Bar examination
Encyclopedia
A bar examination is an examination conducted at regular intervals to determine whether a candidate is qualified to practice law in a given jurisdiction.
there is a bar examination that occurs in each State two to three times a year (usually in January, March and September). These exams are organized by the Ordem dos Advogados do Brasil (Order of Lawyers of Brazil), the Brazilian Bar association
. The exam is divided in two stages — the first consists of 80 multiple choice
questions covering all the disciplines learned at the university
, in which the candidate must score at least 40 questions correctly. Being approved, the candidate is allowed to the second part of the exam, consisting in four essay
questions and the elaboration of a motion
, opinion or claim document of a chosen discipline (Administrative Law
, Civil Law
, Commercial Law
, Constitutional Law
, Labour Law
, Criminal Law
, or Tax Law
, and their respective procedures), with a pass mark of 60%.
or a Solicitor
by either undertaking the BPTC
or the LPC
respectively. These courses are the vocational part of the training required under the Bar Association
and The Law Society rules and are undertaken on a full-time basis for one year. After successfully completing these courses, which generally include various examinations and practical ability tests, graduates must secure either a Training Contract
(for those who have completed the LPC) or a Pupillage
(for those who have completed the BPTC). These are akin to Articling positions in other jurisdictions and are the final Practical stage before being granted full admission to practice. The general timescale therefore to become fully qualified after entering Law School can range between 6-7 years (assuming no repeats are required).
However some controversy remains about the lack of Training Contracts and Pupillages available to graduates even after having completed the LPC/BPTC. These courses can vary in cost anywhere from £9,000 to £14,000 and are generally undertaken by students on a private basis making them incur additional costs. The final debt in student fees alone after having completed the academic and vocational training can range between £20,000-£25,000. This is set to increase to £40,000-£50,000 for students entering law school in the years 2012 due to the increased tuition fees for Law School itself.
After passing these exams the candidate can practice law as an attorney-at-law /barrister
or as a secretary/judge at the court or as a prosecutor at the public prosecutor's office or in-house legal counsel or may operate individually at any field of law.
are the preserve of the Honorable Society of King's Inns, which runs a series of fourteen exams over ten weeks, from March to June each year, for those enrolled as students in its one-year Barrister-at-Law degree course. These exams cover such skills as advocacy, research and opinion writing, consulting with clients, negotiation, drafting of legal documents and knowledge of civil and criminal procedure. For those who fail to meet the requisite 50% pass mark, repeats are held in the following August and September.
is administered once every year during the four Sundays of September. It covers eight areas of law, namely: (1) Political Law, (2) Labor Law and Social Legislation, (3) Criminal Law, (4) Civil Law, (5) Commercial Law, (6) Taxation Law, (7) Remedial Law and (8) Legal ethics and practical exercises.
, the bar examination is taken after graduating from a law faculty
at a university. It allows a person to undertake practise, duration of which varies depending on the specialisation. After the practical period applicants pass the exam held by the Professional Chambers with some members of the Ministry of Justice assistance.
are administered by agencies of individual states
. In 1763, Delaware
created the first bar exam with other American colonies soon following suit. A state bar licensing agency is invariably associated with the judicial branch of government, because American attorneys are all officers of the court of the bar
(s) to which they belong.
Sometimes the agency is an office or committee of the state's highest court or intermediate appellate court. In some states which have a unified or integrated bar association (meaning that formal membership in a public corporation
controlled by the judiciary is required to practice law therein), the agency is either the state bar association or a subunit thereof. Other states split the integrated bar membership and the admissions agency into different bodies within the judiciary; in Texas, the Board of Law Examiners is appointed by the Texas Supreme Court
and is independent from the integrated State Bar of Texas
.
The bar examination in most U.S. states and territories is at least two days long (a few states have three-day exams) and usually consists of:
, may administer their bar exams only once, in July, if they do not have enough applicants to merit a second sitting. North Dakota requires ten applicants in order to administer the February exam. Most bar exams are administered on consecutive days. Louisiana is the exception, with the Louisiana Bar Exam
being a three-day examination on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Also, Louisiana's examination is the longest in the country in terms of examination time, with seven hours on Monday and Wednesday and seven and one half hours on Friday for a total of 21.5 hours of testing. Montana's bar examination also occurs over a three-day period, with a total of 18 hours of testing. The bar exams in Alabama, California, Nevada, South Carolina, and Texas are also three days long.
