Preliminary Multistate Bar Review

PMBR stands for "Preliminary Multistate Bar Review," and it is a preparatory course for the Multistate Bar Examination (MBE). The MBE is the multiple-choice part of the bar examination in every state except Louisiana and Washington, testing six subjects: Torts, Criminal Law, Constitutional Law, Contracts (including Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code dealing with the sale of goods), Property and Evidence. PMBR's courses consist of a six day and three day program. The courses provide oral and written instructional materials addressing the substantive law tested on the MBE, test-taking strategies, and practice MBE questions.

PMBR claims that the bar passage rate is higher for students who supplement with PMBR than for students who take only a general bar prep class.

As reported by the Legal Intelligencer, [ [http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1156511800192 Law.com: "Bar Prep Co. Ordered to Pay $11.9M for Copying Multistate Exam Questions"] ] PMBR was ordered to pay $11.9 million to the National Conference of Bar Examiners for copyright infringement involving 113 practice questions. The infringement involved copying of Multistate Bar Exam questions for use in the PMBR prep course. The court also found that PMBR failed to provide students with the correct answer to some questions. "See NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF BAR EXAMINERS v. MULTISTATE LEGAL STUDIES, INC.", 458 F. Supp. 2d 252 (E.D.Pa. August 22, 2006).

In October, 2006, PMBR was acquired by Kaplan, Inc., a subsidiary of The Washington Post Company. [ [http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20061020005156&newsLang=en Business Wire: "Kaplan Acquires PMBR"] ]

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