Uniform Bar Examination


The Uniform Bar Examination is a standardized bar examination in the United States, developed by the National Conference of Bar Examiners. It consists solely of the Multistate Bar Examination, the Multistate Essay Examination, and the Multistate Performance Test, and offers portability of scores across state lines. As of February 2019, the Uniform Bar Exam has been adopted in 35 jurisdictions: 33 states, the District of Columbia, and the US Virgin Islands. Other US jurisdictions considering the UBE include Puerto Rico, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, and Palau. The American Bar Association also endorsed the UBE at its 2016 mid-year meeting.

History

Starting in 2011, the first states to administer the UBE were Missouri and North Dakota. In 2016, New York and the District of Columbia began using the UBE. South Carolina, Connecticut and New Jersey began using the UBE in February 2017. Maine, West Virginia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands started using the UBE in July 2017. Massachusetts started using the UBE in July 2018. North Carolina began using it in February 2019, Arkansas will begin in February 2020, Ohio will begin in July 2020, and Texas will introduce the UBE beginning in February 2021, bringing the total number of jurisdictions using the UBE to 36.
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, indicated that it may withdraw from the UBE, after finding that it harmed the interests of the state.

Future

, dean of the University of California at Berkeley Law School, thinks California should adopt the Uniform Bar Exam.
In December 2018, the Indiana Supreme Court created a commission to review the future of the state bar examination. In 2019, a majority of the commission recommended adoption of the UBE. A previous Indiana task force had rejected adoption of the UBE in a report issued in January 2017.
The Kentucky Supreme Court Bar Admission Review Commission rejected adopting the UBE in 2015. Former Justice Bill Cunningham, who co-led the commission, stated in a January 2020 interview that he believes Kentucky will eventually adopt the UBE.
New York indicated that it may withdraw from the UBE. On March 5, 2020, the New York State Bar Task Force, commissioned by the New York State Bar to study the effects on the UBE in New York, released a lengthy report after a one-year study concluding “since the adoption of the UBE, the fundamental purpose of the bar examination, which is to protect the public, has been lost.” The report ultimately recommended that New York withdraw from the UBE and return to state-centered bar exam. The Task Force's report and recommendation to withdraw from the UBE was approved by the New York Bar Association and numerous bar associations across New York.
In Nevada, the UBE is supported by the dean of University of Nevada Law School but opposed by the chair of the state Board of Bar Examiners.In May 2020, Nevada indicated that it will not adopt the UBE anytime in the near future. For the July 2020 bar exam, Nevada removed the MBE, which is the multiple choice portion of the UBE and the only UBE section that Nevada implemented.
In September 2019, the Oklahoma Supreme Court created a Bar Examination Advisory Committee to consider adoption of the UBE. A final report is due by December 2020.
The president of the Allegheny County Bar Association supports Pennsylvania's adoption of the UBE.
The Virginia Board of Bar Examiners considered the UBE, but in 2016 stated “it is not in the best interests of the public of Virginia or the Virginia judicial system.”

Multistate Bar Examination (MBE)

The Multistate Bar Examination is a standardized, multiple-choice examination created and sold to participating state bar examiners.

Description

It is administered on a single day of the bar examination in 49 states and the District of Columbia, as well as in Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Republic of Palau. The only state that does not administer the MBE is Louisiana, which follows a civil law system slightly different from the law in other states. The MBE is given twice a year: on the last Wednesday of July in all jurisdictions that require that examination, and on the last Wednesday of February in the same jurisdictions, except for Delaware and North Dakota.
The 200 MBE questions test seven subjects based upon principles of common law and Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code that apply throughout the United States. The questions are not broken down into sections and the seven topics are distributed more or less evenly throughout the course of the exam. Exam-takers receive three hours during the morning session to complete the first 100 questions, and another three hours during the afternoon session to complete the second 100 questions.
Of the 200 MBE questions, 175 are graded. The remaining 25 are pretest questions that are "indistinguishable" from the real questions. Test takers receive a scaled score ranging between 0 and 200.
In February 2015, the NCBE added the seventh topic, civil procedure, to the examination.

Transfer of scores

Taking the MBE in one jurisdiction may allow an applicant to use their MBE score to waive into another jurisdiction or to use their MBE score with another state's bar examination.

Multistate Essay Examination (MEE)

The Multistate Essay Examination is a collection of essay questions largely concerning the common law administered as a part of the bar examination in 33 jurisdictions of the United States: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Northern Mariana Islands, Oregon, Palau, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
The MEE can cover any of the following areas:
MEE questions are drafted by the NCBE Drafting Committee, with the assistance of outside academics and practitioners who are experts in the fields being tested. After initial drafting, the questions are pretested, analyzed by outside experts and a separate NCBE committee, reviewed by boards of bar examiners in the jurisdictions that use the test, and then revised by the Drafting Committee in accordance with the results of this process. Each MEE question is accompanied by a grading guide, and the NCBE sponsors a grading workshop on the weekend following the bar exam whose results are provided to bar examiners.
The examination is always administered on a single day of the bar examination, specifically the day before the Multistate Bar Examination. Through February 2007, the MEE consisted of seven questions, with most jurisdictions selecting six of the seven questions to administer. 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 MEE is partnered with the Multistate Performance Test, a written performance test developed by the NCBE and used in 48 U.S. jurisdictions.

Jurisdictions as of May 2019