Legal Writing Exercises

Scope

This file explains how legal writing and drafting is tested on the NextGen UBE — the exam NCBE will administer nationally from July 2026 onward, which New Jersey will adopt in July 2028 [S1][S3][S7] — covering NCBE's definition of legal writing as a foundational lawyering skill, the specific drafting and editing tasks in NCBE's Content Scope Outlines [S2], how writing appears in the exam's question formats (drafting-style integrated question sets and performance tasks, including the released sample performance task In re Johnston) [S3][S4][S5][S6], how written responses are graded [S3], and New Jersey's adoption timeline [S7]. It does not cover law-school legal writing instruction, NJ-specific citation or motion-practice conventions, or the legacy UBE's MPT/MEE formats except for contrast; those are covered in the module's sibling topics.

Legal Explanation

Legal writing as a published foundational skill (NCBE/national). NCBE lists "legal writing" among the exam's seven foundational lawyering skills on its About the NextGen UBE page, alongside legal research, issue spotting and analysis, investigation and evaluation, client counseling and advising, negotiation and dispute resolution, and client relationship and management [S1]. The NextGen UBE Blueprint (prepared June 2, 2025, covering the July 2026 and February 2027 administrations) lists the same seven skills and states that, from July 2026 through February 2028, the exam will test these Foundational Skills together with eight Foundational Concepts and Principles (business associations, civil procedure, constitutional law, contract law, criminal law, evidence, real property, and torts) [S3]. NCBE's Content Scope Outlines (dated August 1, 2025) give the skill its formal exam name — "Legal Writing and Drafting" — and organize the Foundational Skills into four groups, with Legal Writing and Drafting as its own group (Group D) [S2]. The stated purpose of Group D "is to assess the extent to which an examinee can complete a legal writing or drafting task based on the relevant rules and standards and consistent with a client's objectives, interests, and constraints" [S2]. The Content Scope also provides that any task may assess skills from any group, and that other areas of legal knowledge may appear as context for testing Foundational Skills, with examinees "not expected or required to develop a base of knowledge in those areas" because the relevant legal resources are provided [S2].

What the writing tasks actually ask (NCBE/national). The Content Scope Outlines define each Foundational Skill through a numbered list of tasks, and the tasks most closely aligned with Group D (Legal Writing and Drafting) are tasks 23 through 28 [S2]. They are: drafting or editing correspondence to a client explaining the legal implications of a course of action, updating the client on the status of a matter, and/or advising on next steps (task 23); given draft sections of a complaint or an answer to a complaint, identifying language that should be changed and suggesting how it should change, consistent with the facts, the law, and the client's objectives, interests, and constraints (task 24); given draft sections of affidavits, identifying the best affiant and best language to support each element to be proved (task 25); given draft provisions of a contract or other legal document, identifying language that should be changed, explaining why, and suggesting how (task 26); given a collection of legal sources, drafting specified section(s) of a document — "such as a memo, a persuasive brief or letter, or another common document" — demonstrating skill at formulating an original legal analysis (task 27); and drafting or revising discovery documents (task 28) [S2]. Two features stand out. First, the writing tasks are audience- and document-aware: correspondence to clients, court filings, contracts, and memoranda are each called out as distinct products [S2]. Second, the editing tasks (24–26) test revision judgment — spotting language that is unsupported by the facts, the law, or the client's objectives, and proposing better language — rather than free-form composition only [S2]. Because the exam provides the legal resources needed for skills questions outside the Foundational Concepts and Principles [S1][S2], these writing tasks are exercises in working with a closed packet of facts and law, not in recalling doctrine from memory [S2].

How writing appears in the question formats (NCBE/national). NCBE describes three categories of question types on the NextGen UBE — standalone multiple-choice questions (49% of the total score), integrated question sets (21%), and performance tasks (30%) — administered as three three-hour sections over one and a half days [S3]. Legal writing appears in two of the three formats. First, integrated question sets (IQS) come in two formats: "drafting sets," which contain medium-answer questions, and "counseling sets," which contain multiple-choice and short-answer questions; there are two sets per section and six sets total, with an expected time of approximately 24 minutes per set [S3]. NCBE's sample-questions page for integrated question sets states that, in addition to testing doctrinal law, "some integrated question sets will be focused on drafting or editing a legal document; other sets will be focused on counseling and/or dispute resolution" [S6]. Second, performance tasks come in two formats: standard performance tasks (PTs), which "focus on written legal-analysis skills and consist of one extended writing assignment," and legal research performance tasks (LRPTs), which combine several multiple-choice and short-answer questions with a medium-length writing assignment [S4]. There is one performance task per section, three per exam, with an expected time of approximately one hour each; every PT provides a file presenting the relevant case facts and a library presenting the legal sources needed to respond to the writing assignment [S3][S4]. NCBE's performance-task materials state that the written product "may be a portion of a memo, brief, or other common legal document" [S4].

