Performance tasks
A Real File Based on Real Cases for Real Practice
The performance task does not test what you memorized — it tests whether you can build a usable work product from materials you have never seen. That only improves by doing it.
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Step 1 · Answered
This is a real Contracts question from our bank
Riverside Hospital sent MedPro Supplies a signed purchase order for 5,000 disposable surgical gowns. The order said nothing about indemnity or dispute resolution. MedPro mailed back its standard confirmation, repeating quantity and price but adding an indemnity clause and a requirement that disputes be arbitrated. Both are merchants. MedPro delivered the gowns, Riverside paid, and the gowns were used. Riverside later claimed a shipment was defective and filed suit in court. MedPro demanded arbitration under its confirmation form.
In Riverside's lawsuit, is a court likely to require Riverside to arbitrate its dispute with MedPro based on the arbitration clause in MedPro's confirmation form?
- AYes, because arbitration clauses are always enforceable to promote efficient dispute resolution.
- BYes, because additional written terms automatically become part of every sale-of-goods contract.
- CNo, because Riverside's purchase order expressly rejected all additional boilerplate terms.
- DNo, because the arbitration clause is an additional term that may materially alter.
Correct · D
D is correct. This transaction is a sale of goods between merchants, so the battle of the forms rules apply. Riverside's signed purchase order was the offer. MedPro's confirmation was a definite expression of acceptance. It repeated the dickered terms but added indemnity and arbitration provisions. Those are "additional terms," not part of the original offer. Between merchants, additional terms can become part of the contract only if certain conditions are met. One key limitation is that an additional term will not be incorporated if it would materially alter the contract. Clauses that change how disputes are resolved, such as mandatory arbitration provisions and broad indemnity requirements, often have significant practical and legal consequences. Courts frequently treat them as material alterations because they surprise or substantially shift risk. Here, the parties formed a contract for gowns based on the matching terms of the order and confirmation, and they performed under that contract. The arbitration clause was only a proposal for an added term. Because it is the kind of term that may materially alter the bargain, a court is unlikely to treat it as having silently become part of the contract. Riverside therefore cannot be compelled to arbitrate based solely on MedPro's boilerplate.
Rule tested
UCC § 2-207(2)
The additional terms are to be construed as proposals for addition to the contract. Between merchants such terms become part of the contract unless:
Related authority
UCC § 2-207(1)
A definite and seasonable expression of acceptance or a written confirmation which is sent within a reasonable time operates as an acceptance even though it states terms additional to or different from those offered or agreed upon, unless acceptance is expressly made conditional on assent to the additional or different terms.
UCC § 2-207(2)(b)
they materially alter it; or
UCC § 2-207(3)
Conduct by both parties which recognizes the existence of a contract is sufficient to establish a contract for sale although the writings of the parties do not otherwise establish a contract. In such case the terms of the particular contract consist of those terms on which the writings of the parties agree, together with any supplementary terms incorporated under any other provisions of this Act.
What you actually get
Every part of Performance Tasks, in detail.
See for yourself
Open a real task file.
A performance task hands you materials you have never seen and a deadline. Move through the case file and the library here, then look at how the finished work product is scored.
Open a real performance-task file
Move through the case file and library, then see how the work product is scored.
