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Free MPRE Practice Questions

10 free, exam-style Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination (MPRE) (MPRE) practice questions with answers and explanations. No signup required. Work through them below, then take the full free MPRE practice test to study every exam domain.

Question 1

A lawyer represents the plaintiff in a breach-of-contract suit. The defendant in that same suit asks the lawyer to represent her in an entirely unrelated trademark matter, and both clients are willing to sign a written waiver. May the lawyer undertake the trademark representation?

  1. No, because a lawyer can never simultaneously represent two clients whose interests differ in any respect
  2. Yes, automatically, because the trademark matter is factually unrelated to the contract suit
  3. Yes, but only if the lawyer reasonably believes she can competently represent both clients and each gives informed consent, confirmed in writing
  4. No, because directly suing a person in one matter categorically bars the lawyer from representing that same person in any other matter, even with the informed written consent of both clients
Show answer & explanation

Correct answer: C - Yes, but only if the lawyer reasonably believes she can competently represent both clients and each gives informed consent, confirmed in writing

Question 2

An elderly client, pleased with her lawyer's work on a prior matter, tells the lawyer she wishes to give him a valuable antique as a token of gratitude and asks him to prepare the document making the gift. The lawyer is not related to the client. Under the Model Rules, the lawyer:

  1. May prepare the instrument and accept the gift, provided its value is reasonable in light of the nature and extent of the services he previously rendered to the client
  2. May prepare the instrument and accept the gift so long as the client confirms her decision in a signed writing
  3. May accept the gift, because a competent client is always free to make a voluntary gift to her lawyer
  4. May not prepare the instrument making the gift, and soliciting a substantial gift would be improper because he is not related to the client
Show answer & explanation

Correct answer: D - May not prepare the instrument making the gift, and soliciting a substantial gift would be improper because he is not related to the client

Question 3

A lawyer formerly represented a company in negotiating a commercial lease. The lawyer now wishes to represent a new client suing that same company in a dispute arising out of that very lease. The former client refuses to consent. The lawyer:

  1. May take the case, because the representation of the company has ended and no current-client conflict exists
  2. May take the case as long as the lawyer can show she acquired no confidential information during the lease negotiation
  3. May not take the case, because it is the same matter and the former client's interests are materially adverse to the new client
  4. May take the case provided a different lawyer in the firm handles it behind an effective ethical screen
Show answer & explanation

Correct answer: C - May not take the case, because it is the same matter and the former client's interests are materially adverse to the new client

Question 4

A lawyer leaves Firm A, where she personally represented a client now adverse to one of Firm B's existing clients in a substantially related matter, and joins Firm B. Firm B timely screens her from the matter, apportions her no part of the fee from it, and gives prompt written notice to the affected former client. Under the Model Rules, this arrangement is:

  1. Improper, because one conflicted lawyer's disqualification is automatically imputed to every other lawyer in her new firm, and screening cannot cure that imputation
  2. Proper, because timely screening, no apportionment of the fee, and written notice to the former client can avoid imputation to the firm
  3. Improper, unless the affected former client also gives informed consent that is confirmed in writing
  4. Proper, but only upon a showing that the migrating lawyer never in fact acquired any confidential information
Show answer & explanation

Correct answer: B - Proper, because timely screening, no apportionment of the fee, and written notice to the former client can avoid imputation to the firm

Question 5

During a representation, a client confides to her lawyer that she intends to commit an act the lawyer reasonably believes is certain to result in another person's death. Under the Model Rules, the lawyer:

  1. May reveal the information to the extent the lawyer reasonably believes necessary to prevent the death
  2. Must promptly disclose the information to the intended victim or to law enforcement authorities
  3. May not reveal the information, because communications made during a representation are strictly confidential
  4. Must withdraw from the representation immediately but is forbidden from revealing what the client told her
Show answer & explanation

Correct answer: A - May reveal the information to the extent the lawyer reasonably believes necessary to prevent the death

Question 6

A lawyer is subpoenaed and asked on the witness stand to disclose a confidential communication from a client. The crime-fraud exception does not apply, and the client has not waived the privilege. Which statement best describes the relationship between the two protections at issue?