*The released sample standard PT — In re Johnston* (NCBE/national).** NCBE has published one sample standard performance task on its website, with a stated completion time of approximately 60 minutes (checked 2026-08-20) [S5]. The matter is a will contest: Laila Johnston wants to contest the handwritten will of her late mother, Michelle Johnston, who left all her property to a neighbor [S5]. The file contains the memorandum to examinee, office guidelines for drafting objective memoranda, an excerpted transcript of the interview with Laila Johnston, an affidavit of the will's witness, and a copy of the handwritten will; the library contains excerpts of the (fictional) Franklin Probate Code and two decisions of the (fictional) Franklin courts — Thomas v. Anderson (Franklin Court of Appeal, 2007) and Ramirez v. Ramirez (Franklin Court of Appeal, 2020) [S5]. The assignment asks the examinee to draft an objective memorandum analyzing whether a court would likely find an "insane delusion" and whether there is sufficient evidence of undue influence on two specified elements, and the firm's office guidelines direct the examinee to include only the Discussion section of the memorandum [S5]. NCBE also links a "Standard Performance Task Sample Scoring Guide" for the item and states that the sample questions are protected by US copyright law [S5]. The cases inside the sample belong to NCBE's fictional "Franklin" jurisdiction and are not real cases [S5]. For contrast, NCBE's sample LRPT (the Jane Smith matter) demonstrates the writing component inside the research task type: a medium-length writing assignment that follows the LRPT's multiple-choice and short-answer research questions [S8][S4].

The released sample drafting IQS (NCBE/national). NCBE's sample integrated question sets page presents two sets, and the first — "Integrated Question Set 1 – Flooded Apartment" — is a drafting set: the examinee plays a solo practitioner who must review a law clerk's first draft of a complaint in a contract dispute, ensure "that all the language in the draft is factually and legally supported," and comply with the fictional Franklin Rule of Civil Procedure 10(b) [S6]. Its writing question asks the examinee to identify four distinct paragraphs of the draft complaint that are inconsistent with the facts, the law, or the client's known objectives, interests, and constraints, and to explain each inconsistency [S6]. This mirrors Content Scope task 24 (revising draft sections of a complaint) [S2][S6].

Grading (NCBE/national). Official NextGen UBE scores are reported as a single number on a scale from 500 to 750, with each jurisdiction setting its own passing score within that range [S3]. Written responses — the integrated question sets and performance tasks — are graded by jurisdiction-appointed graders on a common grading platform using detailed, uniform grading rubrics provided by NCBE, with grader training provided by NCBE and responses dual graded with grade reconciliation [S3]. Partial credit is available for select-two multiple-choice, short-answer, medium-answer, and longer-answer responses [S3]. Within the score, standalone multiple-choice questions make up 49%, integrated question sets 21%, and performance tasks 30% of the total exam score [S3].

New Jersey context (NJ-specific). New Jersey adopted the NextGen UBE by Supreme Court notice dated November 17, 2025, with the first New Jersey administration in July 2028 [S7]. The notice announces no NJ-specific legal-writing design; the legal writing and drafting skill, the drafting-style integrated question sets, and the performance task formats are part of the national NextGen UBE design that New Jersey adopted [S7]. Everything above about how writing is defined, tested, and graded is NCBE/national and applies to New Jersey candidates sitting for the NextGen UBE; NJ-specific citation rules, motion formats, and local practice conventions are not tested as such on this national exam [S7].

