Lessons · Law foundations · The professional responsibility examination
A separate examination on the duties of the job
Professional responsibility is examined on its own, on its own day, usually well before or after the bar examination itself. It is about the duties a lawyer owes: to the client, to the court, to the other side, and about money held for other people. Each state sets its own passing score on a common paper.
Hone is a place to practise a career, one idea a day. This is one of its lessons, written out in full and free to read without an account.
In beta. This lesson was written for Hone and has not yet been checked by an attorney. Practice material, not professional advice. What that means.
What it is for
It is the most commonly forgotten requirement on the whole road, because it sits outside the examination everybody is afraid of. People pass the bar and then find they are not admitted, because of a separate test they could have sat a year earlier.
How to think about it
Sit it early, during study or straight after, while the habit of examinations is still there. Treat the rules on client money as the highest-yield part: they are precise, they are heavily tested, and they are the ones that end careers in practice.
Worked example
A separate paper, on its own date.Not part of the bar examination sitting.
Duties to the client, the court, and other parties.Confidentiality, conflicts, candour.
Money held for a client is kept apart from the firm's money.The rules here are precise and heavily examined.
Each state sets the score it requires on the common paper.The paper is the same; the line is not.
Your turn
Which part of professional responsibility is both heavily examined and career-ending in practice?
Client is held apart from the firm's own
Solve one, graded on the server
The trap
Leaving it until after the bar result. It is an independent requirement and the wait for a result is exactly the period in which it could have been done.