A dozen ways that bar licensure could change in 2026
After a year marked by a disastrous attempt by California to launch its own bar exam and a call from the Committee on Legal Education and Admissions Reform to change law licensure requirements, 2026 could deliver even more changes.
The ABA Journal spoke with several bar exam experts; these are 12 of their predictions for 2026.
• Inspired by Nevada’s debut of its Comprehensive Licensing Exam, with the first Foundational Law Exam set to be offered in May 2026 and students beginning supervised practice, other states will follow “in finding a way to make sure that every newly licensed lawyer previously practiced under supervision with a client before being unleashed on the public,” says Joan Howarth, professor emerita at the University of Nevada Las Vegas William S. Boyd School of Law.
• As Utah opens its alternative pathway, other states will explore innovative options like those adopted in South Dakota and Oregon, says Deborah Jones Merritt, professor emerita at Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. “I predict that at least one more state will adopt an alternative pathway in 2026, with several more continuing or beginning their study.”
• California will initiate a multi-year research plan to study the cohort of new attorneys licensed after the disastrous February exam, Howarth predicts.
• Building on the CLEAR report, state courts and law schools will begin a more regular dialogue on how to prepare students for practice and assess their competence for licensing, Merritt says. In general, state supreme courts will continue to focus more on licensing than before the CLEAR report, Howarth adds.
• Additional jurisdictions will adopt the NextGen UBE for 2027 or 2028 as the exam is administered for the first time in July, says Judith Gundersen, National Conference of Bar Examiners CEO and president.
• But the first NextGen administration “will proceed with some bumps, especially related to candidate confusion before the exam and scoring complications after,” Howarth says.
• Data will reveal how new alternative pathways are faring. “Oregon’s Supervised Practice Portfolio Examination hits the two-year mark in May 2026, which will be a good time for them to publish pass rates and other data,” Merritt says.
• After the NCBE revises its standard application for the character and fitness portion of the licensure process, some jurisdictions might update their own, Gundersen says.
• Jurisdictions that want to supplement NextGen with a state-specific component at the same time will find it more challenging and expensive than they thought, and some will abandon the effort, Howarth predicts.
• More jurisdictions will recognize other states’ methods of licensing, leading to a sea change in 2027 and 2028 regarding attorney mobility, she adds.
• The NCBE, courts and other stakeholders will explore how the widening use of AI in legal practice should affect licensing, such as what competencies do new lawyers need in the AI age and if AI affects measuring competencies. “I don’t think there will be answers in 2026—these are difficult questions,” Merritt says. “But the discussion will pick up steam and have more urgency.”
• The changes will lead to uncertainty, Howarth predicts. “Many bar examiners will reminisce about the good old days (pre-2020) when certainty and stability carried the day.”
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