Performance Task · Brief
Persuasive brief
Other torts · Claims based on defamation and invasion of privacy, defenses, and constitutional limitations
Dr. Elena Vargas of EcoConsult LLC seeks representation against Citizens for Clean Groundwater and the Middleburg Gazette. On May 12, 2026, the coalition distributed leaflets at a town meeting accusing Dr. Vargas of falsifying groundwater tests for the Apex Landfill project and concealing 2018 EPA sanctions that suspended her license.… Prepare a persuasive brief analyzing liability under Franklin authorities. Apply Restatement (Second) of Torts §§ 558 and 559 to determine whether the statements constitute false and defamatory communications, whether unprivileged publication occurred through leaflets, speech, ar…
- Focus only on defamation under §§ 558 and 559 and related false-light privacy issues
- Do not address other privacy torts or affirmative defenses
Memorandum to Examinee
Memorandum · May 20, 2026 · Dana Carraway → Examinee
Memorandum Buckman & Carraway Attorneys at Law 240 West End Highway Middleburg, Franklin 33905 To: Examinee From: Dana Carraway Date: May 20, 2026 Re: Vargas v. Citizens for Clean Groundwater and Middleburg Gazette Dr. Elena Vargas, an environmental scientist at EcoConsult LLC, seeks our representation in a defamation and invasion of privacy action. The defendants are the citizen group Citizens for Clean Groundwater and the Middleburg Gazette. On May 12, 2026, the group distributed leaflets at a town meeting accusing Dr. Vargas of falsifying groundwater test results for the Apex Landfill project and concealing 2018 EPA sanctions that suspended her license for six months. On May 18, 2026, group leader Martin Hale repeated these claims in a public speech. The Gazette published an article on June 1, 2026, repeating the accusations. The group's website also posted cropped intimate photographs taken from Dr. Vargas's personal social media account, presented without context to suggest professional impropriety. Dr. Vargas denies any falsification or sanctions. […]
Model answer
The Statements Are False and Defamatory Communications
Rule
- Restatement (Second) of Torts § 559 defines a defamatory communication as one tending to harm reputation by lowering estimation in the community or deterring association.
- Section 558(a) requires a false and defamatory statement concerning another as the first element of defamation liability.
Application
- Flyers accused Dr. Vargas of falsifying Apex tests and concealing 2018 EPA sanctions; transcript and article repeated identical claims; Henderson and Rivera confirm such professional-misconduct accusations qualify as defamatory per se.
- Dr. Vargas denies falsification or sanctions; case file establishes statements are false; Mendez holds similar accusations lower professional reputation.
Conclusion
- All publications satisfy the false-and-defamatory element under §§ 558(a) and 559.
Defendants Made Unprivileged Publications to Third Parties
Rule
- Restatement § 558(b) requires an unprivileged publication to a third party; § 577 defines publication as intentional or negligent communication to one other than the defamed and treats each repetition as a separate publication.
Application
- Leaflets distributed at town meeting reached attendees; Hale speech at May 18 meeting communicated to audience; Gazette article reached subscribers; website posts reached online viewers; Rivera and Mendez hold each medium constitutes separate publication.
- No privilege applies; defendants intentionally disseminated to third parties.
Conclusion
- Multiple unprivileged publications to third parties occurred via leaflets, speech, article, and website.
Defendants Acted with Fault Amounting at Least to Negligence
Rule
- Restatement § 558(c) requires fault at least amounting to negligence on the part of the publisher.
Application
- Coalition failed to verify public records before accusing Vargas of sanctions; Gazette published without contacting Vargas or checking licensing records; Henderson and Rivera hold failure to verify readily available information satisfies negligence.
- Mendez confirms negligence when coalition made no reasonable inquiry before publication.
Conclusion
- Defendants acted with at least negligence.
Statements Are Actionable Irrespective of Special Harm
Rule
- Restatement § 558(d) requires either actionability irrespective of special harm or existence of special harm; professional-misconduct statements are typically actionable per se.
Application
- Accusations of falsifying tests and concealing sanctions impute professional dishonesty; Henderson and Rivera hold such statements actionable without special harm.
- No proof of special damages needed.
Conclusion
- Statements are actionable per se under § 558(d).
Multiple Publications Create Separate Liabilities
Rule
- Section 577(2)–(3) provides each repetition constitutes a separate publication and one who repeats is liable as if originating the statement.
Application
- Leaflets, Hale speech, Gazette article, and website posts each repeat the core accusations; Rivera explicitly treats each as an independent cause of action.
