Multistate Performance Test (MPT): Drafting Inside a Closed Library
The MPT's closed universe
The MPT is two 90-minute tasks. Each packet contains a file (client documents, correspondence, interview notes) and a library (cases, statutes, regulations). You may not use outside law; the library is the law. The task memo dictates the deliverable: an office memo, a persuasive brief section, a client letter, a contract provision, a discovery plan, or a settlement recommendation. Graders ask whether the document would actually be useful to the assigning attorney.
Read in this order
Task memo first - what is needed, for whom, in what form - then the file for facts, then the library for rules. Synthesize a single rule from multiple authorities rather than summarizing each case in turn.
Worked example
The memo asks whether a client's email satisfies the Statute of Frauds. The library statute requires a writing 'signed by the party to be charged.' Case A holds that a typed name at the end of an email is a signature; Case B holds that an unsigned draft with no name is not. The client's email ends with her typed name and states quantity and price. Analogize to Case A, distinguish Case B, and conclude that the writing satisfies the statute, noting that the email's terms match the alleged agreement.
Traps
Writing a law-school IRAC essay instead of the requested document; copying library language without applying file facts; ignoring the task memo's formatting, tone, or citation instructions; and failing to state a clear recommendation when the memo asks for one.