Introduction to the MPT

Okay, so we are here to talk about the Multistate Performance Test or MPT, which is a portion of the written half of the Uniform Bar Exam. This lesson will introduce you to the MPT and MPT technique, and then in the next lesson, we will practice that technique with some guidance from me. I will give you more guidance on the early MPTs, and as you become more expert in MPT technique, I will give you less guidance.

So, in this lesson, we'll talk about what exactly the MPT is, what it's testing, and we'll discuss the basic steps of your winning MPT technique. Personally, the MPT is my favorite part of the bar exam, and I hope it will be yours too. One of the reasons it's my favorite is because there's no memorization required.

They give you all the materials you need to answer the question presented. Another reason it's my favorite part of the bar exam is because it simulates what lawyers actually do in practice. And the third reason it's my favorite part of the bar exam is I find that it's an area of the bar exam where graduates can really build confidence, and that becomes the foundation for confidence on the rest of the test.

The MPTs are the first thing that you do the first day of the bar exam, so starting off on a confident note is especially important. So what is the MPT? Go ahead and look at your copy of Williams v. A-1 Auto and follow along as we walk through its various components.

Every MPT has at least three components: a task memo, a fact file, and a law library. Some MPTs have a fourth component known as the instruction memo. You'll get an instruction memo when you're drafting work product with specific formatting requirements, like a mediation statement or a brief. We'll talk more about instruction memos in a little bit.

Task Memo

So the first item in your MPT packet is the task memo. The task memo tells you what your job is. It's typically coming from a senior attorney or a judge, and it lays out the background of the case, what type of work product you're expected to draft, that is, a memo, brief, letter, et cetera, the legal theory of the case, and the big issues that you are being asked to address.

Instruction Memo

If there is an instruction memo, that will be the second item in the packet. Again, not every MPT includes an instruction memo. They are typically included if you are drafting work product with special formatting requirements. So, for example, with the Williams MPT, in addition to drafting a memo, you're asked to draft causes of action, and the instruction memo tells you how to do that.

It is critically important that you follow the directions in the instruction memo to a T. If they are giving you specific formatting directions, I guarantee you that there are points on the point sheet for following those directions.

Fact File

Okay, next is the fact file. This is the factual universe that you will be operating in. It can include investigatory memos, affidavits, deposition transcripts, documentary evidence, et cetera. Some fact files are more lengthy and some of them are more concise. The Williams fact file here is pretty concise. We have some client interview notes, a short research memo, and a copy of a receipt.

Law Library

Finally, you have the law library. This sets forth your legal universe. Importantly, you are not to draw on what you know from law school or from your other bar exam studies. You are strictly limited to the materials presented to you here. The law library typically contains statutes and cases, but it can also contain other types of materials like treatises and pattern jury instructions.

In Williams, you have a pretty simple law library that just contains three cases. Through the course of this program, we will practice MPTs that present different types of work product, different types of factual sources, and different types of legal sources. Practice and exposure are key to the MPT. You want to feel prepared for whatever they throw at you the day of the bar exam.

So what exactly is the MPT testing? In essence, the MPT challenges you to take facts and law and solve a problem much as a lawyer would in actual practice. The focus of the MPT is to test your responsiveness to your clients' needs and your ability to follow instructions from a more senior attorney.

Technique

So let's talk about the basics of MPT technique. There is a lot of advice floating around out there about MPT technique. I recommend that you ignore it. The MPT can't be conquered with gimmicks, and it can't be conquered by simply reading for 45 minutes and writing for 45 minutes. Rather, you need a simple go-to technique that will work for you every time, no matter what kind of MPT they throw at you.

As a general matter, I recommend that you practice, that is, actually write up one MPT per week, but I want you to look at and game plan as many MPTs as possible. Part of being prepared for the MPT is becoming familiar with the variety of types you may encounter the day of the bar exam.

So, what is your go-to technique? It's simple. First, understand the task; second, learn the law; and third, incorporate the facts using IRAC or CRAC. Now I'll explain a little bit more about what each step means.

Understanding the Task

In terms of understanding the task, the first thing you should do when you're taking the MPT is read the task memo, which is intuitive because it's the first thing in your MPT packet.

From reading the task memo, you should be able to figure out a few things, like who is your client? Is your client the plaintiff or the defendant? Who is the opposing party? What type of work product are you drafting? Are there any special formatting requirements? What's the cause of action? What are the big legal issues? What is the procedural posture of your case?