Conclusion
- Four separate publications support independent defamation claims.
Out-of-Context Photographs Support False-Light Privacy Liability
Rule
- Mendez recognizes that posting cropped personal photographs without context alongside defamatory text raises false-light invasion-of-privacy claims independent of defamation.
Application
- Website displayed cropped beach and party photos from Vargas's personal Instagram with text implying professional impropriety; Rivera notes such photographs raise separate false-light concerns; Mendez reverses summary judgment on identical facts.
Conclusion
- Privacy claim is independently viable.
Conclusion: Liability Established on All Elements
- Every element of Restatement §§ 558 and 559 is satisfied by the leaflets, speech, article, and website; photographs add false-light liability; Henderson, Rivera, and Mendez compel denial of any dispositive motion and support proceeding to trial.
The materials
The complete file and library, the way the real task gives it to you.
Memos, letters, transcripts, and forms sit in the case file; statutes, cases, and rules sit in the library. Nothing is pre-digested — the work is deciding what matters, which is the entire skill being tested.
What you are handed
- A Case File tab of documents with their senders, recipients, and dates
- A Library tab of authorities with citations and jurisdiction
- The assigning memo with your actual instructions
- No hints about which documents are the useful ones
The rubric
Scored on the examiners' own six lawyering skills.
Our rubric is the National Conference of Bar Examiners' six fundamental lawyering skills, broken into all twenty-four subpoints, each scored individually. We did not invent a grading scheme — we used the published one your graders use.
The six skills, twenty-four subpoints
- Problem solving
- Legal analysis and reasoning
- Factual analysis
- Communication
- Organization and management of a legal task
- Recognizing and resolving ethical dilemmas
Work product
Every format a task can ask you to draft.
The instruction is not always "write a memo." Tasks here ask for the range of documents real performance tasks demand, each with its own conventions and its own audience.
Formats you will draft
- Objective memorandum
- Persuasive brief
- Client letter
- Settlement agreement
- Contract review
- Selected-response components
…and more, tracked the same way.
Task types
Single tasks and multi-part component tasks.
Practice the traditional one-document task and the component-based format, where a single file produces several smaller deliverables with their own answer formats. Both appear on real exams; only one of them surprises people.
The workspace
Read, highlight, and draft in one place — autosaved.
Highlight across the case file and the library while you build the outline in your head, keep the materials beside your draft or above it, and let the draft save itself. Your highlights persist, so a second pass starts where the first one ended.
The score
Score it yourself, or have it scored against all twenty-four subpoints.
Submit for a subpoint-by-subpoint score, or self-grade against the same rubric when you want to train your own judgment about what a grader is looking for. Both paths use the identical checklist.
On exam day
In a full sitting, the task comes after everything else.
Performance tasks are where stamina shows. Practice exams place them in their real slot so you find out how your writing holds up late in the day, not just when you are fresh.
Progress
Completed tasks stay on your record.
Each task appears in your activity summary and your session log with its score, linked back to the document you wrote, so a semester of work is reviewable instead of forgotten.
Common questions
Performance Tasks, answered
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How is the MPT scored?
Can I try a performance task for free?
What kinds of documents will I have to draft?
Why trust this
How Performance Tasks holds up
- Scored on the NCBE's six fundamental lawyering skills, all twenty-four subpoints.
- That rubric is published by the NCBE and derived from the ABA's MacCrate Report — not invented here.
- Case files and libraries are built to the real performance-task format.
- Used by law students at schools across the country
- Used by candidates preparing for the bar exam
- Used by attorneys who studied with it before admission
- Recommended by practicing attorneys
We do not publish score or pass-rate claims. We have not run an outcomes study, and we will not imply results we have not measured.
Pairs with
Socrates
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Practice Exams
Full timed sittings across multiple choice, essays, and performance tasks.
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Timed analysis essays scored against a rubric, with a model answer and targeted feedback.
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