The MEE and MPT, as uniform though not standardized tests, also must be administered on the same day across the country—specifically the day before the MBE.
To refresh their memory on "black-letter rules" tested on the bar, most students engage in a regimen of study (called "bar review") between graduating from law school and sitting for the bar. For bar review, most students in the United States attend a private bar exam review course which is provided by a third-party company and not their law school.
As of November 2011, the Uniform Bar Examination Jurisdictions are:
It is administered on a single day of the bar examination in 48 states and the District of Columbia, as well as in Guam
, the Northern Mariana Islands
, the U.S. Virgin Islands
, and the Republic of Palau
. The only states that do not administer the MBE are Louisiana
and Washington; the latter plans to begin administering the exam in July, 2013. The MBE is also not administered in Puerto Rico
. The MBE is given twice a year: on the last Wednesday of July in all jurisdictions that require that examination, and on the last Wednesday of February in the same jurisdictions, except for Delaware
and North Dakota
.
The 200 MBE questions test six subjects based upon principles of common law
and Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code
(covering sales of goods) that apply throughout the United States. The questions are not broken down into sections and the six topics are distributed more or less evenly throughout the course of the exam. Exam-takers generally receive three hours during the morning session to complete the first 100 questions, and another three hours during the afternoon session to complete the second 100 questions.
At the January 2009 conference of the Association of American Law Schools
, NCBE president Erica Moeser indicated that her organization was considering adding a seventh topic, civil procedure, to the examination.
The average raw score from the summer exam historically has been about 128 (64% correct), while the average scaled score was about 140. In summer 2007, the average scaled score was 143.7 with a standard deviation
of 15.9. Over 50,000 applicants took the test; less than half that number took it in the winter.
Taking the MBE in one jurisdiction may allow an applicant to use their MBE score to waive into another jurisdiction or to use their MBE score with another state's bar examination.
The MEE can cover any of the following areas:
MEE questions are actually drafted by the NCBE Drafting Committee, with the assistance of outside academics and practitioners who are experts in the fields being tested. After initial drafting, the questions are pretested, analyzed by outside experts and a separate NCBE committee, reviewed by boards of bar examiners in the jurisdictions that use the test, and then revised by the Drafting Committee in accordance with the results of this process. Each MEE question is accompanied by a grading guide, and the NCBE sponsors a grading workshop on the weekend following the bar exam whose results are provided to bar examiners.
The examination is always administered on a single day of the bar examination, specifically the day before the Multistate Bar Examination (MBE). Through February 2007, the NCBE consisted of seven questions, with most jurisdictions selecting six of the seven questions to administer. Unlike the MBE, which is graded and scored by the NCBE, the MEE is graded exclusively by the jurisdiction that administers the bar examination. Each jurisdiction has the choice of grading MEE questions according to general U.S. common law or the jurisdiction's own law.
The MEE is generally partnered with the Multistate Performance Test (MPT), a written performance test developed by the NCBE and used in 33 U.S. jurisdictions.
The required tasks may include writing a legal memorandum
, drafting an affidavit
, or drafting a settlement
offer letter to opposing counsel
. Each test includes what NCBE calls a "File" and a "Library". The File contains source documents detailing all facts of the case, plus a memorandum from a supervising attorney detailing the task required. The File will include relevant and irrelevant facts, and often facts may be ambiguous, incomplete, or contradictory. The Library includes cases, statutes, regulations, and rules, which may or may not be relevant, but are sufficient to complete the required task.
The tests are actually drafted by an NCBE committee with expertise in developing performance tests. After initial drafting, the questions are pretested, analyzed by outside experts, reviewed by boards of bar examiners in the jurisdictions that use the test, and then revised by the drafting committee in accordance with the results of this process. Each individual test is accompanied by a grading guide, and the NCBE sponsors a grading workshop on the weekend following the bar exam whose results are provided to bar examiners.
The MPT is always administered on a single day of the bar examination, specifically the day before the MBE. This means that it is administered on the same day as the MEE. Jurisdictions are provided two separate MPT tests, each designed to require 90 minutes in all, and may choose to require examinees to work one or both tests.
Because of this scheduling fact, the MPT is more often than not administered alongside the MEE.
, motion
, or opinion document. Many jurisdictions use the Multistate Performance Test (MPT), while California
and Pennsylvania
draft and administer their own performance tests.
in New Hampshire
in that year.