How to prepare (editorial; beyond NCBE's published guidance). Three practical points follow from the official materials, none of which NCBE states in so many words. First, practice the closed-universe mindset: every writing task comes with a file of facts and a library of law, so the skill tested is disciplined use of the packet — arguing from the provided sources, not from memory of doctrine [S2][S5]. Second, treat the released samples as ground truth for the format: In re Johnston shows the standard PT (one extended writing assignment, Discussion-section-only objective memo following firm guidelines, ~60 minutes) [S5], the Jane Smith LRPT shows the medium-length writing assignment that follows research questions [S8][S4], and the Flooded Apartment set shows the drafting-IQS format (fixing a draft complaint against the facts, the law, and the client's objectives) [S6]. Third, when a document in the file comes with its own guidelines — like the Office Guidelines for Drafting Objective Memoranda in In re Johnston — the guidelines are part of the task and the response must follow them [S5]. NCBE itself recommends starting with its free sample questions and free exam software preview, and notes that official NextGen UBE study aids are available on the real exam software [S1].

Currency note. NextGen exam details are still evolving. Every claim in this file was checked against the cited NCBE and New Jersey Courts pages on August 20, 2026, and reflects those pages as of that date [S1][S2][S3][S4][S5][S6][S7][S8].

ELI-10: Explain It Like I'm 10

[HYPOTHETICAL — NOT A REAL CASE] At Oakwood Elementary, the Science Fair Committee keeps the official Record Book, and joining it is the best job in school. Each week the committee chair, Ms. Rivera, hands a volunteer a sealed envelope with two folders. The red folder holds the true facts of a class project — say, the fourth-graders' class pet hamster, plus a note from the student who watched it, and a witness statement from the janitor who saw the cage door open. The blue folder holds the school's fair rulebook, with the pages about "what counts as a completed project" and the rules about who is responsible when a project goes wrong. The volunteer's job is to write the official Record Book entry: one page explaining, using only the red and blue folders, whether the fourth-graders' project qualifies for the fair and who is responsible for the missing hamster. The entry must follow Ms. Rivera's exact format sheet — the same headings every year, no extra sections, no made-up rules. Some volunteers get a different job: a classmate has already written the entry, and they must find the sentences that don't match the red folder's facts or the blue folder's rules, and write how to fix each one. Either way, the best entry is not the longest or the fanciest — it is the one that sticks to the facts, follows the format sheet, and says exactly what the rulebook says, nothing more. At the end of the week, Ms. Rivera grades the entries with the school's official checklist, and every entry is checked twice by two different teachers so nobody's favorite student gets an unfair boost.

Translating back to the real rule: the sealed envelope is the NextGen UBE performance task or integrated question set, which NCBE says provides a file of case facts and a library of the legal sources the examinee needs [S3][S4]; the red folder is the file and the blue folder is the library [S4][S5]; the format sheet is the firm's office guidelines that arrive with the task — like the Office Guidelines for Drafting Objective Memoranda in NCBE's sample In re Johnston task, which tell the examinee to include only the Discussion section [S5]; "write the entry" is the extended writing assignment of a standard PT, which NCBE says may be "a portion of a memo, brief, or other common legal document" [S4]; "fix the classmate's sentences" is the drafting-set format of integrated question sets and Content Scope task 24, revising draft language so it is consistent with the facts, the law, and the client's objectives [S6][S2]; "no made-up rules" reflects NCBE's closed-universe design, where the resources you need are provided and outside doctrine is not a knowledge requirement [S1][S2]; and the two teachers with the official checklist are NCBE's description of written responses graded by jurisdiction-appointed graders using NCBE-provided rubrics, with responses dual graded [S3]. The Science Fair committee is the legal writing and drafting skill itself, which NCBE says is assessed on the exam through writing and drafting tasks [S2] — and for New Jersey's students of the bar, the first such fair under the new exam is July 2028 [S7].

Real Case Reference (if applicable)

No published judicial decision addresses how the NextGen UBE tests legal writing, or the design of its performance tasks and integrated question sets — the skill and item types are defined by exam specifications, not by litigated doctrine. The governing authority is NCBE's official exam materials: the Content Scope Outlines, which define the "Legal Writing and Drafting" skill (Group D) and its tasks 23–28 [S2]; the NextGen UBE Blueprint, which sets the exam structure, question-type formats, and grading design [S3]; NCBE's About Performance Tasks and sample question pages, which describe and illustrate the writing formats [S4][S6]; and the released sample standard PT In re Johnston [S5]. For New Jersey, the governing action is the New Jersey Supreme Court's November 17, 2025 notice adopting the NextGen UBE with a first administration in July 2028 [S7]. The cases cited inside NCBE's sample materials — Thomas v. Anderson (Franklin Court of Appeal, 2007) and Ramirez v. Ramirez (Franklin Court of Appeal, 2020) in the In re Johnston sample, and the Franklin decisions in the Jane Smith LRPT — are part of the samples' fictional "Franklin" jurisdiction and are not real cases [S5][S8].

