The Uniform Bar Examination

1. The Uniform Bar Examination What it is and what it is not

2. National Conference of Bar Examiners • Formed in 1931; Non-Profit Corporation • “Developing, maintaining, and applying reasonable and uniform standards of education and character for eligibility for admission to the practice of law” • U.S. States, District of Columbia and U.S. territories, not the NCBE, are the licensing authorities and administer bar examinations; • federal system

3. NCBE Testing Products • Multistate Bar Examination, the “MBE” • Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination, the “MPRE” • Multistate Essay Examination “MEE” • Multistate Performance Test “MPT”

4. Multistate Bar Examination “MBE” • 200-item, multiple choice standardized test • First administered in 1972 • Now approved in 49 states, District of Columbia, and U.S. Territories such as the Virgin Islands, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau • Reliable and Valid; Equated (Scaled Score vs. Raw Score) • Anchor of bar examinations in the U.S.

5. Multistate Bar Examination Topics • Constitutional Law (31 questions) • Contracts (33 questions) • Criminal Law and Procedure (31 questions) • Evidence (31 questions) • Real Property (31 questions) • Torts (33) • Civil Procedure to be added in 2015.

6. Multistate Essay Examination “MEE” • Six-30-minute essay questions (Nine available) • One-page fact pattern containing legal issues • “The purpose of the MEE is to test the examinee’s ability to • (1) identify legal issues raised by a hypothetical factual situation; • (2) separate material which is relevant from that which is not; • (3) present a reasoned analysis of the relevant issues in a clear, concise, and well-organized composition; and • (4) demonstrate an understanding of the fundamental legal principles relevant to the probable solution of the issues raised by the factual situation.

7. MEE Topics • Business Associations (Agency and Partnership; • Corporations and Limited Liability Companies); • Conflict of Laws; • Constitutional Law, Contracts; • Criminal Law and Procedure; • Evidence; • Family Law; • Federal Civil Procedure; • Real Property; • Torts; and, • Trusts and Estates (Decedents' Estates; Trusts and Future Interests); • Uniform Commercial Code (Negotiable Instruments and Bank Deposits and Collections; Secured Transactions). • Some questions may include issues in more than one area of law.

8. Multistate Performance Test “MPT” • NCBE offers two 90-minute MPT items per administration. A jurisdiction may select one or both items to include as part of its bar examination. • The MPT is designed to test an examinee’s ability to use fundamental lawyering skills in a realistic situation. Each test evaluates an examinee’s ability to complete a task that a beginning lawyer should be able to accomplish. • The materials for each MPT include a File and a Library. • The File consists of source documents containing all the facts of the case.

9. MPT File • The File Examples: • transcripts of interviews, depositions, hearings or trials; • pleadings, • correspondence; • client documents; • contracts; • newspaper articles medical record; • police reports, • or lawyer’s notes. • Relevant as well as irrelevant facts are included. Facts are sometimes ambiguous, incomplete, or even conflicting.

10. MPT Library • The Library may contain cases, statutes, regulations, or rules, some of which may not be relevant to the assigned lawyering task. • The examinee is expected to extract from the Library the legal principles necessary to analyze the problem and perform the task. • The MPT is not a test of substantive law; the Library materials provide sufficient substantive information to complete the task.

11. Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination “MPRE” • MPRE is a 60-question, two-hour, multiple-choice examination administered three times per year at established test centers across the country. • The purpose of the MPRE is to measure the examinee's knowledge and understanding of established standards related to a lawyer's professional conduct; the MPRE is not a test to determine an individual's personal ethical values.

12. Uniform Bar Examination • MBE • Six MEE items • Two MPT items • Same items given in all “UBE Jurisdictions” • To date, the Uniform Bar Examination has been approved by these 13 jurisdictions: Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

13. UBE Features • It is uniformly administered, graded, and scored by user jurisdictions and results in a portable score. • The UBE is administered over two days, with the MBE given on the last Wednesday of February and July and the MEE and MPT given on the Tuesday prior to that. The MEE and MPT scores are scaled to the MBE, with the MBE weighted 50%, the MEE 30%, and the MPT 20%.