The task memo is going to be the first thing you read, and you should read it twice. This is because, as the first thing you read on the first day of the bar exam, you're going to have adrenaline coursing through your veins, and you're likely to miss important details on your first read-through. So slow down, take a deep breath, and read it a second time, making sure to actively mark up your document by circling key words and phrases.

You want to extract every last bit of information that you can from your task memo. Then you're going to start building your document. The idea behind this approach to the MPT is that you don't wait until 45 minutes in to start writing. Instead, you build your document piece by piece across the full 90 minutes.

So, in the first 5 to 10 minutes, based on reading just the task memo, you are going to create what I call your template. Your template should (1) be properly formatted as a memo, brief, letter, et cetera, and we'll talk more about those specific formats later; (2) it should contain an introductory and, where appropriate, a concluding statement; and (3) it should contain placeholder headings for any big legal issues you have identified.

This way, within the first few minutes of working on the MPT, you will have your document set up and ready to go, and you will already have points on the page. Plus, another advantage of this approach is that it freaks out other people when you start typing so early on, giving you a psychological edge.

Learn the Law

The next step is to learn the law. So, somewhat less intuitively, you skip the fact file and go directly to the law library. I could spend hours explaining to you why this is the correct course of action. Let me just tell you that after years of working with graduates on the MPT, I guarantee you this is the right approach. You have to learn the law before you can digest the facts.

If you read the fact file first, you'll just end up having to reread it again after you've learned the law, and you definitely do not have time for that. Some things I want you to focus on while you are in the law library. Your goal here is not to develop a deep understanding of the cases. Your goal is to extract the rules of law and helpful rule applications.

So I want you to read the cases strategically. I don't care about the underlying facts of that case, and I don't care what the lower court held. I care about the appellate court's legal analysis. What rules of law have you extracted from the cases or statutes? How do they fit together? Once you have determined that, you're going to type all the rules of law into your document, separating each out into its own paragraph.

As a default, you should type the rules into your document in exactly the order you came across them in the law library. Most of the time, there is no need to reorganize the rules of law. If the legal structure was good enough for the court authoring the opinion, it's good enough for you writing a memo or brief on the same issue.

But recognize that sometimes you might have to mix and match the law a little bit to make sure that all the rules for a single issue appear in the same place. This will make more sense when we practice some MPTs. But I want to stress this: do not spin your wheels trying to reorganize the law.

Most of the time, it does not need to be reorganized. That's because courts write in a logical fashion. And even if it should ideally be reorganized, but you just can't figure out how, leave it and apply it to the facts as best you can. You don't have time to do elaborate reorganizations of the rules of law.

Incorporate the Facts

Okay, so when you're done typing the rules of law into your document, we call this your legal framework. Essentially, you have all the Rs of IRAC in your document. Now you're going to go to your fact file and you're going to grow the rest of your IRAC around those Rs.

There's not too much to say about incorporating the facts. You will learn this mostly through practice. The key thing to know is that, until you understand the legal framework, you have no way of knowing which facts are relevant and which facts are irrelevant. Now that you understand the law, you're ready to pick out the relevant facts and match them with the rules of law.

One last word about this MPT technique and why it's better than other MPT techniques. As I mentioned, the MPT is the first thing you do the first day of the bar exam. You are going to be nervous. You are going to be wired. If you jump in, read the entire MPT, and try to solve the whole problem at once, you will be quickly overwhelmed.

With this technique, you break the process into bite-sized pieces. You know how to format a memo. You know how to read cases and identify rules of law. You know how to type. By the time you're done typing your legal framework, you haven't had to do any cognitive heavy lifting, but you already have a ton of points on the page and you have the roadmap for earning all the other points, that is, turning those Rs into IRACs.

You saved the hardest part, figuring out how the law and facts fit together, until the end, when you know and understand the problem much more than you did when you started.

Timing

A brief note about timing. Every MPT is different. For some MPTs, you may spend 2 minutes creating your template; for others, it might be closer to 10 minutes. For some MPTs, you will be working on your legal framework up to the 60-minute mark; for others, you will need only 50 minutes. The key here is to methodically and efficiently work through the steps of the technique and to stop wherever you are at when your 90 minutes are up. The more you practice, the further you will get in that time frame.

And if no one has told you this yet, you must not spend more than 90 minutes on that first MPT. The marginal return of spending more time on the first one will be eclipsed by what you lose in not having a full 90 minutes to work on the second one. Trust me on that. Okay, time for the rubber to hit the road. In our next lesson, we will apply this technique to your first practice MPT.