SUGGESTED FORMAT OF ANSWERING FOR THE BAR

EXAMS

I. Answer directly the question

II. State the applicable law
III. Analysis
IV. Conclusion

I. Answer directly the question

 YES/NO
 The argument is untenable/tenable
 The argument is bereft of merit
 The lower court erred in
 I will rule in favor of
 I will agree with
 The action is tenable/untenable
 The petition is meritorious
 The decision is erroneous
 The contention is totally misplaced
 The petition is devoid of merit

II. State the applicable law

 The law provides…
 Basic is the rule…
 As a rule…
 Under the law,
 Under the rules,
  Under the constitution, Civil Code, etc (depending
on the applicable law)
 It is settled that…
 It is basic that…
 It is a well established rule in (name of subject)
 It is a basic postulate…
 Under existing procedural rules
 It is doctrinal that
 According to

III. Analysis
 In the case at bar
 In the case at bench
 In this case,
 As a rule
 Clear from the aforequoted provision
 In several cases, we have for reasons of equity..
 It would certainly be inequitable to
 In the light of the ruling in the case of …
 Based on testimonial and documentary evidence\
 Indeed, the complainant is correct when…
 It must be stressed that
 The allegation is bellied in the fact that
 To put it otherwise would be to render the law
useless/futile

In the narration of facts, you may use the following triggers:

 Plaintiff/ complainant is…

 Plaintiff or petitioner filed a complaint on …
 Defendant for his part filed an answer..
 Disagreeing with the trial judge, plaintiff
 The complaint alleged that
 Previously,
 Moreover ,
 Furthermore,
 In addition to
 Subsequently
 Likewise,
 In fine,
 Petitioner contends that
 Respondent in defense denied…
 On the other hand
 After trial
 Interestingly,
 To further persuade the court, the complainant argued that
 To substantiate his claim
 Unfazed with the said ruling, petitioner moved for the
consideration of…

IV. Conclusion
 In effect
 Hence
 Such being the case
 In sum
 To conclude
 Therefore,
 This having been said
 This eloquently demonstrates that
 Resultantly
 Consequently
 Based on the above discussion/s
 Under the foregoing facts
 This having been said
 Clearly
 Clearly
 Finally
 From the gamut of evidence on hand, it can be gathered/deduced
that…
 This being the case…
 As a logical result…
 Given the prevailing facts
 It follows therefore that