How Do You Get Admitted to the Nevada Bar?

The State Bar of Nevada administers admission: its own admission requirements page states that applicants will not be admitted to the State Bar of Nevada until they receive a passing score of 85 or better on the MPRE.

The Nevada Plan rules took effect January 19, 2026 under ADKT No. 629, and since the bar retired its traditional exam after the July 2026 administration, the path for every applicant is the Nevada Comprehensive Licensing Examination rather than a single exam sitting.

Applications, the FLE, the LPE, supervised practice and the character and fitness application run through the bar.

Nevada no longer gives a conventional bar exam.

Since the conclusion of the July 2026 administration, every applicant licenses through the Nevada Plan, which has four components: the MPRE, the Foundational Law Examination (FLE), the Lawyering Performance Examination (LPE) and the Supervised Practice Program (SPP).

The FLE is a 100-question, closed-book multiple-choice exam given on a computer at a testing center; the bar lists upcoming dates of December 17–18, 2026, February 18–19, 2027 and October 28–29, 2027, and it can be taken after 42 law-school credits.

The LPE presents three practical drafting scenarios modeled on the old Nevada Performance Tests, must be taken after graduation, and is offered in January and June.

The SPP requires at least 40 hours of supervised practice plus a self-directed learning project and journaling; attorneys with qualifying recent practice may apply for an exemption (see admission on motion below).

All components must be completed within a 6-year eligibility window that runs from 3 years before to 3 years after passing the LPE.

Nevada requires a J.D. from an ABA-accredited law school, and applicants who did not earn one, or who are foreign licensed attorneys, must first be approved by the bar's Functional Equivalency Committee before applying for any component of the Comprehensive Licensing Exam.

Applicants can start before graduation: the FLE can be taken after 42 law-school credits, while the LPE waits until after graduation.

Our research did not capture the rest of the eligibility rule set, such as filing deadlines and document requirements, so confirm eligibility with the State Bar of Nevada before you apply.

Nevada requires a scaled MPRE score of 85 or better, and the bar will not admit an applicant without it; NCBE's jurisdiction page for Nevada lists the same 85 as of October 2026.

The MPRE is a two-hour, 60-question multiple-choice exam offered three times a year.

Scores are reported on a scale from 50 to 150, and each jurisdiction sets its own passing score.

The exam measures knowledge of the established standards of lawyer conduct rather than personal ethical values.

The Nevada Plan includes a character and fitness application: the bar's fee schedule prices it at $380 for applicants already admitted in another jurisdiction and $140 for non-attorneys.

Character and fitness investigations are part of the admission process in every jurisdiction, and NCBE — which runs investigations for many but not all jurisdictions — makes no decisions or recommendations; each jurisdiction decides who is fit to practice.

Our research did not capture how the State Bar of Nevada weighs an applicant's history, so questions about a specific record belong with the bar's admissions team.

No. The bar states plainly that Nevada has no reciprocity or admission by motion of any kind, and NCBE's jurisdiction page likewise lists Nevada as having no rules providing for admission on motion as of October 2026.

There is no attorneys' exam either: a lawyer licensed elsewhere completes the same Nevada Plan as a first-time applicant.

Nevada also does not accept transferred UBE scores — the exam NCBE coordinates — and does not plan to adopt the NextGen UBE.

The SPP is the component with an exemption: attorneys with more than six continuous months of active, licensed practice in a U.S. jurisdiction within the last two years may apply to be exempted from the Supervised Practice Program, though the FLE, LPE and MPRE still apply.

Nevada Plan fees are charged per component.

For applicants already admitted in another jurisdiction, the fee schedule lists $325 for the FLE, $500 for the LPE, $350 for the SPP and $380 for the character and fitness application; for non-attorneys the same components run $150, $265, $350 and $140.

A late fee of $150 applies per component, and the page states there are no refunds.

The MPRE carries its own separate fee: $185 for all 2026 and 2027 administrations.

After licensure, State Bar of Nevada annual fees are $250 for active members admitted in any jurisdiction less than 5 years and $450 for 5 years or more, with an inactive rate of $125, due January 1 and late after March 2.

Our research did not establish pass rates or results timing for the Nevada Plan, so both belong with the State Bar of Nevada — and check the bar's fee page for the current schedule before you pay.

No on both counts.

NCBE marks Nevada as a jurisdiction that never adopted the Uniform Bar Examination, and its Nevada jurisdiction page shows that Nevada does not accept UBE scores and does not plan to adopt the NextGen UBE, the exam NCBE first administered in July 2026.

As of October 2026, NCBE's adoption map shows only four jurisdictions with no NextGen adoption: Arkansas, Louisiana, Nevada and Puerto Rico.

Nevada runs its own licensing plan instead.

Yes, but through approval first.

Nevada's rule covers two groups — graduates of law schools without ABA accreditation and foreign licensed attorneys — and both must be approved by the Functional Equivalency Committee before applying for any component of the Comprehensive Licensing Exam.

Our research did not capture what the committee evaluates or how long approval takes, so foreign-trained applicants should begin with the bar's requirements-for-attorneys page and the committee itself.

The break is recent and easy to miss if you are reading older material.

The exam Nevada gave through the July 2026 administration — six Nevada essays, the MBE and two Nevada Performance Tests — has been retired, and the bar states there will be no further administrations of that format.

The Nevada Plan rules took effect January 19, 2026, under ADKT No. 629, and since the conclusion of the July 2026 administration every applicant, including experienced out-of-state lawyers, licenses through the Nevada Plan.