The Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination (MPRE) is a 120-minute, 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 A bar examination is an examination administered by the bar association of a jurisdiction that a lawyer must pass in order to be admitted to the bar of that jurisdiction. Australia Administering bar exams is the responsibility of the bar associ ...

and was first administered in 1980. It is a prerequisite or corequisite to the

bar examination A bar examination is an examination administered by the bar association of a jurisdiction that a lawyer must pass in order to be admitted to the bar of that jurisdiction. Australia Administering bar exams is the responsibility of the bar associ ...

for admission as an

attorney at law Attorney at law or attorney-at-law, usually abbreviated in everyday speech to attorney, is the preferred term for a practising lawyer in certain jurisdictions, including South Africa (for certain lawyers), Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and the Unite ...

in 49 of the 50 states of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, as well as the

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, the

Northern Mariana Islands The Northern Mariana Islands, officially the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI; ch, Sankattan Siha Na Islas Mariånas; cal, Commonwealth Téél Falúw kka Efáng llól Marianas), is an unincorporated territory and commonw ...

, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the

Republic of Palau Palau,, officially the Republic of Palau and historically ''Belau'', ''Palaos'' or ''Pelew'', is an island country and microstate in the western Pacific. The nation has approximately 340 islands and connects the western chain of the Caro ...

. Of the 56 jurisdictions within the United States, only

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

, and

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

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

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

and

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

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

Structure

As of the October 2012 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. 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 th
ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct
and th

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). State rules and laws which may or may not differ from the ABA rules are not tested.

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

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 The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of acad ...

– and California rules differ from the ABA rules in many ways. Despite California being the only state to not adopt the ABA's Model Rules of Professional Conduct or Judicial Conduct, it is one of the two states with the highest score requirement in the country. The MPRE differs from the remainder of the bar examination in two 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, in the great majority of states, may only be taken after receipt of a J.D. or L.L.M. from an ABA-accredited law school. * A bar exam candidate's MPRE score is accepted in every jurisdiction that requires it, unlike the other components of the bar examination.

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 ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

and

). All states have a window either preceding or surrounding the bar exam outside of which MPRE scores are not recognized. Passing Scores (in 2021) by State: * Michigan increased to 85, starting with those individuals taking the July 2009 bar examination: https://web.archive.org/web/20091215134646/http://courts.michigan.gov/supremecourt/BdofLawExaminers/FAQ.htm * West Virginia increased a passing score to 80 effective January 1, 2013: http://www.courtswv.gov/legal-community/court-rules/Orders/2012/11-20-2012Admission-Prac-of-Law.pdf * Wyoming increased from 70 to 85, starting with those individuals taking the 2013 MPRE: https://web.archive.org/web/20120802160635/http://www.wyomingbar.org/pdf/admissions/Frequently_Asked_Admissions_Questions.pdf *Maryland began requiring the MPRE as of March 1, 2019: http://www.ncbex.org/exams/mpre/

References

External links

MPRE official Information
– National Conference of Bar Examiners

– ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct

– ABA Model Code of Judicial Conduct {{Authority control Legal profession exams Standardized tests Legal ethics