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The Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam (MPRE) is the ethics portion of the bar exam. Passing the MPRE is a prerequisite to admission to the bar in every jurisdiction except four. Passing scores, which are set by each jurisdiction, currently vary between 75 and 86.
The MPRE is offered nationwide three times a year, in March, August, and November. Boards of Law Examiners across the country encourage law students to fulfill their MPRE requirement while still in law school.
The MPRE is a two-hour-and-five minute exam consisting of 60 multiple choice questions on professional responsibility and judicial conduct. The authoritative source on professional responsibility is the American Bar Association’s Model Rules of Professional Conduct. The Model Code of Judicial Conduct, on the other hand, is the official authority on judicial conduct. Generally, only five of the 60 MPRE questions test judicial conduct; the remaining questions test professional responsibility.
The following topics are included on the official MPRE subject outline:
- Regulation of the Legal Profession
- The Client-Lawyer Relationship
- Privilege and Confidentiality – Clients and Former Clients
- Independent Professional Judgment – Conflicts of Interest – Client Consent
- Competence, Legal Malpractice, and Other Civil Liability
- Litigation and Other Forms of Advocacy
- Different Roles of the Lawyer
- Safekeeping Property and Funds of Clients and Others
- Communication About Legal Services
- Lawyers and the Legal System
- Judicial Ethics
For more information about the MPRE, please visit the National Conference of Bar Examiners’ web site.
