The Regulatory Review considers effects of new bar admissions pathways
A seminar article in The Regulatory Review discusses emerging reforms in how lawyers are licensed in the United States as the long-standing Uniform Bar Exam (UBE) begins to be replaced in many jurisdictions by the new NextGen Uniform Bar Exam starting in July 2026, a redesigned test that emphasizes practical lawyering skills alongside legal knowledge. The piece explains that state supreme courts and bar admissions authorities retain authority to adopt NextGen and shape their own licensure rules, and that more than 40 jurisdictions have announced plans to implement the exam by mid-2028. In addition to this shift in testing, the article highlights growing interest in alternative bar admission pathways that go beyond traditional exam passage, such as supervised practice, portfolios and competency-based models that allow candidates to demonstrate readiness to practice law through structured experience. Scholars quoted in the seminar frame these developments as a significant moment in bar admission policy, raising questions about how competence should be assessed and how reforms could influence legal education, access to the profession, and the composition of the bar.