Which Bar Exam Will You Take?

By Prof. Laurie Morin, Bar Task Force

It is never too early to start thinking about what bar examination you are going to take. Many states require early registration or charge significant penalties for late applications. Moreover, the subjects covered in your state's bar exam should be a key consideration when you are choosing electives in your second and third years of law school. Finally, consideration of the format and subjects on various state bar exams may help you decide where you want to sit for the bar (the topic of a later Bar Counsel column).

Although most states require the Multi-State Bar Examination (MBE), the essay portion of the bar exam differs radically from state to state. Different states test different subjects, select different passing scores, and use different formulas for weighing the multiple choice and essay portions of the exam. Moreover, an increasing number of states now require the Multi-State Performance Test (MPT), a 90-minute exam that tests your ability to solve problems by applying a closed universe of legal authorities to a hypothetical fact pattern.

The first thing you should do when thinking about course selection is see what kind of bar exam your state offers and what subjects are tested. Most states have this information available online, and the School of Law has gathered it all together for you in our "Bar Examination Workshop" online course. To access the information, log on to: http://udc.blackboard.com/. All registered UCD-DCSL students have been given user names and passwords to access the site. Your user name consists of your first initial and the first three letters of your last name. Your password, which you should change as soon as you log on, is your social security number. To access information about the bar exam, click on "External Links." There is a folder with sites describing the multi-state bar exams (MBE, MEE and MPT), a folder with sites for each state-specific bar exam, and a folder with general bar exam resources.

UDC-DCSL's first-year required courses introduce students to three of the six MBE subjects that will be tested on virtually every bar in the country: Criminal Law and Procedure, Contracts and Sales, and Torts. The remaining three are required in the second year: Constitutional Law, Evidence and Property. Only two states - Louisiana and Washington State - do not use the MBE. Nonetheless, these two states no doubt test in these six areas.

On their essay exams, most states test some form of state civil procedure, agency and partnership, corporations, family law, and wills and trusts. There is wide variation in what other subjects (and how many) are tested. By the time you finish law school, you should have taken most, if not all, of the subjects tested on your state's bar exam. Commercial bar review courses (such as BAR/BRI) are invaluable in helping you prepare for the bar exam, but they should be providing review rather than initial coverage of the subjects.

Most states also require a separate exam in Professional Responsibility, the Multi-State Professional Responsibility Exam (MPRE). A few, however, including Maryland, test Professional Responsibility on their essay exams.

Finally, don't forget the admission to the bar involves a demonstration of worthiness in two distinct areas. Competence is established by showing that the applicant holds an acceptable educational credential (J.D. degree) from a law school that meets educational standards, and by achieving a passing score on the bar examination. The second area of inquiry by bar examiners involves the character and fitness of applicants for a law license. In most states, bar examiners seek background information concerning each applicant that is relevant to holding a position of public trust. This can include anything from past criminal activity to employment and credit checks. The character and fitness portion of bar licensing will be the topic of a future Bar Counsel column.

If you have any questions about the bar exam, please feel free to contact me or any members of the Bar Passage Task Force (Dr. Russ Cort, Prof. James Gray, and Prof. Stephanie Brown).