How Do You Get Admitted to the Illinois Bar?

The Illinois Board of Admissions to the Bar, based in Springfield, administers bar admission in Illinois: it administers the bar exam and processes applications for admission to the practice of law.

The board operates under Illinois Supreme Court Rules 701–721, and the Illinois Supreme Court admits and regulates attorneys in the state.

Illinois gives the Uniform Bar Exam, the two-day exam NCBE coordinates that consists of the Multistate Essay Examination, two Multistate Performance Test tasks and the Multistate Bar Examination.

Illinois has administered the UBE since July 2019.

A total UBE scaled score of 266 is needed to pass, and on the legacy UBE the MBE is weighted 50%, the MEE 30% and the MPT 20% of that total, which is reported on a 400-point scale.

Illinois admits graduates of ABA-accredited law schools to the UBE.

The board's FAQ we read answers no to whether someone who did not graduate from an ABA-accredited law school can take the UBE in Illinois, and Illinois has no law-office-study route.

Foreign law graduates may qualify under Rule 715; our research did not establish the full set of foreign-trained requirements, so that path belongs with the Illinois Board of Admissions to the Bar.

Illinois requires a scaled MPRE score of 80.

The MPRE is a two-hour, 60-question multiple-choice exam offered three times a year, and MPRE scaled scores run from 50 to 150, with each jurisdiction setting its own passing score.

Background investigations are part of the admission process in every jurisdiction, and our research notes that Illinois runs its own character and fitness review rather than using NCBE's investigation services.

For applicants seeking admission by transferred UBE score, the board's FAQ says transferred-score applications typically take up to 6 months to process.

Our research did not establish how the board weighs individual issues in that review, so questions about a specific history belong with the Illinois Board of Admissions to the Bar.

Yes, in two ways.

Admission on motion under Rule 705 is open to lawyers who have been licensed for at least 3 years and were engaged in active, continuous, lawful practice for at least 3 of the 5 years before applying, which the board measures as 80 or more hours per month and 1,000 or more hours per year.

The total fee is $1,500, a $150 preliminary questionnaire plus a $1,350 application, and applicants licensed fewer than 15 years must also have passed the MPRE.

Illinois also admits applicants by transferred UBE score under Rule 704A: a score of at least 266 earned within the previous four years, with a $1,500 transfer application fee, and NCBE charges $30 for each official score transcript.

Illinois' 266 passing score applies to transferees as it does to examinees who sat in Illinois, and transferring a score does not skip character and fitness.

First-time applicants pay $1,200 if they file by the first deadline, $1,475 by the second, and $1,875 by the final deadline, with fees effective January 1, 2026.

For the July exam the first deadline is February 15 and the final deadline is April 30; for the February exam they are September 15 and November 30.

Fees are non-refundable and a card service fee is extra; repeat takers pay $650.

The exam is given twice a year on the last consecutive Tuesday and Wednesday of February and July, at venues in Chicago.

Our research did not establish a current Illinois pass rate; the most recent results date it notes is October 1, 2026, when the board released the July 2026 results.

Illinois will first administer the NextGen UBE in February 2028, and the legacy UBE continues until then; NCBE's adoption table also lists Illinois among the jurisdictions starting in February 2028.

The Illinois Supreme Court has set the NextGen passing score at 620, on the NextGen's own 500–750 scale — NCBE says most jurisdictions have set theirs between 610 and 620, and the legacy and NextGen scales should not be compared directly.

Illinois has accepted transferred NextGen scores since July 2026.

NCBE's NextGen examinees guide for the July 2026–February 2027 exams lists a $149 exam software and technology fee, paid through the NCBE account on top of the jurisdiction's application fee; our research did not confirm the fee for Illinois' first NextGen exam in February 2028.

No. The board's FAQ states that Illinois has no pre-admission or post-admission state-specific testing component — there is no Illinois law course or exam to pass before admission.

Illinois does have a post-admission requirement, though it is a course rather than a test: the Basic Skills Course under Rule 793.

Newly admitted lawyers must complete a course of at least 6 professional-responsibility hours plus 9 more CLE hours, 15 in total, by the last day of the month one year after admission.

Lawyers admitted on or after January 1, 2028 also need 0.5 hours on access-to-justice topics in that course.