Is Erie Doctrine Still Tested on the Legacy UBE?

One of my former students recently asked a great question that I suspect many Legacy UBE examinees have been wondering:

I know that Choice of Law is no longer tested on the Legacy UBE beginning with the July 2026 exam. Does that also mean Erie doctrine is gone? The NCBE outline lists Erie under Conflict of Laws, but [my bar review course] still teaches it in Civil Procedure. Should I keep studying it?

My answer is an emphatic "YES." I would absolutely continue studying Erie doctrine.

It's understandable why students are confused. Beginning with the July 2026 Legacy UBE, Conflict of Laws is no longer a standalone MEE subject (along with Family Law, Secured Transactions, Trusts, and Wills). Naturally, many students are looking for opportunities to narrow their study and eliminate topics that are no longer fair game.

But the Erie doctrine occupies a unique place.

Although you'll often see Erie discussed in Conflict of Laws materials, its true home is Civil Procedure. At its core, Erie answers a Civil Procedure question: What law should a federal court apply when it is exercising diversity jurisdiction? Specifically, when should a federal court apply state law, and when should it apply federal law? That's not simply a conflicts issue; it's one of the foundational questions governing how federal courts operate.

The NCBE's own subject matter outlines support this conclusion. If you look at the published Civil Procedure outlines for both the MBE and the MEE, they continue to include a section entitled "Law Applied by Federal Courts," with subsections covering "State Law in Federal Court" and "Federal Common Law." Those topics encompass Erie and its related principles. In other words, even though Conflict of Laws has disappeared as a standalone essay subject, the NCBE has never removed Erie from the Civil Procedure framework.

The NCBE's prior testing history points in the same direction. For example, the July 2019 MEE tested Erie principles, but the NCBE did not classify that question as a Civil Procedure/Conflict of Laws essay. Instead, it categorized the question as a Civil Procedure/Constitutional Law essay. That classification reinforces the idea that Erie is viewed primarily as a Civil Procedure doctrine, even though it has conceptual ties to Conflict of Laws.

So What Should You Study?

I would continue to know the Erie framework well enough to analyze a typical exam question. You should understand the distinction between substantive and procedural law, recognize that federal courts sitting in diversity generally apply state substantive law and federal procedural law, and be prepared to work through the analysis when there is uncertainty about whether a particular rule is substantive or procedural.

On the other hand, I would de-emphasize the traditional Choice of Law doctrines that were tested when Conflict of Laws existed as its own MEE subject. That includes approaches such as the vested rights theory, the most significant relationship test, and the government interest analysis.

The bottom line is this: Don't let the elimination of Conflict of Laws cause you to eliminate Erie from your outline.