Most people hope they never have to hire a lawyer, but every day,
lawyers help ordinary Americans navigate the ins and outs of the
laws that govern their lives. Almost all of us will cross paths
with a lawyer at some point—whether it’s to deal with a speeding
ticket or settle a dispute with a neighbor. And of course, lawyers
handle much weightier subjects, too, from murder trials to
corporate mergers to defending the US Constitution.
Such important issues require professionals who fully understand
today’s legal environment, which is why most state supreme courts
require lawyers to pass the bar exam.
Now a new bar exam is coming. The NextGen bar exam, which is set
to launch in July 2026, is designed to test the knowledge and
skills needed by today’s new attorneys. The new bar exam marks the
biggest change to the way lawyers are licensed in a generation. And
it comes at a time when the work lawyers do is more important—and
more challenging—than ever.
The NextGen bar exam is being developed by the National
Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE), a nonprofit organization that
currently develops bar exam content for 54 of 56 US states and
territories. The NextGen bar exam will replace the Multistate Bar
Examination, Multistate Essay Examination, and Multistate
Performance Test, which in many US jurisdictions are combined into
a single bar exam.
The new bar exam will test nine core areas of legal knowledge
and seven foundational lawyering skills. To choose which subjects
and skills to test, NCBE surveyed more than 14,000 attorneys across
the country to determine what newly licensed lawyers need to know
and be able to do.
Twenty states and one territory have already announced plans to
use the new exam, with Florida the most recent. Connecticut, Guam,
Maryland, Missouri, Oregon, and Washington will begin using the
NextGen exam in 2026; Arizona, Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, Nebraska,
New Mexico, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Vermont, and Wyoming will start in
2027; and Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, and Utah will make
the switch in 2028. And more states and territories are expected to
sign on in the next year.
The rigorous process NCBE is using to develop the NextGen bar
exam includes multiple phases of testing and statistical analysis.
These help make sure the new exam tests what it’s supposed to test
accurately and fairly. The same process is followed for many other
important exams, including those for medicine, dentistry, pharmacy,
engineering, accounting, and other licensed professions.
Questions for the NextGen bar exam are being written by law
professors and deans, practicing attorneys, and judges from
jurisdictions throughout the US.
Like the current bar exam, the NextGen bar exam will be
administered, and the written portions graded, by the individual US
jurisdictions. The exam will be given over one and a half days,
with six hours of testing time on day one and three hours on day
two. The current bar exam is typically administered in 12 hours
over two full days.
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About the National Conference of Bar Examiners
The National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE), headquartered
in Madison, Wisconsin, is a not-for-profit corporation founded in
1931. NCBE promotes fairness, integrity, and best practices in bar
admissions for the benefit and protection of the public, in pursuit
of its vision of a competent, ethical, and diverse legal
profession. Best known for developing bar exam content used by 54
US jurisdictions, NCBE serves admission authorities, courts, the
legal education community, and candidates by providing high-quality
assessment products, services, and research; character
investigations; and informational and educational resources and
programs. In 2026, NCBE will launch the next generation of the bar
examination, ensuring that the exam continues to test the
knowledge, skills, and abilities required for competent entry-level
legal practice in a changing profession. For more information,
visit the NCBE website at https://www.ncbex.org.
About the Next Generation of the Bar Exam
Set to debut in July 2026, the NextGen bar exam will test a
broad range of foundational lawyering skills, utilizing a focused
set of clearly identified fundamental legal concepts and principles
needed in today’s practice of law. The skills and concepts to be
tested were developed through a multi-year, nationwide legal
practice analysis, focused on the most important knowledge and
skills for newly licensed lawyers. Designed to balance the skills
and knowledge needed in litigation and transactional legal
practice, the exam will reflect many of the key changes that law
schools are making today. NCBE is committed to ensuring a
systematic, transparent, and collaborative implementation process,
informed by input from and participation by stakeholders, and
guided by best practices and the professional standards for
high-stakes testing. For more information, visit
https://nextgenbarexam.ncbex.org/ or
https://www.ncbex.org/exams/nextgen.
- NextGen Bar Exam Adoption as of July 18, 2024
- NextGen and NCBE Logos
NCBE Media Contact
National Conference of Bar Examiners
communications@ncbex.org