How Do You Get Admitted to the Washington Bar?

The Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) administers lawyer admissions in Washington, under the Washington Supreme Court's Admission and Practice Rules (APR).

Those rules are the Supreme Court's: its August 6, 2026 order is what gave applicants their options after the July 2026 exam cancellation.

NCBE's role is narrower than its name suggests — it develops the exams and scores the multiple-choice portions, while each jurisdiction administers its own exam and decides whom to admit.

WSBA, not NCBE, administers Washington's admissions process.

Washington gives the NextGen UBE, NCBE's successor to the legacy Uniform Bar Examination.

Washington was among the first NextGen jurisdictions: its first NextGen exam was July 2026, with a passing score of 610, and its last legacy UBE was February 2026.

That July 2026 exam was canceled for most applicants after a venue technology failure; a make-up was given September 1–2, 2026.

The NextGen UBE runs 9 hours over 1.5 days — two 3-hour sessions on day one and one 3-hour session on day two — taken on the examinee's own laptop at an in-person, proctored testing site.

Scores are reported as one number on a 500–750 scale, with no separate multiple-choice and written scores.

Every applicant must also pass Washington's own law test, the Washington Law Component.

Applicants must pass the Washington Law Component, and examinees need an NCBE Number to sit for the NextGen UBE.

Washington also gives applicants a route to the exam without law school: completing the APR 6 Law Clerk Program qualifies you to sit for the bar exam.

Our research did not establish the full set of educational and other eligibility prerequisites WSBA applies to exam applicants, so read WSBA's qualifications pages before you apply.

Washington requires an MPRE scaled score of 85.

The MPRE is NCBE's two-hour, 60-question multiple-choice exam, offered three times a year; each jurisdiction sets its own passing score.

NCBE describes it as a measure of knowledge of established standards of lawyer conduct, not a test of personal ethical values.

Background and character investigations are part of the admission process in every jurisdiction; NCBE runs investigations for many, but not all, of them.

NCBE makes no character and fitness decisions — each jurisdiction decides who is fit to practice, and each jurisdiction also decides which questions to ask on the character report and how answers are evaluated.

A transferred UBE score does not skip this review, and NCBE's investigation fee is part of Washington's motion application.

Our research did not establish the specifics of WSBA's character and fitness process, so questions about a specific history belong with WSBA.

Yes, in two ways.

Admission by motion is for lawyers currently in good standing elsewhere who also show active legal experience in at least 1 of the 3 years before applying; the fee is $970 plus NCBE's investigation fee.

Washington also offers military spouse admission by motion under APR 3(c)(2), for $970.

NCBE's own jurisdiction pages typically list 3-of-5 or 5-of-7 year practice requirements for admission on motion; Washington's 1-of-3 threshold is shorter.

The second route is a transferred UBE score: Washington accepts legacy UBE scores of 260 or higher for up to 40 months after the exam, and NextGen scores of 610 — the legacy UBE being NCBE's earlier Uniform Bar Examination (the MEE, two MPT tasks and the MBE), which it plans to keep administering through February 2028.

A transferred score does not skip character and fitness, and applicants must still pass the Washington Law Component.

The bar exam application fee is $740 for general applicants — a $595 WSBA application fee plus a $145-plus-tax NCBE exam fee — and $790 for attorney applicants, with late filing adding $300.

Lawyers applying by motion pay $970 plus NCBE's investigation fee, and NextGen examinees also owe NCBE's $149 exam software and technology fee, paid through the examinee's NCBE account on top of the jurisdiction's fee.

On results timing, NCBE's page for the September make-up exam said scores were due in early October 2026.

Our research did not find a published pass rate for Washington's NextGen administrations; check WSBA's admissions site for current results and pass rates.

Every applicant must pass the Washington Law Component (WLC), a self-administered online course and test with an 80% minimum pass score.

NCBE notes that some UBE jurisdictions require a separate jurisdiction-specific law component before admission; Washington's is the WLC.

Yes.

Washington's APR 6 Law Clerk Program is a 4-year alternative to law school: a combination of work and study under an experienced lawyer or judge with 10 or more years of experience, done while in paid full-time employment.

Completing it qualifies you to sit for the Washington bar exam.

Law clerks need a bachelor's degree, pay $2,000 a year, and must spend at least 32 hours a week on law clerk work and study.

The program does not award a J.D., is not accredited by the American Bar Association, and may not qualify its graduates for admission in other states.

A second pathway — Admission by Portfolio Evaluation — is not open: a steering committee approved the proposal on April 1, 2026 and sent it to the Supreme Court, but it has not been adopted, and there is no application for it yet.

Washington's first NextGen UBE did not run normally: WSBA describes the July 2026 exam as canceled for the majority of applicants after a technology failure at the venue, which NCBE identifies as the Yakima Convention Center.

A make-up exam was given September 1–2, 2026 at UW Tacoma.

Under the Washington Supreme Court's August 6, 2026 order, affected applicants had four options: a conditional exam waiver for qualifying applicants, a fee-waived September make-up, a fee-waived move to the February 2027 exam, or withdrawal with a full refund.

Lawyers admitted through the 2026 exam waiver can also sit a courtesy seating exam in Washington in 2027 to earn a portable NextGen score; WSBA said additional details would be posted by October 9, 2026.