Bar Exam Will Change in 2027, NCBE Announces
The National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) recently made a surprising announcement about the bar exam: The July 2027 bar exam will be the last to administer the current NCBE-developed bar exam components, namely the Multistate Bar Examination, Multistate Essay Examination, and Multistate Performance Test. In other words, states will not be able to implement the Uniform Bar Exam (UBE) beyond July 2027. They will be forced to adopt the NextGen Bar Exam or come up with an alternative path to licensure.
The NextGen Bar Exam is set to be administered for the first time in July of 2026, though at the time of this writing, no state has adopted it.
While change is often for the better, the way in which this has been presented leaves room for scrutiny, caution, and potential dissent from states.