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MADISON, WISCONSIN, July 18, 2024—The Florida Supreme Court has approved a recommendation from the Florida Board of Bar Examiners to adopt the NextGen bar exam starting in July 2028. Florida currently administers a two-day bar exam to aspiring attorneys, with day one dedicated to Florida law and day two consisting of the Multistate Bar Examination, a 200-question multiple choice exam. With the adoption of the NextGen exam, day one and approximately half of day two will be made up of the NextGen bar exam; a Florida law component will also be administered. With Florida’s news, 21 jurisdictions in total have now announced plans to adopt the new exam.
The Florida Board made its recommendation following years spent studying the Florida Bar Examination, including a Florida Practice Analysis Study conducted from 2019 to 2022, for which over 21,000 Florida attorneys provided input on the skills and legal knowledge newly admitted Florida lawyers need to begin their practice. The Board found that the NextGen exam will test a significant number of those identified skills and subjects, and that a Florida-specific portion of the exam could test the remaining topics the Practice Analysis Study identified as important.
The Florida Board also consulted with deans and representatives from every Florida law school before making its recommendation to the Florida Supreme Court. “We received a very positive response from the law schools,” Michele Gavagni, Executive Director of the FBBE, said. “With the discontinuation of the MBE [in 2028], the overwhelming majority of Florida law schools support the decision to adopt the NextGen exam as a component of the Florida Bar Examination.”
NCBE President and CEO Judith Gundersen praised Florida for its diligence throughout the Florida Practice Analysis process and its care in ensuring law school and attorney input into the decision to adopt the NextGen exam. “Florida—its Court, its Board, and its agency staff—has done phenomenal work in assuring itself, the legal community, and the general public that they can have confidence in both the rigor and fairness of its bar exam.”
The NextGen bar exam is being developed by the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE), which currently develops bar exam content for 54 of 56 US jurisdictions. In the US, the highest court in each jurisdiction has authority over the admission of attorneys to practice in its courts, aided by its own bar admissions agency. The NextGen bar exam will replace the Multistate Bar Examination, Multistate Essay Examination, and Multistate Performance Test, which in many US jurisdictions are combined into a single bar exam.
Designed to reflect the work performed by newly licensed attorneys, the NextGen bar exam will test nine areas of legal doctrine (civil procedure, contract law, evidence, torts, business associations, constitutional law, criminal law, real property, family law) and seven foundational lawyering skills (legal research, legal writing, issue spotting and analysis, investigation and evaluation, client counseling and advising, negotiation and dispute resolution, client relationship and management). Tenets of attorney ethics will also be tested in conjunction with other topics and skills.
The new exam will balance the skills and knowledge needed in litigation and transactional legal practice and will reflect many of the key changes that law schools are making to their own curricula, building on the successes of clinical legal education programs, alternative dispute resolution programs, legal research, and legal writing and analysis programs. Visit https://www.ncbex.org/exams/nextgen/content-scope for detailed outlines of the legal doctrine and skills that will be tested on the exam.
The subjects and skills to be tested were developed through a multi-year, nationwide legal practice analysis focused on the most important knowledge and skills for newly licensed lawyers (defined as lawyers within their first three years in practice).
Like the current bar exam, the NextGen bar exam will be administered, and the written portions graded, by the individual US jurisdictions. The exam will be administered over one and a half days, with six hours of testing time on day one and three hours on day two. The current bar exam is typically administered in 12 hours over two full days.
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About the National Conference of Bar Examiners
The National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE), headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin, is a not-for-profit corporation founded in 1931. NCBE promotes fairness, integrity, and best practices in bar admissions for the benefit and protection of the public, in pursuit of its vision of a competent, ethical, and diverse legal profession. Best known for developing bar exam content used by 54 US jurisdictions, NCBE serves admission authorities, courts, the legal education community, and candidates by providing high-quality assessment products, services, and research; character investigations; and informational and educational resources and programs. In 2026, NCBE will launch the next generation of the bar examination, ensuring that the exam continues to test the knowledge, skills, and abilities required for competent entry-level legal practice in a changing profession. For more information, visit the NCBE website at https://www.ncbex.org.
About the Next Generation of the Bar Exam
Set to debut in July 2026, the NextGen bar exam will test a broad range of foundational lawyering skills, utilizing a focused set of clearly identified fundamental legal concepts and principles needed in today’s practice of law. The skills and concepts to be tested were developed through a multi-year, nationwide legal practice analysis, focused on the most important knowledge and skills for newly licensed lawyers. Designed to balance the skills and knowledge needed in litigation and transactional legal practice, the exam will reflect many of the key changes that law schools are making today. NCBE is committed to ensuring a systematic, transparent, and collaborative implementation process, informed by input from and participation by stakeholders, and guided by best practices and the professional standards for high-stakes testing. For more information, visit https://nextgenbarexam.ncbex.org/ or https://www.ncbex.org/exams/nextgen.
