With Three Months to Go, NCBE Prepares to Launch NextGen Bar Exam, Marking First Major Redesign in Decades
Three hours shorter and fully digital, the NextGen UBE expands how legal competency is assessed, aligning the bar exam more closely with modern law practice.
MADISON, WISCONSIN, April 29, 2026—The bar exam has long served as a cornerstone of public protection in the legal profession, establishing a rigorous, standardized threshold for entry into practice. The NextGen Uniform Bar Examination (NextGen UBE), developed by the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) and debuting July 28–29, 2026, builds on that foundation, maintaining the exam’s core rigor while expanding how knowledge and skills are assessed to better reflect modern legal practice.
“The Uniform Bar Examination set a high standard for consistent, rigorous lawyer licensure testing,” said Judith Gundersen, President and CEO of NCBE. “The NextGen UBE honors that standard and advances it, delivering an exam that is more precise and better aligned with how lawyers practice, while maintaining the level of competence the public expects.”
Same Rigor, Broader Assessment
The NextGen UBE retains the core legal knowledge that has long defined legal competency, including Civil Procedure, Contracts, Evidence, Criminal Law, Constitutional Law, Real Property, Torts, and Business Associations (Family Law will be added in 2028). It also expands to include seven foundational lawyering skills: legal research, legal writing, issue spotting and analysis, investigation and evaluation, client counseling and advising, negotiation and dispute resolution, and client relationship and management. Skills and knowledge will be tested together in an integrated assessment that reflects real-world legal practice.
Three Hours Shorter
One of the most tangible changes is the exam’s duration. The NextGen UBE is nine hours long, three hours shorter than the current exam. This updated format reflects a decade of research, practice analysis, development, and testing to refine both content and structure.
A Digital Platform Built Into the Exam Itself
The NextGen UBE will be delivered on a purpose-built digital platform that does more than replicate a paper exam on a screen. Candidates will be able to see test questions, review reference materials, take notes, and enter their responses all in the same place. The platform also includes built-in writing tools and accessibility features, as well as offline functionality to ensure continuity.
The digital platform is based on the reality that modern legal practice is digital, and that a licensing exam should reflect the environment in which lawyers actually work.
A Consistent Pathway to Licensure
Fifty jurisdictions plan to begin administering the NextGen UBE between now and July 2028, ensuring consistency in licensure testing regardless of where a candidate attended law school or sits for the exam. That consistency is a feature of the existing UBE that NextGen preserves and strengthens, ensuring that bar admission carries the same meaning from state to state.
Supporting that standard is a comprehensive system of candidate-facing preparation resources, law school support tools, and jurisdiction reporting infrastructure designed to make the transition to the new exam seamless for candidates, educators, and bar admission authorities alike.
As with the current UBE, candidates can use a single bar exam score to seek licensure across multiple jurisdictions, giving them greater flexibility as their careers evolve.
Built for the Public, Not Just the Profession
Every design decision in the NextGen UBE is grounded in a single purpose: ensuring that newly licensed lawyers are prepared to serve clients and communities. The exam reflects a shift toward measuring not only what candidates know, but how effectively they can apply that knowledge in practice.
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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 NextGen Uniform 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.