  1. The privilege and the duty of confidentiality are one and the same, so the lawyer may decline to answer merely as a professional courtesy
  2. The duty of confidentiality is broader in scope, but it is the evidentiary privilege that the lawyer asserts to refuse to give compelled testimony
  3. Because the underlying matter has concluded, neither the privilege nor the duty of confidentiality any longer applies to the communication
  4. The lawyer is compelled to answer, because a validly issued court subpoena overrides the attorney-client privilege in every instance
Show answer & explanation

Correct answer: B - The duty of confidentiality is broader in scope, but it is the evidentiary privilege that the lawyer asserts to refuse to give compelled testimony

Question 7

Midway through a civil trial, a lawyer comes to know that a witness she earlier called gave material testimony that was false. Her efforts to persuade the witness to correct the record have failed. Under the Model Rules, the lawyer must:

  1. Keep the information strictly confidential, because the duty of confidentiality protects everything the lawyer learned during the course of representing the client
  2. Promptly move to withdraw from the representation, which by itself fully discharges her duty as to the false testimony
  3. Take no further action, because privately confronting the witness already satisfied her obligation under the Rules
  4. Take reasonable remedial measures, including disclosure to the tribunal if necessary, even though that may reveal otherwise confidential information
Show answer & explanation

Correct answer: D - Take reasonable remedial measures, including disclosure to the tribunal if necessary, even though that may reveal otherwise confidential information

Question 8

While preparing for trial, a prosecutor discovers evidence that tends to negate the guilt of the accused, though it is not clearly material under the constitutional standard governing reversal of a conviction. Under the Model Rules governing prosecutors, the prosecutor must:

  1. Disclose the evidence to the defense only if defense counsel has specifically requested that category of material
  2. Decline to disclose the evidence unless and until a court enters an order compelling its production
  3. Timely disclose the evidence to the defense, because the prosecutor's ethical duty is broader than the constitutional standard
  4. Disclose the evidence only after concluding that it would, in the prosecutor's own judgment, likely change the verdict
Show answer & explanation

Correct answer: C - Timely disclose the evidence to the defense, because the prosecutor's ethical duty is broader than the constitutional standard

Question 9

A lawyer is likely to be a necessary witness on a genuinely contested issue at her client's upcoming trial. Her anticipated testimony does not concern the nature or value of legal services, and her disqualification would not impose a substantial hardship on the client. Under the Model Rules:

  1. She may serve as trial advocate provided she discloses to the jury that she will also testify as a witness
  2. She may not act as advocate at the trial, but another lawyer in her firm ordinarily may try the case
  3. Neither she nor any other lawyer in her firm may participate in the matter in any capacity whatsoever
  4. She may act as advocate because the advocate-witness restriction applies only to criminal prosecutions
Show answer & explanation

Correct answer: B - She may not act as advocate at the trial, but another lawyer in her firm ordinarily may try the case

Question 10

A prospective client asks a lawyer to handle her divorce and proposes that the fee be a percentage of the property settlement she ultimately obtains. The lawyer agrees and puts the arrangement in a writing the client signs. Under the Model Rules, the fee arrangement is:

  1. Proper, because the client knowingly agreed to the arrangement in a writing that she signed
  2. Proper, because a contingent fee is permitted in any matter so long as the resulting fee is reasonable
  3. Improper, because a contingent fee is prohibited in a domestic relations matter when it is contingent on the amount of the property settlement
  4. Improper, because contingent fees are categorically prohibited across all family-law matters and ordinary civil litigation matters without exception
Show answer & explanation

Correct answer: C - Improper, because a contingent fee is prohibited in a domestic relations matter when it is contingent on the amount of the property settlement

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