Brazil
In BrazilBrazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
there is a bar examination that occurs in each State two to three times a year (usually in January, March and September). These exams are organized by the Ordem dos Advogados do Brasil (Order of Lawyers of Brazil), the Brazilian Bar association
Bar association
A bar association is a professional body of lawyers. Some bar associations are responsible for the regulation of the legal profession in their jurisdiction; others are professional organizations dedicated to serving their members; in many cases, they are both...
. The exam is divided in two stages — the first consists of 80 multiple choice
Multiple choice
Multiple choice is a form of assessment in which respondents are asked to select the best possible answer out of the choices from a list. The multiple choice format is most frequently used in educational testing, in market research, and in elections-- when a person chooses between multiple...
questions covering all the disciplines learned at the university
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
, in which the candidate must score at least 40 questions correctly. Being approved, the candidate is allowed to the second part of the exam, consisting in four essay
Essay
An essay is a piece of writing which is often written from an author's personal point of view. Essays can consist of a number of elements, including: literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author. The definition...
questions and the elaboration of a motion
Motion (legal)
In law, a motion is a procedural device to bring a limited, contested issue before a court for decision. A motion may be thought of as a request to the judge to make a decision about the case. Motions may be made at any point in administrative, criminal or civil proceedings, although that right is...
, opinion or claim document of a chosen discipline (Administrative Law
Administrative law
Administrative law is the body of law that governs the activities of administrative agencies of government. Government agency action can include rulemaking, adjudication, or the enforcement of a specific regulatory agenda. Administrative law is considered a branch of public law...
, Civil Law
Civil law (common law)
Civil law, as opposed to criminal law, is the branch of law dealing with disputes between individuals or organizations, in which compensation may be awarded to the victim...
, Commercial Law
Commercial law
Commercial law is the body of law that governs business and commercial transactions...
, Constitutional Law
Constitutional law
Constitutional law is the body of law which defines the relationship of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the legislature and the judiciary....
, Labour Law
Labour and employment law
Labour law is the body of laws, administrative rulings, and precedents which address the legal rights of, and restrictions on, working people and their organizations. As such, it mediates many aspects of the relationship between trade unions, employers and employees...
, Criminal Law
Criminal law
Criminal law, is the body of law that relates to crime. It might be defined as the body of rules that defines conduct that is not allowed because it is held to threaten, harm or endanger the safety and welfare of people, and that sets out the punishment to be imposed on people who do not obey...
, or Tax Law
Tax law
Tax law is the codified system of laws that describes government levies on economic transactions, commonly called taxes.-Major issues:Primary taxation issues facing the governments world over include;* taxes on income and wealth...
, and their respective procedures), with a pass mark of 60%.
England and Wales
Since the UK has a separated legal profession a Law graduate can either take examinations to qualify as a BarristerBarrister
A barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions...
or a Solicitor
Solicitor
Solicitors are lawyers who traditionally deal with any legal matter including conducting proceedings in courts. In the United Kingdom, a few Australian states and the Republic of Ireland, the legal profession is split between solicitors and barristers , and a lawyer will usually only hold one title...
by either undertaking the BPTC
Bar Professional Training Course
The Bar Professional Training Course is a graduate course that is completed by those wishing to be called to the Bar, i.e. to practise as a barrister in England and Wales...
or the LPC
Legal Practice Course
The Legal Practice Course also known as the Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practiceis the vocational stage for becoming a solicitor in England and Wales. The course is the successor to Law Society Finals and is more vocational in its syllabus. The LPC can be taken in many different formats including...
respectively. These courses are the vocational part of the training required under the Bar Association
Bar association
A bar association is a professional body of lawyers. Some bar associations are responsible for the regulation of the legal profession in their jurisdiction; others are professional organizations dedicated to serving their members; in many cases, they are both...
and The Law Society rules and are undertaken on a full-time basis for one year. After successfully completing these courses, which generally include various examinations and practical ability tests, graduates must secure either a Training Contract
Training contract
A training contract is a compulsory period of practical training in a law firm for law graduates before they can qualify as a solicitor in the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, Australia or Hong Kong...
(for those who have completed the LPC) or a Pupillage
Pupillage
A pupillage, in England and Wales, Northern Ireland and Ireland, is the barrister's equivalent of the training contract that a solicitor undertakes...
(for those who have completed the BPTC). These are akin to Articling positions in other jurisdictions and are the final Practical stage before being granted full admission to practice. The general timescale therefore to become fully qualified after entering Law School can range between 6-7 years (assuming no repeats are required).