Key Takeaways

• Legal writing is one of the seven foundational lawyering skills NCBE lists for the NextGen UBE, formally named "Legal Writing and Drafting" in the Content Scope Outlines and assessed as its own group (Group D): "the extent to which an examinee can complete a legal writing or drafting task based on the relevant rules and standards and consistent with a client's objectives, interests, and constraints" (NCBE/national) [S1][S2][S3].
• NCBE's writing tasks run from drafting client correspondence and specified sections of memoranda, briefs, or letters, to revising draft complaints, answers, affidavits, contract provisions, and discovery documents — all consistent with the facts, the law, and the client's objectives (NCBE/national) [S2].
• Writing is tested in two formats: drafting-style integrated question sets, which contain medium-answer questions and may be "focused on drafting or editing a legal document" (21% of the score), and performance tasks — standard PTs with one extended writing assignment and LRPTs with a medium-length writing assignment after research questions (30% of the score) (NCBE/national) [S3][S4][S6].
• NCBE's sample standard PT (In re Johnston) shows the format: a file with facts and firm guidelines, a library with the needed law, and one extended assignment — an objective memorandum, Discussion section only — in approximately 60 minutes; the sample's cases are fictional "Franklin" decisions, not real cases (NCBE/national) [S5].
• Written responses are graded by jurisdiction-appointed graders on a common platform using NCBE-provided uniform rubrics, with dual grading; scores report on a 500–750 scale with each jurisdiction setting its own passing score (NCBE/national) [S3].
• New Jersey-specific: first NextGen UBE administration in July 2028 by Supreme Court notice dated November 17, 2025; no NJ-specific legal-writing design was announced, and the skill tested is the national one [S7].

Sources

• [S1] National Conference of Bar Examiners, "About the NextGen UBE," https://www.ncbex.org/exams/nextgen/about-nextgen (verified 2026-08-20).
• [S2] National Conference of Bar Examiners, "NextGen UBE Content Scope Outlines, July 2026–February 2027" (PDF, Aug. 1, 2025), https://www.ncbex.org/sites/default/files/2025-07/NCBE%20NextGen%20UBE%20Content%20Scope-Aug%202025.pdf (verified 2026-08-20).
• [S3] National Conference of Bar Examiners, "NextGen UBE Blueprint, July 2026–February 2027" (PDF, prepared June 2, 2025), https://www.ncbex.org/sites/default/files/2025-07/NCBE-NextGen-UBE-Blueprint_5.pdf (verified 2026-08-20).
• [S4] National Conference of Bar Examiners, "About Performance Tasks (NextGen UBE sample questions)," https://www.ncbex.org/exams/nextgen/sample-questions/performance-task (verified 2026-08-20).
• [S5] National Conference of Bar Examiners, "Sample NextGen UBE Standard Performance Task (In re Johnston matter)," https://www.ncbex.org/exams/nextgen/sample-questions/performance-task/sample-pt (verified 2026-08-20).
• [S6] National Conference of Bar Examiners, "Sample Integrated Question Sets (NextGen UBE sample questions)," https://www.ncbex.org/exams/nextgen/sample-questions/integrated-question-sets (verified 2026-08-20).
• [S7] New Jersey Courts, "Notice — Supreme Court Adopts the 'NextGen' Uniform Bar Examination — First Administration in July 2028" (Nov. 17, 2025), https://www.njcourts.gov/notices/notice-supreme-court-adopts-nextgen-uniform-bar-examination-first-administration-july-2028 (verified 2026-08-20).
• [S8] National Conference of Bar Examiners, "Sample NextGen UBE Legal Research Performance Task (Jane Smith matter)," https://www.ncbex.org/exams/nextgen/sample-questions/performance-task/sample-research-pt (verified 2026-08-20).

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