Fall 2026
5342 Professional Writing Strategies - SWIFT- 18238
Professor(s):
Kenneth Swift (CLINICAL FACULTY [405(b)])
Credits: 3
Course Areas: Practice Skills - (Research and Writing)
Time: AsynchDistanceEd Location:
Course Outline: This course introduces students to the Multistate Performance Test (“MPT”), which is a component of the Texas bar examination and the Uniform Bar Exam (“UBE). Through this course students will actively employ the MPT skills through multiple assessments and exercises. Students will receive instructive as well as constructive feedback with regard to their individual MPT performance along with numerous strategies to attack the MPT. Students will also be given numerous opportunities to actively self-evaluate their performance to help leverage their ability to independently identify, address, and solve areas of opportunity to improve.
This course is recommended only for students who will be taking the Texas Bar exam prior to July 2028. In July 2028, the Texas Bar will change to the NextGen bar exam and the format of the MPT questions will change. If you are planning to take the bar exam in a jurisdiction other than Texas, you should determine if the jurisdiction will be giving the UBE or the NextGen bar exam.
Course Syllabus: Syllabus
Course Notes: (Asynchronous Online) The UH registration system instruction mode for this course is listed in parenthesis. Some student materials may not be available online, such as an assigned casebook. Any assessment for the course, such as a final examination or a mid-term exam, will be conducted without the need to physically come to the Law Center.
Quota=12.
Registration is open only to JD- 2L and 3L students. Other students may not register.
This course will be graded.
Prerequisites:
First Day Assignments:
Final Exam Schedule:
This course will have:
Exam:
Paper:
Satisfies Senior Upper Level Writing Requirement: No
Experiential Course Type: simulation
Bar Course: Supplemental
DistanceEd ABA: Yes
Pass-Fail Student Election: Unavailable (Instructor Preference)
Course Materials
Book(s) Required
Course Materials: 1. Richard C. Wydick and Amy E. Sloan, Plain English for Lawyers, Carolina Press 7th edition 2024, ISBN 978-1-5310-2349-2. (“Sloan”) 2. Alexa Z. Chew and Katie Rose Guest Pryal, The Complete Bar Writer, Carolina Press 2020, ISBN 978-1-5310-1787-3, EISBN 978-1-5310-1788-0 (“Chew”)
** Please note that this book (ISBN 978-1-5310-1787-3) comes with a subscription to Core Knowledge for Lawyers (www.coreknowledgeforlawyers.com ). Thus, you will need a new addition of the text.