However some controversy remains about the lack of Training Contracts and Pupillages available to graduates even after having completed the LPC/BPTC. These courses can vary in cost anywhere from £9,000 to £14,000 and are generally undertaken by students on a private basis making them incur additional costs. The final debt in student fees alone after having completed the academic and vocational training can range between £20,000-£25,000. This is set to increase to £40,000-£50,000 for students entering law school in the years 2012 due to the increased tuition fees for Law School itself.
Hungary
In Hungary, the Bar Examination is called "Jogi Szakvizsga", can be translated as "Legal Profession Examination". This exam is composed of three parts:- Criminal Law, Criminal Procedural Law and Law of Criminal Enforcement
- Civil Law, Civil Procedural Law and Business Law
- Constitutional Law, Administrative Law, Labor Law, Social Security Law and Law of the European Union.
After passing these exams the candidate can practice law as an attorney-at-law /barrister
Barrister
A barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions...
or as a secretary/judge at the court or as a prosecutor at the public prosecutor's office or in-house legal counsel or may operate individually at any field of law.
Ireland
The bar exams in IrelandRepublic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
are the preserve of the Honorable Society of King's Inns, which runs a series of fourteen exams over ten weeks, from March to June each year, for those enrolled as students in its one-year Barrister-at-Law degree course. These exams cover such skills as advocacy, research and opinion writing, consulting with clients, negotiation, drafting of legal documents and knowledge of civil and criminal procedure. For those who fail to meet the requisite 50% pass mark, repeats are held in the following August and September.
Philippines
The Philippine Bar ExaminationPhilippine Bar Examination
The Philippine Bar Examination is the professional licensure examination for lawyers in the Philippines.It is the only professional licensure exam in the country that is not supervised by the Professional Regulation Commission...
is administered once every year during the four Sundays of September. It covers eight areas of law, namely: (1) Political Law, (2) Labor Law and Social Legislation, (3) Criminal Law, (4) Civil Law, (5) Commercial Law, (6) Taxation Law, (7) Remedial Law and (8) Legal ethics and practical exercises.
Poland
In PolandPoland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, the bar examination is taken after graduating from a law faculty
Law school
A law school is an institution specializing in legal education.- Law degrees :- Canada :...
at a university. It allows a person to undertake practise, duration of which varies depending on the specialisation. After the practical period applicants pass the exam held by the Professional Chambers with some members of the Ministry of Justice assistance.
United States
Bar examinations in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
are administered by agencies of individual states
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
. In 1763, Delaware
Delaware
Delaware is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, and to the north by Pennsylvania...
created the first bar exam with other American colonies soon following suit. A state bar licensing agency is invariably associated with the judicial branch of government, because American attorneys are all officers of the court of the bar
Bar association
A bar association is a professional body of lawyers. Some bar associations are responsible for the regulation of the legal profession in their jurisdiction; others are professional organizations dedicated to serving their members; in many cases, they are both...
(s) to which they belong.
Sometimes the agency is an office or committee of the state's highest court or intermediate appellate court. In some states which have a unified or integrated bar association (meaning that formal membership in a public corporation
Public benefit corporation
A public-benefit corporation is a public corporation chartered by a state designed to perform some public benefit.A public authority is a type of public-benefit corporation that takes on a more bureaucratic role, such as the maintenance of public infrastructure, that often has broad powers to...
controlled by the judiciary is required to practice law therein), the agency is either the state bar association or a subunit thereof. Other states split the integrated bar membership and the admissions agency into different bodies within the judiciary; in Texas, the Board of Law Examiners is appointed by the Texas Supreme Court
Texas Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of Texas is the court of last resort for non-criminal matters in the state of Texas. A different court, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, is the court of last resort for criminal matters.The Court is composed of a Chief Justice and eight Associate Justices...
and is independent from the integrated State Bar of Texas
State Bar of Texas
The State Bar of Texas is an agency of the judiciary under the administrative control of the Texas Supreme Court. The Texas Bar is responsible for assisting the Texas Supreme Court in overseeing all attorneys licensed to practice law in Texas...
.
The bar examination in most U.S. states and territories is at least two days long (a few states have three-day exams) and usually consists of:
- EssayEssayAn essay is a piece of writing which is often written from an author's personal point of view. Essays can consist of a number of elements, including: literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author. The definition...
questions:- Essentially all jurisdictions administer several such questions that test knowledge of general legal principles, and may also test knowledge of the state's own law (usually subjects such as wills, trusts and community property, which always vary from one state to another). Some jurisdictions choose to use the Multistate Essay Examination (MEE), drafted by the NCBE since 1988, for this purpose. Others may draft their own questions with this goal in mind, while some states both draft their own questions and use the MEE.
