CLEC study plan
CLEC · Give each week a clear focus.
8 weeks · About 6 hours per week
Attorney-Client Relationship and Confidentiality
Map the attorney-client relationship from formation through termination: identify when the duty attaches, who holds the privilege, and who may waive it
Distinguish confidentiality (broader, ethical) from privilege (narrower, evidentiary) and write a one-page comparison table with three hypothetical applications
Work through the recognized exceptions to confidentiality, including future crime, client consent, fee disputes, and self-defense, and state the trigger for each
Draft a short client intake memo that explains the scope of representation and the limits of confidentiality in plain language
Your checkpoint
A 1,200-word confidentiality/privilege outline plus a client-facing intake memo, self-scored against a checklist of at least 15 rules and exceptions
Attorney-Client Relationship and Confidentiality & Law Firm Management and Supervisory Responsibilities
Analyze imputation of confidentiality duties across a firm, including screening and withdrawal options when one lawyer is disqualified
Identify supervisory duties over nonlawyer staff and the steps a supervising lawyer must take to ensure compliance
Apply the rules on inadvertent disclosure and the receiving lawyer's obligations upon receiving privileged material
Practice issue-spotting on two fact patterns involving a departing lawyer and client file transfers
Your checkpoint
Two timed fact-pattern answers (30 minutes each) with a written self-critique identifying every missed issue
Conflicts of Interest
Classify concurrent, successive, and personal-interest conflicts and state the consent standard for each
Determine when a conflict is nonconsentable and articulate the reasoning in writing
Apply the former-client rule to fact patterns involving substantially related matters and confidential information
Analyze business transactions with clients and third-party payor arrangements for conflict risk
Your checkpoint
A decision-tree flowchart covering conflict screening from intake to engagement, with at least 10 branch points annotated by rule
Conflicts of Interest & Fees, Billing, and Client Property
Evaluate fee agreements for reasonableness, including contingency, flat, and hybrid structures
Apply the rules on safekeeping client and third-party property, including trust account recordkeeping and disputed funds
Analyze fee-splitting with nonlawyers and referral arrangements for propriety
Resolve conflicts arising from a lawyer's financial interest in the representation, such as litigation funding or ownership stakes
Your checkpoint
A 90-minute mixed practice set of 30 questions on conflicts and client property, with a written error log for every miss
Competence, Diligence, and Communication & Candor Toward the Tribunal and Fairness to Opposing Counsel
Define competent representation and identify the diligence and communication failures most often disciplined
Analyze a lawyer's duty of candor to the tribunal, including handling adverse legal authority and false testimony by a client
Distinguish permissible persuasion from improper influence on witnesses, jurors, and third parties
Draft an engagement letter and a client update communication that satisfy the communication duty
Your checkpoint
A candor-and-fairness essay outline plus an engagement letter template, reviewed against a 12-point compliance checklist
Advertising, Solicitation, and Bar Admission & Professional Misconduct, Discipline, and Reporting Obligations
Identify when lawyer advertising crosses into impermissible solicitation, including the rules on live contact and targeted communications
Analyze the reporting obligations that apply to misconduct by other lawyers and by judges, and the exceptions that excuse reporting
Distinguish negligent from knowing misconduct and map the range of sanctions to categories of violation
Review bar admission character-and-fitness issues, including disclosure duties on applications
Your checkpoint
A one-page sanctions matrix and a 20-question self-quiz on advertising, solicitation, and reporting, scored and corrected
Attorney-Client Relationship and Confidentiality & Conflicts of Interest & Professional Misconduct, Discipline, and Reporting Obligations
Re-test the highest-weight domains under timed conditions to build stamina and recall
Identify recurring error patterns from weeks 1 through 6 and write a targeted remediation list
Practice full-length mixed question sets that interleave confidentiality, conflicts, and misconduct
Refine a personal rule-number and keyword retrieval system for fast recall under pressure
Your checkpoint
A full 100-question timed practice exam with a scored breakdown by domain and a written remediation plan for the three weakest areas
Competence, Diligence, and Communication & Fees, Billing, and Client Property & Candor Toward the Tribunal and Fairness to Opposing Counsel & Advertising, Solicitation, and Bar Admission & Professional Misconduct, Discipline, and Reporting Obligations & Law Firm Management and Supervisory Responsibilities
Review condensed outlines for all eight domains, spending proportionally more time on domains 1 and 2
Rehearse performance-test style drafting under a 60-minute clock
Drill the remediation list from week 7 until each flagged issue is answered correctly twice in a row
Simulate exam-day logistics, including timing checkpoints and a strategy for flagged questions
Your checkpoint
A final 60-question timed mock exam scoring at or above target, plus a one-page exam-day strategy sheet
Milestones
Week 2: Can state the confidentiality-versus-privilege distinction and the imputation rules from memory, and score at least 70% on a 25-question domain 1 quiz
Week 4: Can classify any conflict fact pattern as concurrent, successive, or personal-interest, and name the applicable consent standard in under two minutes per pattern
Week 6: Score at least 75% on a 40-question mixed set covering domains 3 through 7, with no domain below 60%
Week 8: Complete the final 60-question mock within the time limit and demonstrate that every item on the week 7 remediation list has been answered correctly twice