14. Local Law Component with UBE • Jurisdictions that adopt the UBE may require candidates also to complete a jurisdiction-specific educational component and/or pass a test on jurisdiction-specific law in addition to passing the UBE. Examples: • Missouri—An online test • Arizona—A seminar • North Dakota—Only the UBE

15. Score is Portable; But Not Necessarily Good for Admission • Federal System • Minimum Passing scores vary widely across the U.S. (Using a 200-point scale) • Delaware: 145 • California: 144 (converted to a 200-point scale) • Ohio: 135 • New York: 133 • Alabama: 128

16. Local Control • Jurisdictions that use the UBE continue to • decide who may sit for the bar exam and who will be admitted to practice. • determine underlying educational requirements. • make all character and fitness decisions. • set their own policies regarding the number of times candidates may retake the bar examination. • make ADA decisions. • grade the MEE and MPT. • set their own pre-release regrading policies. • assess candidate knowledge of jurisdiction-specific content through a separate test, course, or some combination of the two if the jurisdiction chooses. • accept MBE scores earned in a previous examination for purposes of making local admission decisions if they wish. Note, however, that candidates must sit for the entire UBE in a single administration in order to earn a portable UBE score. • set their own passing scores. • determine how long incoming UBE scores will be accepted.

17. Conference of Chief Justices • CONFERENCE OF CHIEF JUSTICES Resolution 4Endorsing Consideration of a Uniform Bar Examination • WHEREAS, the states’ highest courts regard an effective system of admission and regulation of the legal profession as an important responsibility for the protection of the public; and • WHEREAS, the increased demand for lawyer mobility results in greater multijurisdictional practice and increased access to admission on motion; and • WHEREAS, the increasing use of uniform, high quality testing instruments has rendered most jurisdictions’ bar examinations substantially similar; and • WHEREAS, law is the only major profession that has not developed a uniform licensing examination; and • WHEREAS, a uniform licensing examination for lawyers would facilitate lawyer mobility and enhance protection of the public; and • WHEREAS, state bar admission authorities and state supreme courts would remain responsible for making admission decisions, including establishing character and fitness qualifications and setting passing standards, and enforcing their own rules for admission; and • WHEREAS, issues relating to knowledge of local law can be addressed through a mandatory educational component, a separate assessment, or a combination thereof; • NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Conference of Chief Justices urges the bar admission authorities in each state and territory to consider participating in the development and implementation of a uniform bar examination. • Adopted as proposed by the CCJ Professionalism and Competence of the Bar Committee at the 2010 Annual Meeting July 28, 2010.

18. Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar of the ABA • WHEREAS, the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar of the American Bar Association regards an effective system of admission and regulation of the legal profession as an important responsibility for the protection of the public; and • WHEREAS, the increased demand for lawyer mobility has resulted in greater multijurisdictional practice and has increased utilization of admission on motion by experienced lawyers; and • WHEREAS, admission by motion does not apply to recently admitted lawyers; and • WHEREAS, adoption of a uniform licensing examination for lawyers in all jurisdictions would facilitate lawyer mobility and enhance protection of the public; and • WHEREAS, the increasing use of uniform, high quality testing instruments has rendered most jurisdictions’ bar examinations substantially similar; and • WHEREAS, law is the only major profession that has not adopted a uniform licensing examination, the scores on which are transferable among jurisdictions; and • WHEREAS, after adoption of a uniform examination on legal knowledge, reasoning and skills, state bar admission authorities and state supreme courts would remain responsible for making admission decisions, including establishing character and fitness qualifications and setting passing standards, and enforcing their own rules for admission; and • WHEREAS, issues relating to knowledge of local law can be addressed through a mandatory educational component, a separate state-specific assessment, or a combination thereof ; • NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar urges the bar admission authorities in each state and territory to consider participating in the development and implementation of a uniform bar examination. • ADOPTED by the Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar on August 6, 2010.