Topics Tested on the Missouri and Illinois Bar Exams

The following information is for guidance purposes only.
Please cross reference with each bar examination site for any up-to-the-minute updates.

Missouri:

Change in possible Essay Topics:
The Essay portion of the Missouri Bar examination consists of four essays administered during a two-hour morning session, and six essays administered during a three-hour afternoon session.

Beginning with the July 2007 examination, the Missouri Bar Examination Essay topics will include: nine or fewer questions selected from a nine distributed by the National Conference of Bar Examiners. Six of the offered questions will cover traditional subjects of Agency and Partnership, Corporations and LLCs, Conflicts of Law, Estates, Family Law, Federal Civil Procedure, Trusts and Future Interests, Sales, Commercial Paper, and Secured Transactions. Three will cover subjects previously tested on the MBE (Constitutional Law, Contracts, Criminal Law and Procedure, Evidence, Real Property, and Torts).

Missouri Civil Procedure, Administrative Law, and Remedies will continue to be possible essay subjects and, if tested, will be written by the Missouri Board of Bar Examiners rather than the NCBA. The Board may also write essay questions on any of the sixteen Multistate essay subjects.

Change in Weighting of Multi-state Performance Test:
The MPT that is currently worth 18 raw points will be worth a maximum of 24 raw points.

Missouri Essay Questions can cover the following topics:

• Administrative Law
• Agency, Corporations and Partnerships (Business Associations)
• Commercial Transactions
• Conflicts of Law
• Equity (Remedies)
• Family law
• Federal Civil Procedure
• Missouri Civil Procedure
• Partnership
• Secured Transactions
• Trusts
• Future Interests and Wills

Illinois:

Beginning with the July 2007 examination, the Board will discontinue its practice of regularly including 2 Illinois Civil Procedure and 1 equity question on the Illinois Essay portion of the bar exam.

Illinois Essay Questions can cover the following topics:

• Administrative Law
• Agency and Partnership
• Business Organizations
• Agency and Business Organizations
  (including corporations and limited liability companies)
• Commercial Paper
• Conflict of Laws
• Contracts
• Criminal Law and Procedure
• Equity (Remedies)
• Evidence
• Family Law
• Federal and State Constitutional Law
• Federal Jurisdiction & Procedure
• Federal taxation
• Illinois Civil Procedure
• Personal Property (including sales and bailments)
• Real Property
• Secured Transactions
• Suretyship
• Torts
• Trusts and Future Interests
• Wills and Decedents’ Estates

Some questions may include issues from more than one area of law.

Multi-State:

• Business Associations
  (agency, partnership, corporations, and limited liability companies)
• Conflict of Laws
• Contracts
• Criminal Law and Procedure
• Evidence
• Family Law
• Federal and State Constitutional Law
• Federal Civil Procedure
• Real Property
• Trusts & Estates (decedents’ estates, trusts and future interests)
• Uniform Commercial Code (commercial paper and negotiable instruments)
• Secured Transactions
  

Some questions may include issues from more than one area of law.

Missouri/Illinois Bar Information

Missouri Bar Examination - Current information, deadlines and fees

Illinois Bar Examination - Current information, deadlines and fees

Missouri Law Student Registration Information — click and follow the noted links
-Fee Schedule for Law Student Registration
-Law Student Registration - Application for Character and Fitness Report

Illinois Law Student Registration information — Click Here.

Additional Links and Resources

National Conference of Bar Examiner's information on the various multistate tests and bar passage statistics.

ABA's Comprehensive Guide to Bar Admission Requirements, which contains information for foreign law school graduates, as well as information on grading and scoring for each state.

ABA's Bar Admissions Information includes the contact information for all state bars.