The one-sheet

Twelve subjects in exam weight order; the 28 rules that carry most of the marks.

120 minutes, 60 questions. Only 50 are scored, and the 10 pretest items are indistinguishable, so treat all 60 as scored. No penalty for a wrong answer. Scaled scores run 50 to 150, cutoffs typically 75 to 86 by jurisdiction.

Conflicts of Interest · 12–18%

• Rule 1.7. Direct adversity to another current client, or significant risk of material limitation by duties to another client, a former client, a third person, or the lawyer's own interest. RICI waives it: Reasonably believes competent representation possible · not Illegal · no Claim by one client against another in the same proceeding before a tribunal · Informed consent confirmed in writing. The C is unconsentable however both sign.
• Rule 1.8(a). Four DRAW safeguards: Disclosed in writing · Reasonable opportunity to seek independent counsel · Advised in writing to seek it · Written signed consent to the essential terms and the lawyer's role.
• Rule 1.9. Substantial relation plus material adversity; a lateral adds actual acquisition of confidential information.
• Rule 1.10. Imputation runs firm-wide except a purely personal-interest conflict posing no significant risk to other lawyers' work; screening cures a prior firm's conflict, not a current one.
• Rule 1.11. A former government lawyer needs the agency's informed consent, confirmed in writing, on a matter handled personally and substantially.
• TRAP. Individual signed forms in an aggregate settlement meet the signature requirement, not the disclosure requirement, when each shows only that client's amount.

The Client-Lawyer Relationship · 10–16%

• Rule 1.18. Consultation triggers the duties whether or not representation results; no signed document required.
• Rule 1.2. The client decides SPATE + J: Settlement · Plea · Appeal, settled practice, not Rule 1.2's text · Testify, criminal only · Expenses, Rule 1.2 cmt. [2] · Jury waiver.
• Rule 1.4. Six points, the sixth limits on the lawyer's own conduct; every settlement offer and plea goes to the client unless the client already called it acceptable or unacceptable, or authorized the lawyer to accept or reject.
• Rule 1.5. A fee is not reasonable merely because the client signed; a criminal defendant's contingent fee is prohibited.
• Rule 1.16. Only the four Rule 1.16(a) grounds compel withdrawal; the same four bar accepting the matter.
• Rule 1.0. Oral informed consent usually suffices; conflict waivers are confirmed in writing, and Rules 1.5(c), 1.8(a) and 1.8(g) take a client's signed writing.
• TRAP. A mandatory withdrawal ground still takes the tribunal's permission.

Litigation and Advocacy · 10–16%

• Rule 3.1. Any good-faith argument clears the bar; probable loss alone never makes a position frivolous.
• Rule 3.3. Correct a false statement of material fact or law once the truth is known, whether or not the court acted; disclose adverse controlling authority opposing counsel did not cite. False evidence, three ordered steps: counsel the client, seek withdrawal, disclose to the tribunal. Candor outranks confidentiality until the proceeding ends.
• Rule 3.6. An extrajudicial statement with a substantial likelihood of materially prejudicing the proceeding is barred, firm-wide or agency-wide.
• Rule 3.8. A prosecutor may not go forward on a charge the prosecutor actually knows lacks probable cause; evidence negating guilt goes to the defense.
• TRAP. The duty to preserve arises when litigation is reasonably anticipated, not when suit is filed.

Regulation of the Legal Profession · 6–12%

• Rule 5.5. Cross-border work takes the RAMS gate — admitted in the United States, not disbarred or suspended in any jurisdiction — plus one of four doors: Reasonably related to the lawyer's practice, for services not within paragraphs (c)(2) or (c)(3) · Association with an active local lawyer · Mediation, arbitration or other alternative resolution proceeding not requiring pro hac vice admission in the forum · Special permission, pro hac vice.
• Rule 5.7. The Model Rules travel with law-related services not distinct from legal work, or a controlled entity whose recipients were not told the client-lawyer protections do not apply.
• TRAP. Rule 8.3 reporting takes actual knowledge and a violation raising a substantial fitness question; below that, permissive.