- Some jurisdictions administer complicated questions that specifically test knowledge of that state's law.
- Multistate standardized examinations (below)
When exams occur
Each state controls when it administers its bar exam. Because the MBE (below) is a standardized test, it must be administered on the same day across the country. That day occurs twice a year as the last Wednesday in July and the last Wednesday in February. Two states, Delaware and North DakotaNorth Dakota
North Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, along the Canadian border. The state is bordered by Canada to the north, Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south and Montana to the west. North Dakota is the 19th-largest state by area in the U.S....
, may administer their bar exams only once, in July, if they do not have enough applicants to merit a second sitting. North Dakota requires ten applicants in order to administer the February exam. Most bar exams are administered on consecutive days. Louisiana is the exception, with the Louisiana Bar Exam
Louisiana Bar Exam
The Louisiana Bar Exam is a three day long examination used to determine whether a candidate is qualified to practice law in the state of Louisiana. The Louisiana exam holds the distinction of being the longest bar exam in the United States, consisting of 21 and a half hours of examination on nine...
being a three-day examination on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Also, Louisiana's examination is the longest in the country in terms of examination time, with seven hours on Monday and Wednesday and seven and one half hours on Friday for a total of 21.5 hours of testing. Montana's bar examination also occurs over a three-day period, with a total of 18 hours of testing. The bar exams in Alabama, California, Nevada, South Carolina, and Texas are also three days long.
The MEE and MPT, as uniform though not standardized tests, also must be administered on the same day across the country—specifically the day before the MBE.
Preparation for the exam
Most law schools teach students common law and how to analyze hypothetical fact patterns like a lawyer, but do not specifically prepare law students for any particular bar exam. Only a minority of law schools offer bar preparation courses.To refresh their memory on "black-letter rules" tested on the bar, most students engage in a regimen of study (called "bar review") between graduating from law school and sitting for the bar. For bar review, most students in the United States attend a private bar exam review course which is provided by a third-party company and not their law school.
Multistate standardized examinations
The National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) is a U.S. based non-profit organization that develops national ("multistate") standardized tests for admission to the bar in individual states. The organization was founded in 1931. The best known exams developed by NCBE are the Multistate Bar Examination (1972), the Multistate Essay Examination (1988), the Multistate Performance Test (1997), and the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination (1980).Uniform Bar Exam (UBE)
NCBE has developed a Uniform Bar Examination (UBE), which consists solely of the MBE, MEE, and MPT, and offers portability of scores across state lines. Missouri became the first state to adopt the UBE, administering the first examination of its kind in February 2011. Following Missouri's lead, several other jurisdictions, all of which were among the 22 that already were using all three components of the UBE, are expected to adopt that examination. However, many of the largest legal markets— California, the District of Columbia, Florida, Illinois, New York and Texas—have so far chosen not to adopt the UBE, although New York is presently giving a conversion to the UBE serious consideration. Also, given Illinois' proximity to Missouri and shared market for St. Louis lawyers, the state is currently pondering adopting the UBE, as well, and could become the first of the "big market" states to adopt the test. Among the concerns cited with the adoption of the UBE were its absence of questions on state law and the fact that it would give the NCBE much greater power in the bar credentialing process.As of November 2011, the Uniform Bar Examination Jurisdictions are:
- Alabama (July 2011)
- Colorado (February 2012)
- Idaho (February 2012)
- Missouri (February 2011)
- North Dakota (February 2011)
- Washington (July 2013)
Multistate Bar Examination (MBE)
The Multistate Bar Examination (MBE) is a standardized, multiple-choice examination created and sold to participating state bar examiners.Description
It is administered on a single day of the bar examination in 48 states and the District of Columbia, as well as in Guam
Guam
Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...
, the Northern Mariana Islands
Northern Mariana Islands
The Northern Mariana Islands, officially the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands , is a commonwealth in political union with the United States, occupying a strategic region of the western Pacific Ocean. It consists of 15 islands about three-quarters of the way from Hawaii to the Philippines...
, the U.S. Virgin Islands
United States Virgin Islands
The Virgin Islands of the United States are a group of islands in the Caribbean that are an insular area of the United States. The islands are geographically part of the Virgin Islands archipelago and are located in the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles.The U.S...
