In order to eradicate rote learning, the focus in the United States will shift to practical skills in the NextGen Bar Exam by July 2026. The National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) will substitute the existing Bar exam with the Next Generation (NextGen) Bar exam next year.
Practical Skills Focus
The NextGen Bar Exam will test the knowledge of candidates in nine legal subjects, such as constitutional law, criminal law, and civil procedure. In addition, it will test their skills in seven foundational fields, including legal writing, negotiation, and client counseling.
Major Redesign
Reuters quotes, “The NextGen bar exam is the first major redesign of the national lawyer licensing test in 25 years. The National Conference of Bar Examiners began developing it in 2021 with the aim of creating a test that focuses more on legal skills and less on memorization of laws.
Structure Changes
The NextGen exam will do away with the three parts of the existing test: the 200-question, multiple-choice Multistate Bar Exam, the Multistate Essay Exam, and the Multistate Performance Test. The new test is shorter, nine hours, rather than the current 12-hour test, and is given on computers exclusively.
Developing Practical Skills
The NextGen Bar Exam is developed to improve practical skills and knowledge needed by new attorneys. Question formats will vary and include integrated scenarios and performance tasks. The new format of the exam will be adopted by states as a response to the shift in the nature of legal education that should align with the evolving needs of the profession. This will be done over one and a half days, instead of the present two-day theoretical knowledge-based exam.
This change would help prepare better attorneys for practical challenges they may face in the future.
