from the ABA Model Rules or the MPRE framework. State the California rule when the essay scope requires it, and keep the MPRE as a separate admission requirement.

Remedies depend on the right violated and the injury proved. Contract damages aim to protect the bargain, tort damages address legally recognized harm, restitution focuses on benefits unjustly retained, and equitable relief has its own prerequisites. Avoid treating “damages” as a single calculation. Identify causation, certainty, mitigation and any limits before stating the remedy.

Real Property, Torts and Constitutional Law

Real Property questions often turn on time, notice and the form of an interest. Identify the estate, conditions, easements or covenants, then determine who holds the right and whether a later party takes subject to it. Recording acts require the statute and the buyer's status; a deed date alone does not settle priority. Landlord-tenant disputes may add possession, notice and damages issues.

Torts asks whether conduct invaded a protected interest and caused harm. For negligence, keep duty, breach, factual causation, proximate cause, damages and defenses separate. Intentional torts and strict liability follow different elements. Constitutional Law asks which government actor acted, which power or right is implicated, and what standard of review controls. State action and scrutiny questions should not be answered from a general sense of fairness.

Use a subject decision tree in an essay

Suppose a decedent's will leaves a family business to one child, while a surviving spouse claims that part of the business was acquired with marital earnings. Start with the property classification and any separate-property tracing. Determine the decedent's power to dispose of the property. Then address the will's validity and the interests passing under succession rules. If a trust holds some shares, analyze the trustee's powers and duties separately. Business entity law determines what ownership of the shares confers, while remedies may address any breach.

The order matters because the later issue can depend on the earlier classification. A candidate who begins with fiduciary duties before deciding who owns the asset may analyze the wrong relationship. Draw a short map of parties, property and legal instruments. Then use a heading for each claim and connect it to the facts that trigger it.

No subject-frequency prediction can replace coverage of the scope. Prior questions can help you practise issue combinations and timing, but they do not guarantee recurrence. Study official maps and practise broad fact patterns. When a prompt contains no facts for a doctrine, leave it out rather than forcing a memorized paragraph into the answer.