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 and was first administered in 1980.
Contents
It is a prerequisite or corequisite to the bar examination for admission as an attorney at law in 48 of the 50 states of the United States, as well as the District of Columbia, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Republic of Palau. Of the 56 jurisdictions within the United States, only Maryland, Puerto Rico, and Wisconsin do not use the MPRE; however, these jurisdictions still incorporate local ethics rules in their respective bar examinations. Connecticut and New Jersey 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 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. 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). Therefore state rules and laws which may or may not differ from the ABA rules are not tested. California 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 – 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:
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 and California). The next highest required score is 85, currently required by 20 states and territories (among them Oregon, New York, Massachusetts, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Ohio, Texas, and Virginia).
Some states have unique requirements regarding the timing of the MPRE in relation to the bar exam. Four states—Rhode Island, Iowa, Kentucky, and Massachusetts—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. Other states have a "window" either preceding or surrounding the bar exam outside of which MPRE scores are not recognized.