How Do You Get Admitted to the New York Bar?

The New York State Board of Law Examiners (nybarexam.org) runs the New York bar exam and certifies passing candidates.

Admission itself is granted by one of the four Appellate Division departments, after each applicant's character and fitness review.

Once admitted, attorneys re-register every two years with the Office of Court Administration, within 30 days after their birthday, and pay $375 per registration; retired attorneys pay nothing.

Our research did not confirm any mandatory state bar membership in New York — the mandatory piece is the Office of Court Administration registration described above — and the New York State Bar Association's voluntary status was not confirmed in a primary source we read, so check with the Office of Court Administration and the association.

New York has given the Uniform Bar Examination since July 2016.

The UBE is coordinated by NCBE: the Multistate Essay Examination, two Multistate Performance Test tasks and the Multistate Bar Examination, weighted 30%, 20% and 50%, with total scores reported on a 400-point scale.

New York's minimum passing UBE score is 266, and that same passing score applies both to candidates who sit the exam in New York and to applicants who transfer a UBE score in.

The exam is given over two days, on the Tuesday and the last Wednesday of February and July.

New York's eligibility rules (22 NYCRR 520.3, 520.4, 520.5 and 520.6) set out the study routes into the bar, and the Board's fee schedule names each one: a JD from an ABA-approved US law school, law office study, study at an unapproved law school, or study of law in a foreign country.

UBE jurisdictions, New York included, still independently decide who may sit and what education qualifies.

Law office study and the foreign-law-graduate route have their own sections below.

Our research captured the routes and their fees, not the full text of each eligibility rule, so read the Board's requirements and the rules themselves before you apply.

New York requires an MPRE scaled score of 85, which NCBE's jurisdiction page for New York also lists as the minimum passing score.

The MPRE is a two-hour, 60-question multiple-choice exam on established standards of lawyer conduct, offered three times a year, and each jurisdiction sets its own passing score on the 50-to-150 scale.

A passing MPRE score stays valid in New York for four years from the test date.

The character and fitness review comes after the exam: the Board of Law Examiners certifies passing candidates, and the Appellate Division department reviewing the application admits them.

Background investigations are part of the admission process in every jurisdiction, and NCBE, which runs investigations for many boards, makes no character and fitness decisions or recommendations — each jurisdiction decides who is fit to practice.

New York is among the jurisdictions that do not use NCBE's character and fitness services.

How a specific history is weighed is not something our research establishes; those questions belong with the Appellate Division department reviewing the application and with the Board of Law Examiners.

Yes, in two ways.

Admission on motion under 22 NYCRR 520.10 is open to lawyers who have practiced for at least five of the seven years immediately preceding the application, in a jurisdiction that would admit New York lawyers on a reciprocal basis; the admission-on-motion fee is $400.

Motion applicants are the one group exempt from the 50-hour pro bono requirement, and they are also exempt from the skills competency requirement.

The other route is a transferred UBE score: New York accepts scores of 266 or higher for three years from the date the applicant sat the exam, and transferring does not skip character and fitness — the receiving jurisdiction runs its own review.

NCBE charges $30 for each official score transcript a transfer uses.

The bar exam application fee is $250 for applicants qualifying under sections 520.3, 520.4 and 520.5 (a US ABA-approved JD, law office study, or an unapproved law school) and $750 for applicants who studied law in a foreign country (section 520.6), under Judiciary Law 465; the admission-on-motion fee is $400.

On the July 2025 exam, 89% of first-time Juris Doctor graduates of ABA-accredited law schools passed, as did 78% of all first-time takers; the overall pass rate was 70% across 9,931 candidates, and foreign-educated candidates were 36% of examinees.

Our research did not capture a standing results-release schedule; the Board announced the July 2025 results in a press release, so check the Board's site for current timing.

Starting with the July 2028 administration, the Uniform Bar Examination will be replaced by the NextGen bar examination; February 2028 is the last legacy UBE in New York.

New York is on NCBE's list of jurisdictions scheduled to start the NextGen UBE in July 2028.

The cutoff also applies to transfers: New York will not accept NextGen transfer scores from any NextGen exam given before July 2028, which affects candidates who sit the NextGen in another jurisdiction from July 2026 to February 2028.

NextGen scores are reported as one number on a 500-to-750 scale, and NCBE says legacy and NextGen scores should not be compared directly; NCBE says most jurisdictions have set NextGen passing scores between 610 and 620, and our research did not establish a NextGen passing score for New York.

New York is one of the UBE jurisdictions that adds a state-law component before admission.

Every New York exam and UBE-transfer applicant must complete the online New York Law Course (NYLC) and pass the New York Law Examination (NYLE), an exam that tests on New York law, under 22 NYCRR 520.9.

The NYLC cannot be completed more than one year before the candidate first sits the UBE, and an NYLE score is valid for three years.

Our research did not verify a published NYLE passing score — the rule leaves the score to the Board — so check the Board's NYLE materials for the current standard.

Not entirely — New York's law office study route still starts with law school.

Under 22 NYCRR 520.4, after a 28-credit first year at an approved law school, a candidate can complete the four years of study in a law office located within New York State, under New York attorneys.

The Board's fee schedule also shows a route through study at an unapproved law school (section 520.5).

Law-office-study applicants are exempt from the skills competency requirement.

A route like this feeds New York's bar, and other states may refuse graduates of reading-the-law routes, so don't assume another state will accept it — check with that state's board of law examiners.

Some foreign law graduates become eligible to sit for the New York bar through a US LL.M. or other graduate law degree from an ABA-approved law school, subject to New York's educational-equivalency determination.

Applicants who studied law in a foreign country apply under section 520.6, and the fee for foreign-educated applicants is $750.

The skills competency requirement applies to foreign-educated applicants who began law study after August 1, 2016, and to LL.M. programs begun after August 1, 2018.

Foreign-educated candidates were 36% of the examinees on the July 2025 exam.

Everyone admitted to the New York bar on or after January 1, 2015 must complete 50 hours of supervised, qualifying pro bono service before filing an application for admission; applicants admitted on motion are the only exception.

Each pro bono project is documented with a Form Affidavit of Compliance, filed with the admission application.

New York also has a Skills Competency and Professional Values requirement under 22 NYCRR 520.18: applicants show practice skills and professional values through one of five pathways, such as a law school certification, and motion, law-office-study and unapproved-law-school applicants are exempt.

The skills requirement applies to ABA-school and foreign-educated applicants who began law study after August 1, 2016.