Everything You Need to Know About the California Bar Exam
Application Procedure
Office of Admissions
1149 South Hills Street
Los Angeles, California 90015
www.calbar.org/admissions
California is unique in that it has two ways in which you can qualify to sit for the California Bar Exam. First you can take the traditional route that most states use, you will need to (1) have graduated with a Juris Doctorate from an American Bar Association approved law school, and (2) you must take the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam and pass with a score of at least 79. If you graduated from a non-ABA approved law school you can still qualify to sit for the California Bar as long as you (1) register as a first year law student indicating that you plan on taking the California Bar exam upon your graduation, (2) you take and pass the First Year Law Student Exam, (3) your legal education must span four calendar years, and (4) you must take the MPRE and pass with a score of at least 79.
California doesn’t have a reciprocity agreement with any other state at the moment, so if you want to practice law in California you will need to sit for their Bar exam. Also the state of California doesn’t except MBE scores taken in previous years, or in other states, so you will have to take the MBE when you sit for the California Bar Exam regardless of whether you have taken it before or not.
For more information about taking the MPRE you can write to the address below for a testing application packet.
National Conference of Bar Examiners
C/O MPRE
P.O. Box 4001
Iowa City, Iowa 52243
To download or request a complete application packet with testing information, requirements, and general information you will need to visit the California State Bar website at the address listed above. After you receive your packet you will need to fill out all of the forms and submit them by the stated deadlines, and you will need to enclose the appropriate application, examination, and late fees. These fees change annually, however, to give you an idea of the costs to expect the 2006 fees were $92.00 to register as a first year law student with a late fee of $52, First Year Law Student Exam fee of $488.00 with late fees ranging from $25 to $200 depending on the date on your application, and $529 to register for the California Bar if you are a student, and $769 to register for the California Bar if you are an attorney.
Testing Format
The California Bar Exam lasts three days, and it is given twice a year. Once in late February, and once in late January.
On the first day of testing you will be given three essays questions and you will complete one Multistate Performance Test questions.
On the second day of the California Bar exam you will be given the Multistate Bar Exam, which consists of 200 multiple choice questions that cover various general legal topics. These questions will not focus on California laws, but rather common legal practices and statutes that are used throughout the United States.
On the third and final day of the California Bar Exam you will be given three more essay questions, and one final Multistate Performance questions.
Scoring for the California Bar will be weighted as follows: the MBE will count for 35% of your total score, and the essay and MPT questions will be worth 65% of your total score.
Study Tips
Studying for the California Bar will be quite an undertaking. You will need to devote several months to studying procedures, laws, and information that you learned during your three years of law school. To help direct your studying it is highly recommended that you enroll in a Bar Exam Review course. Law schools and self-study institutes provide these courses. For a list of quality Bar Exam Review course please check out the California Bar Association’s website at: www.calbar.org/admissions.
In addition to enrolling in a Bar Exam Review course, you should also learn what will be on the examination and where you can go for study guides.
Topics That Will Be Covered on the California Bar Exam
The following topics will be covered in the California Bar Exam. You will need to know federal and California specific rules, regulations, general applications, and procedures that apply to these topics.
1. Civil Procedures
2. Constitutional Law
3. Corporations
4. Professional Responsibilities (both federal and California)
5. Real Property
6. Torts
7. Wills and Succession
8. Community Property Laws
9. Contracts
10. Criminal Law and Procedures
11. Ethics
12. Remedies
13. Trusts
When you begin to study for the California Bar Exam remember you will need to study:
1. Leading federal and state case laws that relate to the above topics
2. ABA and California Model Code of Professional Responsibilities
3. California and federal Rules of Civil Procedures
4. California and federal Rules of Evidence
5. California Probate Code and California Law division 2 parts 1,3,5, and 6
6. California Probate Code and California Law division 6 part 1, chapters 1-3, part 2, part 3, and former part5
7. California Probate Code and California Law division 11 part 1, part 6 chapter 2-3
8. The Universal Commercial Code Articles I, II, and IX
Study Resources
To help you study, the following websites provide official rules of legal procedures for the state of California and for federal procedures.
For past California Bar Exam questions, application forms and general information go to:
www.calbar.org/admissions
For California Rules of Civil Procedures go to:
http://www.calbar.ca.gov/state/calbar/calbar_extend.jsp?cid=10158
For Federal Rules of Civil Procedures go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcp
For California Rules of Professional Conduct go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/ethics/ca/code/CA_CODE.HTM
For ABA Rules of Professional Conduct go to:
http://www.abanet.org/cpr/mrpc/mrpc_home.html
For California Rules of Evidence go to:
http://www.law.harvard.edu/publications/evidenceiii/california.htm
For Federal Rules of Evidence go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/fre
