In the United States, those seeking to become
lawyer
A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...
s must normally pass a
bar examination
A bar examination is an examination administered by the bar association of a jurisdiction that a lawyer must pass in order to be admitted to the bar of that jurisdiction.
Australia
Administering bar exams is the responsibility of the bar associa ...
before they can be
admitted to the bar
An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...
and become licensed to practice law. Bar exams are administered by states or territories, generally by agencies under the authority of
state supreme court
In the United States, a state supreme court (known by #Terminology, other names in some states) is the supreme court, highest court in the State court (United States), state judiciary of a U.S. state. On matters of State law (United States), st ...
s. Almost all states use some examination components created by the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE). Forty-one jurisdictions have adopted the Uniform Bar Examination (UBE), which is composed entirely of NCBE-created components.
In every U.S. jurisdiction except
Wisconsin
Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
, all those seeking admission to the bar must pass a state bar examination.
In Wisconsin, graduates of the
Juris Doctor
The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law
and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...
degree programs of the state's two
American Bar Association
The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of acad ...
-accredited law schoolsthe
University of Wisconsin Law School
The University of Wisconsin Law School is the professional graduate law school of the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Located in Madison, Wisconsin, the school was founded in 1868. The University of Wisconsin Law School is guided by a "law in ...
and
Marquette University Law School
Marquette University Law School is the professional graduate law school of Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is one of two law schools in Wisconsin and the only private law school in the state. Founded in 1892 as the Milwaukee Law ...
may be admitted to the Wisconsin bar by
diploma privilege
In the United States, the diploma privilege is a method for lawyers to be admitted to the bar (i.e. authorized to practice law) without taking a bar examination. Wisconsin is the only jurisdiction that currently allows diploma privilege as an alt ...
without taking a bar examination.
History
The first bar examination in what is now the United States was administered in oral form in the
Delaware Colony
Delaware Colony in the North American Middle Colonies consisted of land on the west bank of the Delaware River Bay. In the early 17th century the area was inhabited by Lenape and possibly the Assateague tribes of Native Americans. The first Eur ...
in 1783.
[California Bar Background information, accessed April 21, 2009](_blank)
From the late 18th to the late 19th centuries, bar examinations were generally oral and administered after a period of study under a lawyer or judge (a practice called "
reading the law
Reading law was the method used in common law countries, particularly the United States, for people to prepare for and enter the legal profession before the advent of law schools. It consisted of an extended internship or apprenticeship under the ...
").
The trend in the 19th century was toward more casual examinations and options for exemptions.
After the emergence of law schools in the 1870s onward, bar examinations became even less common as many states offered
diploma privilege
In the United States, the diploma privilege is a method for lawyers to be admitted to the bar (i.e. authorized to practice law) without taking a bar examination. Wisconsin is the only jurisdiction that currently allows diploma privilege as an alt ...
to local law school graduates.
Between 1890 and 1920, most states replaced oral examinations with written bar examinations.
Written examinations became commonplace as lawyers began to practice in states other than those where they were trained.
In 1921, the
American Bar Association
The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of acad ...
formally expressed a preference for required written bar examinations in place of diploma privilege for law school graduates. In subsequent decades, the prevalence of diploma privilege declined deeply, and bar examinations became a standard requirement of admission to the bar.
By 1980, all but five states required written bar examinations; as of 2020, only Wisconsin allows J.D. graduates of accredited law schools to seek admission to the state bar without passing a bar examination.
Content of the bar examination
The bar examination is generally administered over two days (in some cases, three days). In most jurisdictions, it is administered twice a year, in February and July.
Bar examinations in all but two jurisdictions in the United States use some examination component created by the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE).
Components created by the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE)
Multistate Bar Examination (MBE)
The MBE is a
standardized test
A standardized test is a test that is administered and scored in a consistent, or "standard", manner. Standardized tests are designed in such a way that the questions and interpretations are consistent and are administered and scored in a predete ...
consisting of 200
multiple-choice questions covering seven key areas of law:
constitutional law
Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a State (polity), state, namely, the executive (government), executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as th ...
,
contracts
A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to tran ...
,
criminal law and procedure,
federal rules of civil procedure
The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (officially abbreviated Fed. R. Civ. P.; colloquially FRCP) govern civil procedure in United States district courts. The FRCP are promulgated by the United States Supreme Court pursuant to the Rules Enabling ...
,
federal rules of evidence
First adopted in 1975, the Federal Rules of Evidence codify the evidence law that applies in United States federal courts. In addition, many states in the United States have either adopted the Federal Rules of Evidence, with or without local v ...
