NextGen Bar Exam Launches in 2026: A Shift Towards Practical Legal Skills (Getty Images)
Early research shows wide participation, with 94 law schools across 43 jurisdictions involved in the test development process. Several states, including Oregon, have already announced plans to adopt the NextGen Bar Exam, aligning with its emphasis on balancing litigation and transactional legal practice. The exam will feature diverse question formats, including integrated scenarios and performance tasks, and will be administered over one and a half days, reducing the current two-day structure. For states and institutions, this shift is seen as a necessary update to align legal education with the evolving demands of the profession. What is the NextGen Bar Exam?
One of the primary goals of the NextGen Bar Exam is to address long-standing accessibility issues within the legal profession. Traditional bar exams, with their reliance on memorisation, have been criticised for favouring those with access to expensive test preparation courses, disproportionately disadvantaging candidates from minority and low-income backgrounds.
The United States is on the brink of a transformative shift in how lawyers are licensed, with more than half of U.S. jurisdictions opting to adopt the NextGen Bar Exam by its debut in July 2026. Designed by the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE), this revamped exam aims to focus on practical legal skills rather than rote memorization, marking the first major redesign in 25 years. Developed after a comprehensive nationwide practice analysis involving over 2,500 participants from 70 law schools, it aims to create practice-ready lawyers. This revamped structure will replace the current system entirely by February 2028. The current bar exam, which spans 12 hours over two days, consists of three distinct components: the Multistate Bar Exam, Multistate Essay Exam, and Multistate Performance Test.
But as the legal community prepares for this seismic change, critical questions arise: Will this new format create a fairer pathway for underrepresented groups? Or will it introduce new challenges for aspiring lawyers? Unlike its predecessor, the Uniform Bar Exam, it is designed to better reflect the practical skills and knowledge newly licensed attorneys need. The exam will test nine legal subjects, including constitutional law, criminal law, and civil procedure, along with seven foundational skills such as legal writing, negotiation, and client counseling. The NextGen Bar Exam represents a significant departure from the traditional model, prioritising practical legal skills over theoretical knowledge. The redesigned test will consolidate these into a nine-hour, computer-based format. Unlike its predecessor, the NextGen exam will test competencies in areas such as legal research, writing, and problem-solving—skills directly applicable to real-world legal practice. By moving away from memorisation-heavy components, the NCBE aims to create a more streamlined and modern assessment process.