About Performance Tasks
Performance tasks pose a question or series of questions about a single client matter. The examinee will have two kinds of materials with which to work: a File and a Library.
The specific task the examinee must complete will be described in a memorandum in the File. The File may also include interview transcripts, deposition transcripts, or other documents. Both relevant and irrelevant facts will be included, and facts may be ambiguous, incomplete, or even conflicting. Examinees are expected to recognize when facts are inconsistent or missing and to identify sources of additional facts when prompted to do so.
The Library may contain cases, statutes, or other rules, some of which may not be relevant to the assigned lawyering task. The examinee is expected to extract from the Library the legal principles necessary to analyze the problem and perform the task. Performance tasks do not assess memorized substantive law; the Library materials provide the substantive information needed to complete the task.
All performance tasks assess an examinee’s skills in legal research and written legal analysis (Groups A, C, and D of the Foundational Skills), but some performance tasks emphasize some skills over others. Performance tasks that focus on legal research skills will consist of a series of multiple-choice and short-answer questions followed by one medium-answer question. Performance tasks that focus on written legal-analysis skills will consist of one longer writing assignment.
Performance tasks may assess skills through subject areas that are partially or fully outside of the Foundational Concepts and Principles; however, when such an area is involved, the question will provide the resources the examinee needs to give a complete answer. For example, a performance task may include aspects of state Trusts and Estates law when assessing research and writing skills, but the Library will provide all Trusts and Estates law rules necessary to give a complete answer.
Each performance task should take approximately 60 minutes to complete. One performance task appears in each three-hour exam section. Performance tasks make up 30% of the total points available on the NextGen UBE.