In Re Amendment to Rule Ix of the Arkansas Supreme Court Rules Governing Admission to the Bar

2023 Ark. 112

• Court: Supreme Court of Arkansas
• Decided: June 15, 2023
• Status: Published

Opinion

Cite as 2023 Ark. 112 SUPREME COURT OF ARKANSAS Opinion Delivered: June 15, 2023 IN RE AMENDMENT TO RULE IX OF THE ARKANSAS SUPREME COURT RULES GOVERNING ADMISSION TO THE BAR

PER CURIAM

The Supreme Court hereby amends Rule IX of the Arkansas Supreme Court Rules

Governing Admission to the Bar. The revision is effective immediately. The revised rule is

published below, with the changes set forth in “line-in, line-out” fashion (new material is

underlined; deleted material is lined through).

Rule IX. Examination - Subjects - Passing Grade.

A. Uniform Bar Examination. All examinations given by the Arkansas Board of Law Examiners (beginning with the February 2020 Exam) shall be prepared by the National Conference of Bar Examiners and shall consist of six Multistate Essay Examination questions, two Multistate Performance Test questions and the Multistate Bar Examination, which is made up of 200 multiple choice questions. Subjects tested on the UBE may include, but not be limited to: Business Associations, Civil Procedure, Conflicts of Law, Constitutional Law, Contracts, Criminal Law and Procedure, Evidence, Family Law, Real Property, Secured Transactions, Torts, and Trusts and Estates. Multistate Performance Test (MPT) presents problems which arise in a variety of fields of law which include the subject area as set forth in the preceding paragraphs as well as other fields of law. However, materials provided with the examination provide sufficient substantive information to complete the task set forth in each MPT question. Pass/Fail Determination The answers to each essay question and each MPT question will be graded on a scale ranging from 65 through 85 1 through 6. This score shall be designated as the applicant’s “raw” score on a question. The distribution of the total written raw scores acquired by applicants on a given examination will be converted to a score distribution that has the same mean and standard deviation as those same applicants’ Multistate Bar Examination scale scores on that examination. The score on this converted scale that corresponds to the applicant’s total written raw score shall be designated as the applicant’s “written scale” score. An applicant’s total examination score shall be determined by the following formula: total score = written scale score + MBE scale score. An applicant shall pass the examination if he or she earns a total score of 270 points or higher. The Board shall destroy all examination papers, including questions and answers, at the time of the next succeeding bar examination. However, the original copy of each question shall be maintained in accordance with Rule III. B. Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination. The provisions of Section A of this rule, titled UNIFORM BAR EXAMINATION, and the provisions of Rules II and IV of the Rules Governing Admission to the Bar shall govern the semiannual general examinations conducted by the Arkansas State Board of Law Examiners. As a prerequisite for admission to the Bar of Arkansas by examination each applicant shall be required to attain a scaled score of 85 or more on the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination (MPRE). This score shall be considered independent of the total score as set out in Section A of this rule. Any applicant may take the MPRE prior to a general examination, or within one (1) year from conduct of a general examination at which the applicant receives a passing score. Individuals who successfully complete the MPRE are allowed to retain, or transfer from another jurisdiction, their passing score for a period not exceeding three years from the date upon which the individual took the MPRE. There is no limit on the number of times that an applicant may take the MPRE without passing.