Client Confidentiality · 6–12%

• Rule 1.6. Broader than privilege: privilege blocks compelled disclosure, all four elements at once; Rule 1.6 bars voluntary revelation of anything relating to the representation, even after death. All seven 1.6(b) exceptions are permissive, but once one permits disclosure Rule 4.1(b) requires it to avoid assisting a client's crime or fraud. Physical harm needs no services nexus; financial harm does.
• TRAP. Publicly available is not generally known, and permissive means optional.

Competence and Malpractice · 6–12%

• Rule 1.1. KSTP at the level the matter demands — legal Knowledge · Skill · Thoroughness · Preparation. Client consent is no defense.
• Rule 1.3. A single act of neglect suffices for discipline; no pattern required.
• Discipline needs no harm; malpractice takes duty, breach, causation and damages; a litigation-failure case adds proof the underlying claim would have succeeded.
• TRAP. A well-informed error of judgment is not a breach, and the Model Rules require no malpractice insurance.

Communications About Legal Services · 4–10%

• Rule 7.1. Every communication about legal services, firm names included, must not mislead; a true statement missing a critical qualifier violates.
• Rule 7.2. No percentage of fees and no per-referral payment for a recommendation; five narrow exceptions include advertising costs and disclosed reciprocal referrals.
• Rule 7.3. Live contact with a specific prospect is solicitation, barred where a significant motive is pecuniary gain unless the target is LPR — another Lawyer · a family, close personal or Prior business or professional relationship · a Routine business user. Rule 7.3(c) overrides: no solicitation once the target has made known a desire not to be solicited, or where it involves coercion, duress or harassment.
• TRAP. The agent rule has no delegation exception: no proxy makes a contact the lawyer cannot.

Different Roles of the Lawyer · 4–10%

• Rule 1.12. A former judge, arbitrator, mediator or neutral may not represent anyone in that matter without all-party informed consent confirmed in writing; screening cures the firm, never the neutral.
• TRAP. ABA reporting outside the entity after board failure is permissive; SOX escalation after CLO failure is mandatory.

Transactions with Non-Clients · 2–8%

• Rule 4.1. A knowing false statement of material fact or law to a third person is disciplinable when made; puffery ordinarily protects value estimates, settlement intentions and an undisclosed principal's existence, unless nondisclosure of the principal is itself fraud.
• Rule 4.2. Reach a represented person only through their lawyer, with consent, or as law or court order authorizes; their own initiative does not.
• Rule 4.3. Never advise an unrepresented person whose interests may conflict with the client's; the only advice left is to consult counsel.
• TRAP. On an inadvertently sent document, Rule 4.4(b)'s complete obligation is to notify the sender.

Safekeeping Property · 2–8%

• Rule 1.15. Client and third-party funds go into trust at once; firm money only for bank service charges, the minimum necessary. Draw only after the work is done or the expense incurred. Notify and deliver promptly without a request; the accounting waits for one. Records run from termination; the Model Rule suggests five years.
• TRAP. A "nonrefundable" label changes nothing where the payment funds future services — state practice and case law, not Rule 1.5 or Rule 1.15.

Judicial Conduct · 2–8%

• CJC Rule 2.11 disqualification is self-executing — no motion — and any one of the six grounds triggers recusal.
• TRAP. Reporting is tiered: suspicion triggers nothing; substantial likelihood requires appropriate action; actual knowledge of a fitness-level violation requires a report.

Duties to the Public · 2–4%

• Rule 6.1's 50 hours a year is aspirational; Rule 6.2 requires accepting appointments absent concrete good cause; Rule 6.5 relaxes conflict checking only, and a known conflict disqualifies.

The eight things to say back

• Rule 8.3 — knowledge plus a fitness question.
• The RAMS gate — U.S.-admitted, not disbarred or suspended in any jurisdiction.
• Client decisions — SPATE + J.
• Rule 1.6(b)(1) — permissive, never mandatory.
• The RICI condition no signature waives — the C.
• False evidence — counsel, withdraw, disclose.
• An inadvertently sent document — notify the sender.
• Firm money in trust — bank service charges only.