In Re Amendment to Rule Ix of the Arkansas Supreme Court Rules Governing Admission to the Bar ( 2023 )

Cite as 2023 Ark. 112SUPREME 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.
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