The students starting law school this year will be among the first to experience the NextGen Bar Exam, slated for release in July 2026. The National Conference of Bar Examiners just released a 42-page outline providing deeper insight into the updated exam.
The NextGen Bar Exam’s development stemmed from calls to create an exam that more adequately tests the legal knowledge and skills necessary for legal professionals today. The current bar exam faced criticisms that it “doesn’t reflect the actual practice of law” and that it tested memorization of legal concepts rather than skills.
Reuters provided a summary of the changes, which include:
Removal of the current exam’s three component tests: Multistate Bar Examination, Multistate Essay Examination, and Multistate Performance Test
Usage of an integrated format that tests both skills and knowledge
Seven legal skill areas: client counseling and advising, client relationships and management, legal research, legal writing, and negotiations
Seven legal knowledge areas: business associations and relationships, civil procedure, constitutional law, contracts, criminal law and constitutional protections of accused persons, evidence, real property, and torts.
The test will require memorization for some content, but it will also allow the use of support resources for designated subject matter areas.
The test will remove subject matter related to family law, estates and trusts, the uniform commercial code, and conflict of laws.
Although the NextGen Bar Exam will go live in July of 2026, states will determine which exam test-takers will receive for a specified period of time. After a period of no longer than five years, all jurisdictions will move to the NextGen exam.