Is Your State Next to Adopt the Uniform Bar Exam?

Estimated Reading Time: 2 minutes

Updated as of September 15, 2018. See Below!

Currently, 23 states, including the District of Columbia, administer the Uniform Bar Exam (UBE).

This July, three more states will begin to administer the UBE: Maine, Oregon, and West Virginia. Massachusetts will also begin to administer the UBE effective July 2018. Which state will be next?

The National Conference of Bar Examiners promotes the concept of a uniform test because it believes that an individual who performs to an acceptable level on a high-quality licensing test has attained valuable currency that should be accepted in other jurisdictions. In February 2011, Missouri became the first state to administer the UBE.

Recently, Kaplan Bar Review polled 1,000 law school graduates from 2016, and asked them if they were in favor of all states administering the UBE. More than 90% of law school graduates were in favor of a nationwide bar examination and cited job portability as the primary reason for a uniform exam.

With New York adopting the UBE effective July 2016 – Illinois, Texas, California and Florida remain the largest legal markets still administering state-specific tests. But maybe not for long…

In October 2016, the Illinois State Bar Association voted unanimously to support adopting the uniform bar. In November 2016, the Illinois Board of Admissions to the Bar held hearings in Chicago, Springfield, and Carbondale regarding the proposed switch. Public comment on Illinois adopting the UBE was accepted until December 5, 2016. Any day now, we anticipate hearing from the Illinois Supreme Court regarding a decision on the UBE.

So what about Texas, California and Florida? In December 2016, the Florida Bar Vision 2016 Final Report explained that the Florida Board of Bar Examiners has formed a committee to conduct a review of subjects tested on the Florida Bar Exam, as well as the Uniform Bar Exam.

The Texas Supreme Court established an 11-member task force focusing on whether to adopt the UBE. The Task Force’s first report was due on March 31, 2017.

Unfortunately, at this time, California has declined to adopt the UBE. However, there is good news for California bar exam students. This July, California will shorten its three day exam to two days: one day of essays (five 1-hour essays and a 90-minute performance test) and one day of the MBE.

What about other states? North Carolina and Maryland could be next!

The North Carolina Board of Law Examiners announced in October 2016 that they voted to approve the adoption of the UBE effective February 2019. However, the North Carolina State Bar and Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court still need to approve the NC Board of Law Examiners recommendation.

In March 2017, an advisory committee to the Maryland Court of Appeals announced that they would be holding a public hearing (in April 2017) to gain a broader perspective on the potential benefits and disadvantages of the Uniform Bar Exam. “The Committee has focused on weighing the advantages and disadvantages of the adoption of the Uniform Bar Examination while considering the need to maintain a rigorous, but fair, test for bar applicants,” said Advisory Committee Chair Honorable Sally D. Adkins (MD Ct of Appeals). The Maryland UBE Committee expects to issue a report to the MD Court of Appeals by July 2017.

We will keep you posted as more states join in adopting the UBE!

UPDATE as of September 15, 2018:

Now 33 states administer the Uniform Bar Exam. Since the original posting of this article the following states have adopted the Uniform Bar Exam: North Carolina (November 27, 2017), Maryland (November 30, 2017), Tennessee (May 2, 2018), Illinois (June 11, 2018), Rhode Island (June 11, 2018), and Ohio (August 15, 2018).