The Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination (MPRE) is a one hundred twenty five (125) minute, sixty (60) question, multiple-choice examination designed to measure the knowledge and understanding of established standards related to a lawyer's professional conduct. It is developed by the National Conference of Bar Examiners and was first administered in 1980.

It is a prerequisite or corequisite to the bar examination

Bar examination

A bar examination is an examination conducted at regular intervals to determine whether a candidate is qualified to practice law in a given jurisdiction.-Brazil:...

 for admission as an attorney at law in 47 of the 50 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...

 of the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, as well as the District of Columbia

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

, 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...

. Of the 56 jurisdictions within the United States, only Maryland

Maryland

Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

, 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...

, Washington, and Wisconsin

Wisconsin

Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...

 do not use the MPRE; however, these jurisdictions still incorporate local ethics rules in their respective bar examinations. Connecticut

Connecticut

Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...

 and New Jersey

New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

 waive the MPRE requirement for bar candidates who have earned a grade of "C" or better in a law school course in professional ethics.

Structure

As of the March 2009 administration, the test consists of 60 substantive questions. Only 50 are scored; the other 10 (randomly scattered throughout the exam) are used for experimental purposes. An additional 10 survey questions at the end of the exam are used to evaluate the conditions of the testing center. The raw score is converted to a "scaled score" based on the measured difficulty of the version of the test taken; the scaled score is used to determine passing scores. Scaled scores range between 50 and 150, with a median very close to 100.

The questions are based on the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct and the ABA Model Code of Judicial Conduct, as well as controlling constitutional decisions and generally accepted principles established in leading federal and state cases and in procedural and evidentiary rules (courtesy American Bar Association website and National Conference of Bar Examiners MPRE website). 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...

 uses the MPRE even though it is the only jurisdiction that has not adopted either of the two sets of professional responsibility rules proposed by the American Bar Association

American Bar Association

The American Bar Association , founded August 21, 1878, is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. The ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of academic standards for law schools, and the formulation...

 — and California rules differ from the ABA rules in many ways.

The MPRE differs from the remainder of the bar examination in two crucial ways:

• Virtually all states allow bar exam candidates to take the MPRE prior to graduation from law school, as opposed to the bar examination itself which can only taken after receipt of a J.D.
  Juris Doctor
  Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
  
   from an ABA-accredited law school
  American Bar Association
  The American Bar Association , founded August 21, 1878, is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. The ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of academic standards for law schools, and the formulation...
  
  .
• A bar exam candidate's MPRE score is accepted in every jurisdiction that requires it, regardless of the jurisdiction where the test was administered, unlike the other components of the bar examination. For instance, states differ on accepting scores on the Multistate Bar Examination (MBE) if it was administered in a foreign jurisdiction. Some jurisdictions will not accept an MBE score from any other jurisdiction; some others only accept MBE scores from another jurisdiction if the applicant is concurrently taking the bar exam in two jurisdictions; still others require a minimum MBE score for transfer. Furthermore, no state accepts scores for the Multistate Essay Examination (MEE) and locally written essays administered in foreign jurisdictions.

Passing score

The passing score varies between jurisdictions. The lowest score accepted by any jurisdiction is 75 (several). The highest required by any state is 86 (Utah

Utah

Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...

 and 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...

). The next highest required score is 85, currently required by 15 states (among them New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, Arizona

Arizona

Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

, Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

, Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

, and Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

).

Some states have unique requirements regarding the timing of the MPRE in relation to the bar exam. Four states—Iowa

Iowa

Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...

, Kentucky

Kentucky

The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...

, Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

, and Nebraska

Nebraska

Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....

—currently require that all candidates for the bar exam achieve a passing MPRE score before sitting for the exam. Iowa requires the passing score to be on file several months before the exam, with a petition process for candidates who pass the March MPRE and the July bar exam in the same year. Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

applicants must have earned the lesser of 60 credit hours or two thirds of the credits required to obtain a JD degree from his or her law school before sitting for the MPRE; for most applicants, this means that the MPRE may have been written no sooner than August preceding commencement of the final year of law school. Many other states have a "window" either preceding or surrounding the bar exam outside of which MPRE scores are not recognized.

Alabama	75	Georgia	75	Maryland	NA	New Jersey	75	South Carolina	77	Wyoming	75
Alaska	80	Hawaii	85	Massachusetts	85	New Mexico	75	South Dakota	75	Guam	80
Arizona	85	Idaho	85	Michigan	85	New York	85	Tennessee	75	N. Mariana Islands	75
Arkansas	85	Illinois	80	Minnesota	85	North Carolina	80	Texas	85	Palau	75
California	86	Indiana	80	Mississippi	75	North Dakota	80	Utah	86	Puerto Rico	NA
Colorado	85	Iowa	80	Missouri	80	Ohio	85	Vermont	80	Virgin Islands	75
Connecticut	80	Kansas	80	Montana	80	Oklahoma	75	Virginia	85
Delaware	85	Kentucky	75	Nebraska	85	Oregon	85	Washington	NA
DC	75	Louisiana	80	Nevada	85	Pennsylvania	75	West Virginia	75
Florida	80	Maine	80	New Hampshire	79	Rhode Island	80	Wisconsin	NA

• Source: http://www.abanet.org (2005)
• Michigan increased to 85, starting with those individuals taking the July 2009 bar examination: http://courts.michigan.gov/supremecourt/BdofLawExaminers/FAQ.htm
• California increased to 86 on January 1, 2008: http://calbar.ca.gov/calbar/pdfs/admissions/62sf0301.pdf

Calculation of scaled scores

The calculation of scaled scores differs based on the difficulty of an individual exam, and therefore there is no formula (known in advance) for determining the number of correctly answered questions necessary to pass. The California bar web site offers some guidance: In the past, The 79 points required in California equated to (roughly) between 28 and 33 correct answers out of 50; today California requires a score of 86. A score of 100 points would equate to (roughly) 30 to 35 correct answers.

External links

• MPRE official Information - National Conference of Bar Examiners
• MRPC - ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct
• CJC - ABA Model Code of Judicial Conduct