, and the Republic of Palau
Palau
Palau , officially the Republic of Palau , is an island nation in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Philippines and south of Tokyo. In 1978, after three decades as being part of the United Nations trusteeship, Palau chose independence instead of becoming part of the Federated States of Micronesia, a...
. The only states that do not administer the MBE are Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
and Washington; the latter plans to begin administering the exam in July, 2013. The MBE is also not administered in Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
. The MBE is given twice a year: on the last Wednesday of July in all jurisdictions that require that examination, and on the last Wednesday of February in the same jurisdictions, except for Delaware
Delaware
Delaware is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, and to the north by Pennsylvania...
and North Dakota
North Dakota
North Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, along the Canadian border. The state is bordered by Canada to the north, Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south and Montana to the west. North Dakota is the 19th-largest state by area in the U.S....
.
The 200 MBE questions test six subjects based upon principles of common law
Common law
Common law is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals rather than through legislative statutes or executive branch action...
and Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code
Uniform Commercial Code
The Uniform Commercial Code , first published in 1952, is one of a number of uniform acts that have been promulgated in conjunction with efforts to harmonize the law of sales and other commercial transactions in all 50 states within the United States of America.The goal of harmonizing state law is...
(covering sales of goods) that apply throughout the United States. The questions are not broken down into sections and the six topics are distributed more or less evenly throughout the course of the exam. Exam-takers generally receive three hours during the morning session to complete the first 100 questions, and another three hours during the afternoon session to complete the second 100 questions.
At the January 2009 conference of the Association of American Law Schools
Association of American Law Schools
The Association of American Law Schools is a non-profit organization of 170 law schools in the United States. Another 25 schools are "non-member fee paid" schools, which are not members but choose to pay AALS dues. Its purpose is to improve the legal profession through the improvement of legal...
, NCBE president Erica Moeser indicated that her organization was considering adding a seventh topic, civil procedure, to the examination.
Average scores
The average raw score from the summer exam historically has been about 128 (64% correct), while the average scaled score was about 140. In summer 2007, the average scaled score was 143.7 with a standard deviation
Standard deviation
Standard deviation is a widely used measure of variability or diversity used in statistics and probability theory. It shows how much variation or "dispersion" there is from the average...
of 15.9. Over 50,000 applicants took the test; less than half that number took it in the winter.
Transfer of MBE scores
Taking the MBE in one jurisdiction may allow an applicant to use their MBE score to waive into another jurisdiction or to use their MBE score with another state's bar examination.
Multistate Essay Examination (MEE)
The Multistate Essay Examination (MEE) is a collection of essay questions largely concerning the common law administered as a part of the bar examination in 26 jurisdictions of the United States.The MEE can cover any of the following areas:
- Business associations — AgencyAgency (law)The law of agency is an area of commercial law dealing with a contractual or quasi-contractual, or non-contractual set of relationships when a person, called the agent, is authorized to act on behalf of another to create a legal relationship with a third party...
and partnershipPartnershipA partnership is an arrangement where parties agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests.Since humans are social beings, partnerships between individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments, and varied combinations thereof, have always been and remain commonplace...
, corporationCorporationA corporation is created under the laws of a state as a separate legal entity that has privileges and liabilities that are distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business. Early corporations were established by charter...
s, limited liability companiesLimited liability companyA limited liability company is a flexible form of enterprise that blends elements of partnership and corporate structures. It is a legal form of company that provides limited liability to its owners in the vast majority of United States jurisdictions... - Conflict of lawsConflict of laws in the United StatesThe choice of law rules in the conflict of laws in the United States have diverged from the traditional rules applied internationally. Choice of law is a procedural stage in the litigation of a case when it is necessary to reconcile the differences between the laws of different states, and in the...
- Constitutional lawUnited States constitutional lawUnited States constitutional law is the body of law governing the interpretation and implementation of the United States Constitution.- Introduction :United States constitutional law defines the scope and application of the terms of the Constitution...
