Large majority of test-takers pass first step of new three-pronged Nevada bar exam
The pass rate of the inaugural administration of the Foundational Law Exam, the first step of Nevada’s new three-pronged bar exam, reached 76%, according to the State Bar of Nevada.
“This shows that Nevada is capable of developing and delivering a high-quality multiple-choice exam,” Deborah Jones Merritt, a bar exam expert, a professor emerita at the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law and a 2025 ABA Journal Legal Rebel, told the Journal.
Administrators in other states have been watching Nevada’s new three-pronged licensing protocol, which consists of the Foundational Law Exam, a 100-question closed-book multiple-choice exam on general principles for candidates who’ve completed 42 JD credits; three two-hour performance tests given after graduation, which will be administered for the first time in January 2027; and 60 hours of supervised hands-on experience with clients via law school clinics or externships before admission to the bar.
And other states have also been watching. California, for instance, had considered creating a similar process but decided this month to adopt the National Conference of Bar Examiners’ new NextGen Uniform Bar Exam. That skills-focused exam is being administered for the first time in 10 jurisdictions this week and has been approved for eventual use in 52 jurisdictions. Nevada’s new bar licensure process does not include using products by the NCBE.
In February, 56% of candidates in Nevada, which includes repeat test-takers, passed the state’s older version of its bar exam, according to the NCBE. Nevada’s legacy bar exam consists of six one-hour essay questions prepared by the State Bar of Nevada’s Board of Bar Examiners, the Multistate Bar Examination, and two two-hour foundational skills questions applying fundamental lawyering skills in realistic situations, according to the bar’s website.
“The pass rate for the FLE and the legacy exam cannot be compared because under the Nevada plan, candidates will need to pass each of the three parts, so strength in anyone area will no longer compensate for weakness in another,” wrote Joan Howarth, a professor emerita at the University of Nevada Las Vegas William S. Boyd School of Law and a 2025 Legal Rebel, to the Journal.
Howarth is a member of the Commission to Study the Administration of the Bar Examination and Licensing of Attorneys, which developed the Nevada plan, created by the Nevada Supreme Court.
The last administration of Nevada’s legacy bar exam is happening Tuesday and Wednesday.
Write a letter to the editor, share a story tip or update, or report an error.
