Professional Responsibility (MPRE) on the bar exam

Professional Responsibility is tested twice: as its own examination, the MPRE, and inside bar exam essays where an ethics issue is embedded in a larger problem. The governing law is the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct, with the Model Code of Judicial Conduct for judges.

The subject is unusual in that the correct answer is often the more conservative one. Questions reward a candidate who knows exactly when disclosure, withdrawal, or consent is required, rather than one who reasons from general fairness.

• Confidentiality questions turn on the narrow list of exceptions, not on general discretion.
• Conflict of interest problems distinguish current clients, former clients, and imputed conflicts.
• Fee and trust account rules are tested with precise numbers and timing requirements.
• Candor to the tribunal obligations can override client instructions.

• Study the Model Rules in rule order once, then drill the confidentiality and conflicts chapters repeatedly.
• Learn the MPRE answer posture: identify the rule, then choose the most restrictive permitted conduct.
• Keep judicial conduct rules separate; they are tested but small.

217 pages across 24 chapters, organised in the order the law applies:

• Regulation, admission, and discipline
• Unauthorized and multijurisdictional practice
• Formation and scope of representation
• Competence, diligence, and communication
• Confidentiality and its exceptions
• Conflicts of interest, current and former clients
• Fees, trust accounts, and client property
• Candor to the tribunal and advertising rules

• Civil Procedure
• Constitutional Law
• Contracts and Sales (UCC Article 2)
• Criminal Law and Procedure
• Evidence
• Real Property
• Torts
• Business Associations
• Multistate Performance Test (MPT)