News
Pennsylvania Board of Law Examiners Announces Transition to New Testing Model
July 03, 2025
The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, along with the Pennsylvania Board of Law Examiners have announced that beginning in July 2028, law school graduates will take a new version of the bar exam in Pennsylvania.
The NextGen UBE will replace the current version of the Uniform Bar Exam, referred to as Legacy UBE, and Pennsylvania will be one of forty-three jurisdictions that have now announced that they will administer the test.
The transition to the new exam is the result of an eight-year endeavor. The foundation of the project was a nationwide analysis of the practice of law conducted by the National Conference of Bar Examiners in which lawyers provided data on the work performed by newly-licensed lawyers and the knowledge and skills that are necessary for early-career competence.
The NextGen exam will be administered over nine hours in a day and a half, which will be shorter than the current twelve-hour exam. It will test students on nine foundational subjects including civil procedure, contract law, evidence, torts, business associations, constitutional law, criminal law, real property, and family law.
The exam will also assess seven legal skills: legal research, legal writing, identifying and analyzing legal issues, investigation and evaluation, client counseling and advising, negotiation and dispute resolution, and client relationship and management. NextGen includes a new test question type, integrated question sets.
These scenario-based questions intensify the exam’s assessment of knowledge and skills utilized in the practice of law as candidates must apply lawyering skills to realistic scenarios.
By implementing NextGen, the Court ensures that Pennsylvania applicants will continue to receive the many benefits that formed the basis for the decision to adopt the UBE, including the ability to obtain a portable score that candidates may transfer to another UBE jurisdiction and avoid taking a second bar exam.
The Board will accept UBE transfer scores from the current version of the exam and the new version during the transition to the new version. The minimum score required for the NextGen exam is yet to be announced.
###
Media contact: Stacey Witalec, 717-877-2997