MPRE (Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination)
What the MPRE Tests
The MPRE is a two-hour, 60-question multiple-choice ethics exam. It tests the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct and the ABA Model Code of Judicial Conduct, not Nevada's unique variations unless the question says otherwise. Nevada requires a passing scaled score before admission. The exam is about judgment: the best answer is usually the one that protects the client, the court, and the integrity of the profession-not the one that maximizes the lawyer's convenience.
Core Rules
- Competence and diligence: Rules 1.1 and 1.3; know when to associate or decline.
- Confidentiality: Rule 1.6; exceptions include client consent, legal compulsion, and preventing death or substantial bodily harm.
- Conflicts: Rules 1.7 (concurrent), 1.9 (former client), and 1.10 (imputation); informed consent confirmed in writing.
- Candor: Rule 3.3; never offer false evidence or fail to correct a material misstatement.
- Fees and property: Rule 1.5 (reasonableness), Rule 1.15 (trust account), Rule 1.16 (withdrawal).
Worked Example
A lawyer represented a company in a lease dispute. The company now asks the lawyer to sue its former landlord, who was a co-defendant in the earlier matter and whose confidences the lawyer received. Rule 1.9 bars representation adverse to a former client in a substantially related matter without informed consent. The matters share the same lease and factual nucleus. Result: the lawyer must decline unless the former client gives informed consent, confirmed in writing; if the lawyer possesses confidential information, consent may still be insufficient.
Traps
- Choosing an answer that is ethical but not the most protective option.
- Missing "confirmed in writing" when consent is required.
- Confusing confidentiality with the attorney-client privilege.
- Forgetting imputation when one lawyer in a firm is disqualified.
- Ignoring the difference between concurrent and former-client conflicts.