NextGen UBE: Foundational Skills ( Issue Spotting and Analysis, Investigation and Evaluation)

There are four categories of "foundational skills" that the NextGen UBE aims to test:

Group A: Issue Spotting and Analysis, Investigation, and Evaluation

Group B: Client Counseling and Advising, Negotiation and Dispute Resolution, Client Relationship and Management

Group C: Legal Research

Group D: Legal Writing and drafting 

This post will focus on Group A: According to the NCBE, the purpose of Group A is to assess the extent to which an examinee can apply fundamental legal principles and legal reasoning to analyze given fact patterns. The specific tasks that will be tested to measure this purpose are as follows: 

~Identify which legal concepts and principles are likely to affect the outcome of a matter based on the information provided.

~Identify which facts are likely to be relevant to or dispositive of a legal issue in a matter. 

~Identify the applicable standards of review and/or burdens of proof that will apply to legal issues in a matter.

~Identify the strengths and weakness's of a client's position or an opposing party's position based on the relevant legal rules and standards. 

~In a matter that requires additional factual development, identify which facts need to be investigated, or the best strategy for investigating or eliciting those facts, in order to be able to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of a client's position or an opposing party's position based on the relevant legal rules and standards. 

~Assess the probable outcome of a claim, motion, discovery matter, defense, or objection based on the relevant legal rules and standards.

~Identify the applicable or dispositive language, standards, elements, or factors of a provided resource (such as a statute, contract, or judicial opinion). 

The next post will focus on Group B!