How Is Florida Professional Responsibility Tested on the Bar Exam?

Professional Responsibility is one of the most predictable — and therefore most learnable — areas on the Florida Bar Exam.

The duties are defined. The violations follow patterns.

Florida rarely serves it as a standalone essay.

Think of it this way: when you see icing on the cake — the attorney in the fact pattern — you should expect sprinkles, meaning ethics issues.

If a lawyer appears, Professional Responsibility is likely part of the analysis.

What Data Shows 

Trends (2015-2025)

Over the past ten years, Professional Responsibility has appeared in some form in essentially every administration of the Florida Bar Exam, often embedded within another substantive subject rather than tested in isolation. 

Professional Responsibility has appeared within:

• Real Property
• Florida Constitutional Law
• Criminal Law & Criminal Procedure
• Family Law
• Trusts
• Contracts
• Torts

When we categorize the issues, conflicts of interest dominate — appearing in roughly 40% of PR-tested essays over the decade. Fee and contingency-fee issues follow closely behind at about 25–30%, with referral-fee divisions, third-party payment concerns, and professionalism/civility issues each showing up with meaningful regularity. 

If you are studying Florida essays and you are not comfortable with former-client conflicts, concurrent conflicts, imputation/screening, and contingency-fee compliance, you are statistically underprepared. These are not fringe topics — they are recurring structural pillars of the exam.

What Changed Over Time? 

Looking specifically at the last five years, however, the pattern has subtly shifted. Conflicts remain the most tested category (now appearing in more than half of recent administrations), but the framing has become more layered and policy-driven. Rather than clean “substantially related” analyses, recent exams increasingly combine conflict rules with independence concerns, third-party payment control, or government-lawyer dynamics. At the same time, traditional mechanics like referral-fee splits and trust-account violations appear less frequently than they did earlier in the decade. 

The modern trend suggests the Board is emphasizing professional judgment, independence, and civility in litigation — not just rule recitation. The takeaway: know the black-letter rules, but be prepared to apply them in nuanced, real-world ethical tensions.

The Professional Responsibility Issues Florida Repeats

Certain themes appear again and again.

Conflicts of Interest (The Most Tested Category)

Over the last decade, conflicts are the single most repeated PR issue.

Classic setups include:

• Representing a new client adverse to a former client
• Simultaneous representation creating a material limitation
• Imputation to the firm and screening questions
• Representing co-defendants whose interests may diverge
• Acquiring a personal or financial interest in the client’s matter
• Government lawyers switching roles

Examinees miss these because they are busy analyzing the substantive issue. But conflict analysis requires its own structure: issue, rule, application, informed consent, conclusion, and whether the conflict is waivable.

If you see overlapping representation, take notice and address it. 

Fee & Contingency Problems

Florida repeatedly tests fee mechanics — especially contingency compliance.

Look for:

• 50% contingency fees
• Domestic relations contingency prohibitions
• Criminal contingency prohibitions
• Failure to include required written terms
• Three-day rescission rights
• Nonrefundable flat-fee compliance
• Advancing litigation costs vs. impermissible financial assistance

In the last five years, these issues have often been paired with fairness concerns or client withdrawal scenarios.

Know the percentages. Know the writing requirements. Know what is prohibited outright.

Third-Party Payment & Independence

This category has become more prominent in recent years.

Watch for:

• Parents paying for a child’s representation
• Donors funding criminal defense
• Employers paying legal fees
• Payment conditioned on disclosure or litigation control

The rule is not just “is it allowed?”
The real question is: Does it interfere with the lawyer’s independent professional judgment?

This is a modern testing trend.

Trust Accounts & Handling Client Funds

If money is involved, slow your roll.

Look for:

• Unearned fees deposited improperly
• Commingling
• Failure to promptly distribute settlement funds
• Using client money for firm purposes

This has appeared multiple times over the decade, though slightly less frequently in recent administrations. Still, when tested, it is straightforward and highly rule-driven.

Professionalism, Civility & Litigation Conduct

Florida increasingly embeds professionalism into essays.

Watch for:

• Frivolous filings
• Harassment or delay tactics
• Threatening letters
• Client-directed misconduct
• Improper ex parte communications
• Attempts to influence judges
• Failure to convey plea offers (criminal competence context)

This category has grown in prominence in the last five years.

The examiners are not just testing rules. They are testing judgment.

Advertising & Solicitation

Red flags include:

• Direct contact with accident victims within 30 days
• Misleading claims about experience
• Guarantees of results
• Improper accident solicitation
• Misleading fee representations

Florida’s advertising and solicitation rules are stricter than many students assume — and accident solicitation appears periodically.

When You See Icing, Think RAINBOW Sprinkles

When the attorney appears in the fact pattern, run this scan.

R – Referral Fees & Fee Splits
(Improper division of fees; no work performed; lack of written client consent; contingency limits in domestic or criminal matters; lack of joint responsibility requirement; 75% personal injury primary attorney rule)

A – Advertising & Solicitation
(Targeted contact after accidents; improper guarantees; misleading claims; noncompliant marketing practices)

I – Imputed Conflicts
(Former-client conflicts; dual representation; government lawyer switching sides; conflicts imputed to the firm)

N – Non-Disclosure / Confidentiality
(Duty of confidentiality; exceptions; mandatory reporting; tension between client loyalty and public duties)

B – Bank (Trust) Accounts
(Commingling; escrow misuse; settlement proceeds not distributed; borrowing client funds)

O – Obligations to the Tribunal
(Candor to the court; prosecutorial disclosure duties; ex parte contact; correcting false testimony; failure to convey plea offers (duty of communication))

W – Withdrawal / Wrongful Conduct
(Frivolous filings; assisting client crime; competence issues; improper representation limits; Statute of limitations diligence issues)

Where Professional Responsibility Has Appeared on Prior Florida Essays (2015–2025)

Professional Responsibility appeared in every administration between 2015 and 2025 in some embedded form.

The table below is a comprehensive list of FL essays from 2015-2025 that included a Professional Responsibility component. As the data reflects, these issues are consistently embedded within other substantive subjects rather than tested in isolation.