NEW YORK BAR EXAM DISTINCTIONS — ONE-PAGE CHEAT SHEET
Condensed companion to the New York Bar Exam Distinctions long outline.
Format: UBE (MBE/MEE/MPT) + the New York Law Course (NYLC, online) and New York Law Exam (NYLE, 50 Q, open-book). Everything below is where NY departs from the national rules tested on the NYLE.
1. CIVIL PROCEDURE (CPLR)
Limitations: negligence/property 3 yrs (214) · med-mal 2½ yrs from act or end of continuous treatment (214-a) · intentional torts 1 yr (215) · contract 6 yrs (213) · fraud 6 yrs/2 yrs-from-discovery, longer (213(8)) · judgment 20 yrs (211). · Borrowing statute (202): non-resident P on out-of-state claim must be timely under both NY and accrual-state periods — court borrows shorter. · Commencement by filing (not service) stops the clock; serve within 120 days (306-b). · Long-arm (302): (a)(1) transacts business/contracts to supply here · (a)(2) tortious act in NY (act, not just injury) · (a)(3) act outside causing injury in NY only with substantial-revenue/business nexus · (a)(4) owns NY realty — narrower than full due process. · Service (308): deliver-and-mail or nail-and-mail (latter only after due diligence); file proof in 20 days, complete 10 days later. · 3211 motion to dismiss adds documentary-evidence ground (a)(1) unavailable under FRCP 12; single-motion waiver. · Summary judgment (3212): only after issue joined — no early SJ. · Article 78 challenges government action; 4-month period (217). · Collateral source (4545) reduces award by insurance; Articles 50-A/50-B structure large future-damage judgments. · Appeal as of right to App. Div. (5701), broader than federal final-judgment rule.
2. EVIDENCE
NY has not adopted the FRE — common law + CPLR. · Molineux (= 404(b)) bars propensity, allows MIMIC; Ventimiglia hearing before admitting; Sandoval hearing fixes impeachment of testifying defendant — no FRE counterpart. · Dead Man's Statute (4519): interested witness barred from testifying to personal transaction with the deceased in action against the estate (waived if estate opens door) — no federal analog. · Physician-patient privilege (4504) (none federally); also attorney-client (4503), spousal (4502), clergy (4505). · Business records (4518) with certified-records provision. Avoid FRE numbering on NY essays.
3. TORTS
Pure comparative negligence (1411) — recover even if >50% at fault. · Article 16: defendant ≤50% at fault is severally (not jointly) liable for non-economic damages only; economic stays joint-and-several. · Labor Law § 240(1) "scaffold law" = absolute, non-delegable liability on owners/GCs for elevation/gravity injuries, comparative fault no defense; § 241(6) non-delegable Industrial Code duty — no national analog. · No-fault auto (Ins. L. 5102): sue in tort for non-economic damages only if "serious injury" (death, dismemberment, fracture, significant disfigurement, permanent/significant limitation, 90/180-day). · Dram shop (GOL 11-101) unlawful sale to visibly intoxicated; 11-100 to under-21; no broad social-host liability. · Wrongful death (EPTL 5-4.1): pecuniary loss only — no grief/loss of society; 2 yrs. Consortium derivative, spouses only. · Notice of claim within 90 days (GML 50-e); suit within 1 yr + 90 days (50-i) against municipalities.
4. PROPERTY
Race-notice (RPL 291) — later BFP must take without notice AND record first. · Adverse possession 10 yrs (RPAPL 501; CPLR 212); 2008 amendments tightened "claim of right" (reasonable basis) and made de minimis/permissive encroachments (mowing, plantings, fences) non-adverse. · Lien theory, judicial foreclosure; RPAPL 1301 election-of-remedies bars simultaneous suit on the note; mandatory residential settlement conference.
5. FAMILY (DRL)
No-fault since 2010 (DRL 170(7), 6-month irretrievable breakdown) alongside retained fault grounds. · Equitable distribution (not community property) — marital property divided equitably under 236(B) factors; separate property retained. · O'Brien overruled (2016) — professional licenses / enhanced earning capacity no longer marital property. · Maintenance by statutory formula. · CSSA percentages: 17% / 25% / 29% / 31% / 35%+ of combined parental income for 1/2/3/4/5 children, pro-rated, plus add-ons.
6. WILLS/TRUSTS (EPTL/SCPA)
Execution (3-2.1): sign at the end · 2 witnesses · publication · witnesses sign within 30 days of each other. · No holographic/nuncupative wills except armed-forces/mariner exception. · No partial revocation by physical act. · Elective share (5-1.1-A): greater of $50,000 or 1/3 of augmented estate (incl. testamentary substitutes). · Intestacy: spouse takes $50,000 + ½ residue, issue take rest. · Representation = per capita at each generation (1-2.16), not classic per stirpes. · Anti-lapse (3-3.3) limited to issue and siblings. · Advancements need a writing (2-1.5).
7. CONTRACTS / BUSINESS (GOL, BCL, LLC Law)
Signed writing substitutes for consideration: modification/discharge (5-1103) and past consideration (5-1105). · No-oral-modification clauses enforced (15-301). · Finder's-fee/business-brokerage Statute of Frauds (5-701); conveyances/leases >1 yr (5-703). Seal abolished. · LLC publication requirement — publish 6 weeks within 120 days or LLC's right to sue is suspended (unique to NY). · BCL § 626 derivative suits: contemporaneous ownership + demand/futility; §§ 1104-a/1118 minority-oppression dissolution/buyout.
8. CRIMINAL (Penal Law / CPL)
Indelible right to counsel — broader than 6th Amend.; once attached, defendant cannot waive counsel except in counsel's presence (Rogers). · Duty to retreat outside the home before deadly force (§ 35.15); EED reduces murder to manslaughter. · 2nd-degree murder covers intentional, depraved-indifference (now a mental state per Feingold), and felony murder. · Felony prosecution by grand jury indictment (Art. 190); defendant may testify. · CPL 30.30 ready rule (≈6 months felony). · Suppression hearings: Mapp/Huntley/Wade/Dunaway (CPL 710). · CPL Article 245 automatic broad discovery (2020), tied to 30.30 clock.
9. PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY (NYRPC)
Rule 1.6 protects "confidential information" — broader than the Model Rules' "information relating to the representation." · Detailed advertising/solicitation rules (7.1–7.5) with "Attorney Advertising" labeling and record-retention. · Distinct sex-with-client (1.8(j)) and IOLA rules; discipline through App. Div. departments.
10. EXAM FORMAT
UBE essays (MEE) test national majority rules — do not write NY law unless instructed. Layer NY distinctions only on the NYLE/NYLC, where CPLR and EPTL dominate.
KEY FLAGS
CPLR limitations + borrowing statute (202) · commencement by filing (306-b) · long-arm 302(a)(1)–(4) · no SJ before issue joined (3212) · Article 78 (4 months) · Dead Man's Statute (4519) + physician-patient privilege (4504) · Molineux/Ventimiglia/Sandoval · pure comparative (1411) + Article 16 several liability · Labor Law § 240(1) scaffold law · no-fault serious-injury threshold · 90-day notice of claim (50-e) · race-notice (291) + 10-yr AP + judicial foreclosure · no-fault divorce + O'Brien overruled + CSSA 17/25/29/31/35% · execution + no holographic wills + elective share (greater of $50k or 1/3) + per-capita-at-each-generation · GOL signed-writing consideration substitutes + LLC publication requirement · indelible right to counsel + duty to retreat · NYRPC 1.6 "confidential information."