,
real property
In English common law, real property, real estate, immovable property or, solely in the US and Canada, realty, is land which is the property of some person and all structures (also called improvements or fixtures) integrated with or affixe ...
, and
torts
A tort is a civil wrong that causes a claimant to suffer loss or harm, resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act. Tort law can be contrasted with criminal law, which deals with criminal wrongs that are punishable ...
.
The MBE formerly addressed only six topics, with civil procedure added by the NCBE in 2009 and administered starting in 2015. Examinees have three hours to answer 100 questions in a morning session and the same for an afternoon session. The MBE is administered in all U.S. states and territories, except Louisiana and Puerto Rico, which follow
civil law systems very different from
the legal systems in other states.
The MBE is administered in most jurisdictions on the last Wednesday in February and July.
Of the 200 questions, 175 are scored and 25 are questions under evaluation for future use.
The NCBE grades the MBE using a scaled score ranging from 40 to 200. Taking the MBE in one jurisdiction may allow an applicant to use his or her MBE score to waive into another jurisdiction or to use the MBE score with another state's bar examination.
Multistate Essay Examination (MEE)
The MEE consists of six 30-minute essay questions that examines a candidate's ability to analyze legal issues and communicate them effectively in writing. In addition to the topics examined in the MBE, the MEE also covers business law, commercial law, conflicts of law, estates and probate law, and family law. The MEE is administered on the last Tuesday in February and July, the day before the MBE.
The NCBE drafts nine MEE questions, and jurisdictions select six or seven questions to administer. The questions are drafted by the NCBE Drafting Committee, with the assistance of outside academics and practitioners who are experts in the fields being tested, and then reviewed by outside experts and state boards of bar examiners. Unlike the MBE, which is graded and scored by the NCBE, the MEE is graded exclusively by the jurisdiction that administers the bar examination.
Each jurisdiction has the choice of grading MEE questions according to general U.S. common law or the jurisdiction's own law.
Multistate Performance Test (MPT)
The MPT is a "closed-universe" test in which each candidate is required to perform a standard lawyering task, such as a memo or brief. The candidate is provided with a case file and a "library" which contains all of the substantive law required to perform the task (plus some non-relevant material). The MPT is administered on the last Tuesday in February and July, the same day as the MEE. The NCBE provides two MPT questions. The MPT is usually situated in the fictional state of Franklin.
Components created by states and territories
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
and
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
draft and administer their own performance tests.
California began administering three-hour-long performance tests in 1983, based on the results of a July 1980 experiment.
California performance tests are far more difficult than the MPT. Starting with the July 2017 bar examination, California switched to a 90-minute format
but continues to prepare its own performance tests, which are usually situated in the fictional state of Columbia.
Essay questions are the most variable component of the bar exam. States emphasize different areas of law in their essay questions depending upon their respective histories and public policy priorities. For example, unlike
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
and
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
, Louisiana did not convert to the common law when it was acquired by the United States, so its essay questions require knowledge of
the state's unique civil law system. Several states whose family law was influenced by Spanish and Mexican civil law, like California and Texas, require all bar exam applicants to demonstrate knowledge of
community property law. Pennsylvania, with a history of federal
tax evasion
Tax evasion is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to reduce the taxp ...
(e.g., the
Whiskey Rebellion
The Whiskey Rebellion (also known as the Whiskey Insurrection) was a violent tax protest in the United States beginning in 1791 and ending in 1794 during the presidency of George Washington. The so-called "whiskey tax" was the first tax impo ...
), tests
federal income tax law, while New Jersey, with a history of discriminatory zoning (resulting in the controversial
Mount Laurel doctrine
The ''Mount Laurel'' doctrine is a significant judicial doctrine of the New Jersey State Constitution. The doctrine requires that municipalities use their zoning powers in an affirmative manner to provide a realistic opportunity for the production ...
), tests
zoning
Zoning is a method of urban planning in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into areas called zones, each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for a si ...
and
planning
Planning is the process of thinking regarding the activities required to achieve a desired goal. Planning is based on foresight, the fundamental capacity for mental time travel. The evolution of forethought, the capacity to think ahead, is consi ...
law. New Mexico, South Dakota, and Washington each test Indian law, because of their relatively large populations of
Native Americans and large numbers of
Indian reservation
An Indian reservation is an area of land held and governed by a federally recognized Native American tribal nation whose government is accountable to the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs and not to the state government in which it ...
s. Most states test knowledge of the law of
negotiable instrument
A negotiable instrument is a document guaranteeing the payment of a specific amount of money, either on demand, or at a set time, whose payer is usually named on the document. More specifically, it is a document contemplated by or consisting of a ...
s and
secured transactions (Articles 3 and 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code), but Alaska, California, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania do not; they have recognized that the vast majority of criminal, personal injury, and family lawyers will never draft a
promissory note
A promissory note, sometimes referred to as a note payable, is a legal instrument (more particularly, a financing instrument and a debt instrument), in which one party (the ''maker'' or ''issuer'') promises in writing to pay a determinate sum of ...
or litigate the validity of a
security interest
In finance, a security interest is a legal right granted by a debtor to a creditor over the debtor's property (usually referred to as the ''collateral'') which enables the creditor to have recourse to the property if the debtor defaults in makin ...