- ContractContractA contract is an agreement entered into by two parties or more with the intention of creating a legal obligation, which may have elements in writing. Contracts can be made orally. The remedy for breach of contract can be "damages" or compensation of money. In equity, the remedy can be specific...
s - Criminal lawCriminal lawCriminal law, is the body of law that relates to crime. It might be defined as the body of rules that defines conduct that is not allowed because it is held to threaten, harm or endanger the safety and welfare of people, and that sets out the punishment to be imposed on people who do not obey...
and procedureCriminal procedureCriminal procedure refers to the legal process for adjudicating claims that someone has violated criminal law.-Basic rights:Currently, in many countries with a democratic system and the rule of law, criminal procedure puts the burden of proof on the prosecution – that is, it is up to the... - EvidenceEvidence (law)The law of evidence encompasses the rules and legal principles that govern the proof of facts in a legal proceeding. These rules determine what evidence can be considered by the trier of fact in reaching its decision and, sometimes, the weight that may be given to that evidence...
- Family lawFamily lawFamily law is an area of the law that deals with family-related issues and domestic relations including:*the nature of marriage, civil unions, and domestic partnerships;...
- Federal civil procedureFederal Rules of Civil ProcedureThe Federal Rules of Civil Procedure govern civil procedure in United States district courts. The FRCP are promulgated by the United States Supreme Court pursuant to the Rules Enabling Act, and then the United States Congress has 7 months to veto the rules promulgated or they become part of the...
- Real propertyReal propertyIn English Common Law, real property, real estate, realty, or immovable property is any subset of land that has been legally defined and the improvements to it made by human efforts: any buildings, machinery, wells, dams, ponds, mines, canals, roads, various property rights, and so forth...
- TortTortA tort, in common law jurisdictions, is a wrong that involves a breach of a civil duty owed to someone else. It is differentiated from a crime, which involves a breach of a duty owed to society in general...
s - TrustsTrust lawIn common law legal systems, a trust is a relationship whereby property is held by one party for the benefit of another...
and estatesEstate (law)An estate is the net worth of a person at any point in time. It is the sum of a person's assets - legal rights, interests and entitlements to property of any kind - less all liabilities at that time. The issue is of special legal significance on a question of bankruptcy and death of the person...
— decedents' estates; trusts and future interestFuture interestIn property law and real estate, a future interest is a legal right to property ownership that does not include the right to present possession or enjoyment of the property. Future interests are created on the formation of a defeasible estate; that is, an estate with a condition or event...
s - Uniform Commercial CodeUniform Commercial CodeThe Uniform Commercial Code , first published in 1952, is one of a number of uniform acts that have been promulgated in conjunction with efforts to harmonize the law of sales and other commercial transactions in all 50 states within the United States of America.The goal of harmonizing state law is...
— Article 3, Negotiable InstrumentsNegotiable instrumentA negotiable instrument is a document guaranteeing the payment of a specific amount of money, either on demand, or at a set time. According to the Section 13 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 in India, a negotiable instrument means a promissory note, bill of exchange or cheque payable either...
; Article 9, Secured TransactionsSecurity interestA security interest is a property interest created by agreement or by operation of law over assets to secure the performance of an obligation, usually the payment of a debt. It gives the beneficiary of the security interest certain preferential rights in the disposition of secured assets...
MEE questions are actually drafted by the NCBE Drafting Committee, with the assistance of outside academics and practitioners who are experts in the fields being tested. After initial drafting, the questions are pretested, analyzed by outside experts and a separate NCBE committee, reviewed by boards of bar examiners in the jurisdictions that use the test, and then revised by the Drafting Committee in accordance with the results of this process. Each MEE question is accompanied by a grading guide, and the NCBE sponsors a grading workshop on the weekend following the bar exam whose results are provided to bar examiners.
The examination is always administered on a single day of the bar examination, specifically the day before the Multistate Bar Examination (MBE). Through February 2007, the NCBE consisted of seven questions, with most jurisdictions selecting six of the seven questions to administer. Unlike the MBE, which is graded and scored by the NCBE, the MEE is graded exclusively by the jurisdiction that administers the bar examination. Each jurisdiction has the choice of grading MEE questions according to general U.S. common law or the jurisdiction's own law.
The MEE is generally partnered with the Multistate Performance Test (MPT), a written performance test developed by the NCBE and used in 33 U.S. jurisdictions.
Multistate Performance Test (MPT)
The Multistate Performance Test (MPT) is a written examination administered as a part of the bar examination in 33 jurisdictions of the United States. Generally, a performance test is intended to mimic a real-life legal task that future lawyers may face. The test was first created in 1997. The NCBE summarizes the goal of the MPT as follows:The required tasks may include writing a legal memorandum
Memorandum
A memorandum is from the Latin verbal phrase memorandum est, the gerundive form of the verb memoro, "to mention, call to mind, recount, relate", which means "It must be remembered ..."...
