MPRE — Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam — All Questions

Under Model Rule 3.8, a prosecutor has a special duty to:

• a.Prosecute every charge the police request
• b.Obtain a conviction by any lawful means
• c.Timely disclose evidence that tends to negate guilt✓
• d.Refuse to disclose favorable evidence until after trial

Rule 3.8(d) requires "timely disclosure to the defense of all evidence or information known to the prosecutor that tends to negate the guilt of the accused or mitigates the offense." The comment calls the prosecutor "a minister of justice and not simply that of an advocate."

Rule 2.1 permits a lawyer's advice to refer to which considerations besides the law?

• a.None; advice must be strictly legal.
• b.Only economic factors.
• c.Moral, economic, social, political.✓
• d.Only the client's religious beliefs.

Rule 2.1 states that "a lawyer may refer not only to law but to other considerations such as moral, economic, social and political factors, that may be relevant to the client's situation."

Information a lawyer learns while preparing an evaluation of a client's affairs for a third person is protected by which rule, except as disclosure is authorized for the report?

• a.Rule 1.6.✓
• b.Rule 7.1.
• c.Rule 5.5.
• d.Rule 4.2.

Rule 2.3(c) provides that "except as disclosure is authorized in connection with a report of an evaluation, information relating to the evaluation is otherwise protected by Rule 1.6."

A lawyer represents a corporation. The CEO asks the lawyer, in a meeting about a possible internal fraud investigation of the CEO, to "keep this between us." What should the lawyer explain?

• a.That the lawyer cannot speak with any officer.
• b.That the lawyer represents the CEO personally.
• c.That the conversation is privileged for the CEO alone.
• d.That the lawyer represents the corporation.✓

Rule 1.13(a) says a lawyer retained by an organization "represents the organization," and Rule 1.13(f) requires explaining "the identity of the client" when the organization's interests are adverse to the constituent's.

When may corporate counsel report a violation outside the organization under Rule 1.13(c)?

• a.Only after obtaining a court order.
• b.Whenever a mid-level manager commits any violation of law.
• c.Never, because Rule 1.6 always controls.
• d.Only if top management ignores a clear, harmful violation.✓

Rule 1.13(c) permits disclosure when "the highest authority that can act on behalf of the organization insists upon or fails to address" a clear violation of law and the lawyer reasonably believes it "is reasonably certain to result in substantial injury to the organization."

Which is a special duty of a prosecutor under Rule 3.8?

• a.To avoid all contact with the press.
• b.Help secure the accused's access to counsel.✓
• c.To accept every plea offer from the defense.
• d.To win every case the prosecutor brings.

Rule 3.8(b) requires the prosecutor to "make reasonable efforts to assure that the accused has been advised of the right to, and the procedure for obtaining, counsel and has been given reasonable opportunity to obtain counsel."

A prosecutor learns of clear and convincing evidence that a man convicted in her jurisdiction did not commit the crime. What does Rule 3.8(h) require?

• a.That she seek to remedy the wrongful conviction.✓
• b.That she wait for the defendant to file a motion.
• c.Only that she notify the defense bar.
• d.Nothing, if the appeals are exhausted.

Rule 3.8(h) provides that when a prosecutor "knows of clear and convincing evidence establishing that a defendant in the prosecutor's jurisdiction was convicted of an offense that the defendant did not commit, the prosecutor shall seek to remedy the conviction."

A lawyer serving as a mediator between two unrepresented neighbors must tell them what?

• a.Which neighbor has the stronger case.
• b.That they must hire lawyers before continuing.
• c.That the lawyer represents neither.✓
• d.How a court would likely decide their dispute.

Rule 2.4(b) requires a lawyer serving as a third-party neutral to "inform unrepresented parties that the lawyer is not representing them" and, where needed, explain the difference between a neutral and a representative.