Prepared by Prof. Steven D. Jamar, Director
HUSL LRRW
Program
The Multistate Performance Test is a 90 minute exam. At least two
states (at least until recently) give their own 3 hour versions
(California and New Jersey). Some states give two or three
back-to-back 90 minute MPT questions for a total of 3 or 4.5 hours of
performance bar questions, respectively.
I prepared the catalog of skills and the recommended process for
taking the test listed below from the list of skills included at the
NCBE (National Council of Bar Examiners) MPT
site and a similar set of lists prepared by Prof. Elliot
Millstein and Prof. Ann Shalleck of American University School of
Law. (They are both on the MPT problem drafting committee and so
speak with some authority.) My lists are substantively similar to
theirs.
I used an eariler version of this form as a handout for HUSL first
year students for the LRRW I Final Exam which we first gave in 1999.
The HUSL LRRW I final exams have been modeled
after the MPT and the other performance bar exam questions.
General skills being tested are:
- Problem solving
- Legal analysis and reasoning
- Factual analysis and reasoning
- Ability to organize and address a practical legal task
- Ability to manage time pressure
- Ability to communicate in writing
Competencies required for answering an MPT-type exam
question:
- Ability to understand and appropriately respond to the
specific lawyering role and lawyering tasks assigned
- Ability to absorb factual material from narrative as well as
non-narrative, multi-faceted sources
- Ability to read and understand unfamiliar legal authority
- Ability to handle a relatively large amount of both legal and
factual information quickly
- Ability to distinguish relevant and irrelevant factual and
legal material
- Ability to integrate multiple sources of information to
formulate issues
- Ability to tailor communication to the lawyering role and
tasks assigned
Recommended process for taking an MPT-type exam:
- Read the instructions carefully to understand what specific
lawyering tasks are assigned
- Based on your understanding of the tasks assigned, read the
case file. You may find that reading the case file out of order
makes more sense than reading it straight through. For
example,first reading the attorneys' briefs or a lower court
opinion, if any, might help orient you.
- Identify legal and factual issues related to the assigned
tasks
- Understand the importance of and effect of concessions made
and positions taken in the briefs, if any
- Sort and organize relevant facts; discard irrelevant
facts
- Sort and organize relevant law; discard irrelevant law
- Analyze and integrate the law and the facts in light of the
assigned task and the issues articulated
- Do the specific writing task giving appropriate weight to the
assigned format (objective v. persuasive, formal v. informal,
public v. private audience, document drafting, etc.)