, drafting an affidavit
Affidavit
An affidavit is a written sworn statement of fact voluntarily made by an affiant or deponent under an oath or affirmation administered by a person authorized to do so by law. Such statement is witnessed as to the authenticity of the affiant's signature by a taker of oaths, such as a notary public...
, or drafting a settlement
Settlement (law)
In law, a settlement is a resolution between disputing parties about a legal case, reached either before or after court action begins. The term "settlement" also has other meanings in the context of law.-Basis:...
offer letter to opposing counsel
Counsel
A counsel or a counselor gives advice, more particularly in legal matters.-U.K. and Ireland:The legal system in England uses the term counsel as an approximate synonym for a barrister-at-law, and may apply it to mean either a single person who pleads a cause, or collectively, the body of barristers...
. Each test includes what NCBE calls a "File" and a "Library". The File contains source documents detailing all facts of the case, plus a memorandum from a supervising attorney detailing the task required. The File will include relevant and irrelevant facts, and often facts may be ambiguous, incomplete, or contradictory. The Library includes cases, statutes, regulations, and rules, which may or may not be relevant, but are sufficient to complete the required task.
The tests are actually drafted by an NCBE committee with expertise in developing performance tests. After initial drafting, the questions are pretested, analyzed by outside experts, reviewed by boards of bar examiners in the jurisdictions that use the test, and then revised by the drafting committee in accordance with the results of this process. Each individual test is accompanied by a grading guide, and the NCBE sponsors a grading workshop on the weekend following the bar exam whose results are provided to bar examiners.
The MPT is always administered on a single day of the bar examination, specifically the day before the MBE. This means that it is administered on the same day as the MEE. Jurisdictions are provided two separate MPT tests, each designed to require 90 minutes in all, and may choose to require examinees to work one or both tests.
Because of this scheduling fact, the MPT is more often than not administered alongside the MEE.
Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination (MPRE)
In almost all jurisdictions, the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination (MPRE), an ethics exam, is also administered by the NCBE, which creates it and grades it. The MPRE is offered three times a year, in March, August and November.Non-standardized examinations
A majority of U.S. jurisdictions also require a performance test, which is intended to be a more realistic measure of actual lawyering skill. The candidate is presented with a stack of documents representing a fictional case and is asked to draft a memorandumMemorandum
A memorandum is from the Latin verbal phrase memorandum est, the gerundive form of the verb memoro, "to mention, call to mind, recount, relate", which means "It must be remembered ..."...
, motion
Motion (legal)
In law, a motion is a procedural device to bring a limited, contested issue before a court for decision. A motion may be thought of as a request to the judge to make a decision about the case. Motions may be made at any point in administrative, criminal or civil proceedings, although that right is...
, or opinion document. Many jurisdictions use the Multistate Performance Test (MPT), while California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
and Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
draft and administer their own performance tests.
Arguments against bar exams
A statement by the Society of American Law Teachers (SALT) articulates many criticisms of the bar exam. The SALT statement, however, does propose some alternative methods of bar admission that are partially test-based. A response to the SALT statement was made by Suzanne Darrow-Kleinhau in The Bar ExaminerArguments in favor of bar exams
The National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) regularly provides articles relating to the bar examination process.Arguments for alternatives to the bar exam
The NCBE published an article in 2005 addressing alternatives to the bar exam, including a discussion of the Daniel Webster Scholar Honors Program, an alternate certification program introduced at Franklin Pierce Law CenterFranklin Pierce Law Center
The University of New Hampshire School of Law, formerly the Franklin Pierce Law Center, is an American Bar Association-accredited law school located in Concord, New Hampshire. It is the only law school in the state. It was founded in 1973 by Robert H...
in New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
in that year.
See also
- Bar ReviewBar reviewA bar review is a series of classes that many law school graduates attend prior to taking a bar examination. Common examples include BarBri, BarPlus Bar Review, Rigos Bar Review, and the Preliminary Multistate Bar Review...
- Bar associationBar associationA bar association is a professional body of lawyers. Some bar associations are responsible for the regulation of the legal profession in their jurisdiction; others are professional organizations dedicated to serving their members; in many cases, they are both...
- IRACIRACIRAC is an acronym that generally stands for: Issue, Relevant law, Application to facts, and Conclusion. It functions as a methodology for legal analysis. The IRAC format is mostly used in hypothetical questions in law school and bar exams.-Issue:The IRAC starts with a statement of the Issue or...
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