.
Uniform Bar Examination (UBE)
The Uniform Bar Examination (UBE) is a standardized bar examination in the United States developed by the NCBE. It consists solely of the MBE, MEE, and MPT, and offers portability of scores across state lines. According to the NCBE, the UBE is intended to "test knowledge and skills that every lawyer should be able to demonstrate prior to becoming licensed to practice law", and "is uniformly administered, graded, and scored by user jurisdictions and results in a portable score."
UBE jurisdictions are allowed to additionally test candidates' knowledge of state-specific law, through either a test or course.
The UBE was created in 2011, and was first administered that year by Missouri and North Dakota.
[ Click on "Which jurisdictions administer the UBE?"] It has since been adopted by 37 United States jurisdictions (out of a possible 56). The
American Bar Association
The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of acad ...
also endorsed the UBE at its 2016 mid-year meeting. However, some of the largest legal markets—including California and Florida—have not adopted the UBE. Concerns include the lack of questions on state law, and that the test provides NCBE with control over the bar credentialing process. In addition, the largest UBE market (New York), indicated that it may withdraw from the UBE, after a task force commissioned by the New York State Bar found in 2020 that "since the adoption of the UBE, the fundamental purpose of the bar examination, which is to protect the public, has been lost."
A number of jurisdictions are considering or have considered adoption of the UBE:
*In 2014,
The Florida Bar
The Florida Bar is the integrated bar association for the state of Florida. It is the third largest such bar in the United States. Its duties include the regulation and discipline of attorneys. The Florida Bar is also responsible for the governi ...
formed a Uniform Bar Examination Committee.
* In 2016, the
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
Board of Bar Examiners considered the UBE, but stated that "it is not in the best interests of the public of Virginia or the Virginia judicial system."
* In September 2019, the
Oklahoma Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of Oklahoma is a court of appeal for non-criminal cases, one of the two highest judicial bodies in the U.S. state of Oklahoma, and leads the judiciary of Oklahoma, the judicial branch of the government of Oklahoma. created a Bar Examination Advisory Committee to consider adoption of the UBE. A final report is due by December 2020.
* In May 2020, Nevada indicated that it will not adopt the UBE anytime in the near future. In
Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...
, the UBE is supported by the dean of the
William S. Boyd School of Law
The William S. Boyd School of Law is the law school of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) and the only law school in Nevada. It is named after William S. Boyd, a Nevada attorney and co-founder of Boyd Gaming Corporation who provided the in ...
but opposed by the chair of the state Board of Bar Examiners.
Preparation for the bar examination
Most law schools teach students common law and how to analyze hypothetical fact patterns like a lawyer, but do not specifically prepare law students for any particular bar exam. Only a minority of law schools offer bar preparation courses.
To refresh their memory on "
black-letter rules" tested on the bar, most students engage in a regimen of study (called "
bar review") between graduating from law school and sitting for the bar. For bar review, most students in the United States attend a private bar review course which is provided by a third-party company and not their law school.
Overview of bar examination by jurisdiction
Details of UBE by jurisdiction
Criticism
Arguments against bar exams
A statement by the Society of American Law Teachers (SALT) articulates many criticisms of the bar exam. The SALT statement, however, does propose some alternative methods of bar admission that are partially test-based. A response to the SALT statement was made by Suzanne Darrow-Kleinhaus in ''The Bar Examiner''.
[ Suzanne Darrow-Kleinhaus, "A Response to Criticism of the Bar Exam", ''The Bar Examiner'', May 2005 ]
Arguments for alternatives to the bar exam
The NCBE published an article in 2005 addressing alternatives to the bar exam, including a discussion of the Daniel Webster Scholar Honors Program, an alternate certification program introduced at the
University of New Hampshire School of Law
The University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law is a public law school in Concord, New Hampshire, associated with the University of New Hampshire. It is the only law school in the state and was founded in 1973 by Robert H. Rines as ...
(formerly Franklin Pierce Law Center) in that year.
Notes
References
{{Law of the United States
Bar examinations
Law of the United States