MPT: Lawyering in a Closed Universe
What the MPT tests
The North Dakota Bar’s MPT component has two 90-minute tasks in three hours. It tests lawyering skills-legal analysis, factual analysis, organization, drafting, and problem solving-in a closed universe. The Library supplies statutes, cases, and rules; the File supplies facts, correspondence, and client documents. You are not tested on outside substantive law, and importing it can cost points.
Method
- Read the task memorandum first to identify the audience, format, and deliverable.
- Skim the File for key facts and the Library for the governing rule.
- Outline the rule’s elements and match each fact to an element.
- Draft in the requested format: objective memo, persuasive brief, client letter, contract provision, or discovery plan.
- Cite Library authorities using the citations provided; do not invent citations.
- Reserve the final minutes to check that every task instruction is answered.
Worked example
Task: draft an office memo on whether a noncompete is enforceable. The Library contains a statute requiring a reasonable time and geographic scope and a case upholding a two-year, 50-mile covenant for a salesperson with client contacts. The File shows a three-year, statewide covenant for a clerk with no client contact. Rule: courts enforce only covenants reasonably necessary to protect legitimate interests. Application: three years and statewide scope likely exceed what is necessary for a clerk; the case is distinguishable because the employee had no client relationships. Conclusion: likely unenforceable, though a court might blue-pencil the covenant if the jurisdiction allows it.
Traps
Writing a law-school essay instead of the requested document; ignoring unfavorable Library authority; failing to use File facts; missing format instructions; and exceeding the 90-minute allocation by over-researching.