Texas Supreme Court unveils plan to adopt new bar exam, asks for public input

(Reuters) - Texas is poised to begin using the new national bar exam in July 2028, but officials are giving the public the opportunity to weigh in before that change is official.

The Supreme Court of Texas issued an order , on Tuesday saying that it “anticipates” moving to the new test and adding a half-day exam on Texas law.

Both changes were recommended by the Texas Board of Law Examiners, with input from a working group of law deans and board members that looked at the overhauled attorney licensing test called the NextGen Bar Exam. The public may submit comments to the court on that plan through September 30.

A court spokesperson said on Wednesday that “compelling” public comment could alter the court’s final order on the exam.

While the change is not yet final, Texas becomes the largest bar exam state to date to reveal its plans for the revamped national bar exam. It has the fourth-largest number of bar examinees, behind on New York, California, and Florida, none of which have announced plans to adopt the NextGen test. Texas had 4,145 examinees in 2023.

Illinois, which has the sixth-largest number of bar takers, said in May that it would switch to the NextGen exam in 2028. In total, 20 jurisdictions have announced that they are moving to the new test. Oklahoma on June 17 became the latest state to sign on. The NextGen exam will first become available in July 2026 but states have until July 2028 to make the transition. The National Conference of Bar Examiners will stop offering the current test after February 2028.

It may be the highest court in the land but it’s not above pressing ‘send’ by accident.

The NextGen bar exam is the first major redesign of the national lawyer licensing test in 25 years. The national conference began developing it in 2021 with the goal of creating a test that emphasizes legal skills and relies less on the memorization of laws.

The new test does away with the three separate components of the current exam — the 200-mutliple-choice question Multistate Bar Exam, the Multistate Essay Exam and the Multistate Performance Test. The NextGen exam will also be shorter, at nine hours, compared with the current 12-hour test and will be given entirely on computers.

The Texas Supreme Court order said it is still developing the state-specific component of the new test it plans to adopt. The state now requires people who have passed the current bar exam to also complete the Texas Law Course—a series of online video lectures on Texas law that also include questions participants must answer.