How Do You Get Admitted to the Idaho Bar?

The Idaho State Bar runs bar admission in Idaho under Section II of the Idaho Bar Commission Rules (I.B.C.R.).

Idaho is a mandatory (integrated) bar, so admission makes you a member of the bar itself: active members pay annual license fees and a Client Assistance Fund assessment and file trust account and professional liability insurance disclosure forms.

NCBE develops the exams and scores the multiple-choice portions, but it admits no one — each jurisdiction administers its own exam, and admission decisions here belong to the Idaho State Bar.

Idaho gives the NextGen UBE.

The state switched to the NextGen exam starting with the July 2026 administration, and its last legacy UBE was the February 2026 exam.

The passing score is 616 on the NextGen 500–750 scale — NCBE says most jurisdictions have set NextGen passing scores between 610 and 620, and it cautions that legacy and NextGen scores should not be compared directly.

Examinees take the test on their own laptops at in-person, proctored testing sites using NCBE's secure testing browser, not at commercial test centers.

Idaho requires a juris doctorate or bachelor of laws degree, or an equivalent basic law degree, from an Approved Law School.

The rule covers applicants who have the degree or will have received it, so final-year students can apply.

Per NCBE, graduates of foreign law schools are not eligible to sit for the Idaho bar exam.

Our research did not establish the full set of Idaho eligibility rules beyond the degree requirement, so confirm the current rules with the Idaho State Bar before you apply.

Idaho requires an MPRE scaled score of 85, which sits among the highest MPRE requirements in the U.S. Per NCBE, 21 jurisdictions set their requirement at 85 and 20 at 80.

The timing rule matters too: Idaho requires the MPRE to be taken before the bar exam or within the next two MPRE administrations after passing it.

Idaho runs its own character and fitness review and does not use NCBE's character and fitness services, so applicants file directly with Idaho rather than through NCBE.

Our research did not establish how the review weighs individual issues, so questions about a specific history belong with the Idaho State Bar's admissions office.

Yes — Idaho has three routes for lawyers admitted elsewhere that do not require sitting for the NextGen UBE in Idaho.

Admission without examination, which Idaho calls Experienced Attorney admission, requires substantial active practice in 3 of the 5 years immediately before applying, a passed written bar exam elsewhere and no failed bar exam in the past 5 years; it is not limited to lawyers from reciprocal states.

Idaho also accepts transferred UBE or NCBE bar exam scores taken within the last 37 months that meet its passing standard — 616 for the NextGen exam, or 266 for a legacy UBE score on the legacy scale.

Separately, a house counsel license is open to lawyers admitted elsewhere who work in-house for an Idaho employer that does not sell legal services.

Experienced Attorney applicants are sworn in at the Idaho Supreme Court within six months of the order of admission, and processing takes 60 to 90 days.

Application fees under I.B.C.R.

204 are $600 for a student applicant, $800 for an attorney applicant, $1,200 for an Experienced Attorney applicant and $800 for a house counsel applicant, with a $200 late fee and no refunds.

Re-examination costs $200 for each of the first three retakes and $300 for each after that.

Timely filing closes October 1 for the February exam and March 1 for the July exam; the late deadlines are November 15 and April 15.

NextGen examinees also pay NCBE a $149 exam software/technology fee on top of the application fee, and moving a score in costs $30 per Official Bar Exam Score Transcript.

On results: the February 2026 exam drew 48 examinees, with a 46% overall pass rate and 62% for first-time takers, and the July 2025 exam's overall pass rate was 81% among 143 examinees.

NCBE's pass-rate table did not yet show July 2026 results — Idaho's first NextGen administration — as of October 2, 2026.

No. Idaho has no Idaho-specific law component before admission.

The state-specific requirement comes after admission instead: new admittees must complete Idaho substantive law CLE within one year.

Admission makes you a member of the Idaho State Bar, a mandatory (integrated) bar.

The 2026 annual license fees are $485 from the fourth full year of admission onward for active members and house counsel, $350 for years one through three, and $170 for inactive status.

Active members also pay a Client Assistance Fund assessment and file a Trust Account Certificate and a professional liability insurance disclosure form.

New admittees also carry the Idaho law CLE requirement noted above.