Six Things I Wish Applicants Knew About Admission by Transferred UBE Score

This article originally appeared in The Bar Examiner print edition, Summer 2024 (Vol. 93, No. 2), pp. 29–30.By Sherry M. Hieber

When I was four years out of law school, I moved from Florida to New Hampshire. Because there was no reciprocal admission, and each jurisdiction administered its own bar exam, I hunkered down, signed up for my second bar review course, and took another bar exam. The adoption of the Uniform Bar Examination (UBE) by 41 jurisdictions has allowed many of you to avoid a similar experience by having the opportunity to transfer your UBE score to multiple jurisdictions.

As of 2023, over 36,000 applicants have been admitted by transferred UBE score since the UBE’s inaugural administration in February 2011, and the numbers continue to increase as lawyer mobility increases. However, during my tenure at the New Hampshire Supreme Court Office of Bar Admissions, I still see some confusion about the policies underlying UBE score portability. The following are key points that might help as you consider transferring your UBE score.

1. UBE portability relates to the score only. UBE jurisdictions agree to accept your UBE score no matter where it is earned. However, you must comply with all other admission requirements, and those vary by jurisdiction. For example, some jurisdictions may require you to complete a jurisdiction-specific test or course to be licensed. There may also be different educational requirements; for instance, if you obtain a UBE score in a jurisdiction that accepts your foreign legal education, you will not be able to transfer your score to a jurisdiction that only licenses graduates of ABA-approved law schools. You must also complete the character and fitness process in each jurisdiction where you seek admission.

2. Each jurisdiction sets its own passing score, which ranges from 260 to 270. So, if you pass the UBE in the jurisdiction in which you took the exam, but the score does not meet the passing score in the jurisdiction to which you seek to transfer your UBE score, you will not be able to transfer your score to that jurisdiction.

3. There is a time limit on the validity of your score, ranging from two to five years from the time you earned the score.

4. Some jurisdictions set a limit on the number of attempts to pass the bar exam, and your attempts in other UBE jurisdictions count toward that limit.

5. You may wonder whether you can take the bar exam in, for example, jurisdiction A for geographical convenience, without intending to seek admission in that jurisdiction, and use the score earned there to apply in jurisdiction B. Very few jurisdictions offer this—what is referred to as “courtesy seating.” Most jurisdictions require examinees to have a good faith intention to be admitted in the jurisdiction in which they apply to take the bar exam.

6. You may wonder when you can apply to transfer your UBE score. Some UBE jurisdictions accept what is known as “concurrent applications.” This means you can file your application to sit for the exam in jurisdiction A and simultaneously apply by transferred UBE score to jurisdiction B. When you receive your score, it will be considered in both jurisdictions. The only disadvantage of applying concurrently is that if you do not receive a score that is passing in jurisdiction B, your application fee is likely nonrefundable. The advantage is that your admission will move forward more quickly than if you wait to obtain your score report from jurisdiction A.

The best resource to determine each jurisdiction’s requirements for transferring a UBE score is NCBE’s Comprehensive Guide to Bar Admission Requirements, available at reports.ncbex.org/comp-guide/. Reviewing Charts 5 through 8 and your chosen jurisdiction’s rules will be helpful as you consider transferring your UBE score. If you still do not have answers to your questions, jurisdiction administrators are happy to assist you in the admissions process.

Sherry M. Hieber is General Counsel for the New Hampshire Supreme Court Office of Bar Admissions. She is chair of the Council of Bar Admission Administrators and serves on the National Conference of Bar Examiners’ Editorial Advisory Committee.