As states adopt the NextGen bar exam, some also revisit alternative pathways for earning a law license.

As more states move to adopt the NextGen bar exam, some also are experimenting with alternative, non-exam pathways to attorney licensure.

Before the Illinois Bar Journal went to press, the Illinois Supreme Court had not yet stated whether it plans to adopt the NextGen exam. But officials with the Illinois Board of Admissions to the Bar say the move is likely. As for alternative pathways for becoming a lawyer in Illinois, such options may be interesting topics of discussion, but no formal plans are afoot to consider them, officials say.

The NextGen bar exam, created by the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE), will be delivered to lawyer candidates beginning in July 2026. Seventeen states have announced that they will be adopting NextGen, which aims to better test for “fundamental concepts and principles” and also “foundational lawyering skills.” The exam will replace NCBE’s Uniform Bar Examination (UBE), Multistate Bar Examination, Multistate Essay Examination, and the Multistate Performance Test. The UBE will be phased out completely after February 2028, including in Illinois. (The Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination will continue to be administered.)

“After February 2028, NextGen will be the only bar exam that the National Conference of Bar Examiners is providing,” says Eric Lohrenz, director of administration for the Illinois Board of Admissions to the Bar. “Jurisdictions always have the opportunity to create their own test or partner with other jurisdictions to create a uniform test among those jurisdictions. Illinois has not started to explore preparing their own test or partnering with another jurisdiction.” While there has been no formal recommendation yet concerning NextGen, Lohrenz says NextGen “is looking like the primary option at this point.”

Alternatives to the bar exam

More interesting experiments are taking place in Oregon and Washington states, where candidates can earn a law license after completing several hundred hours of a paid apprenticeship under the supervision of experienced attorneys and submitting a portfolio of their work to their respective bar-admission agencies. In Washington State, non-exam licensure options are available to law clerks enrolled in a non-law school program. Oregon and Washington also will switch to the NextGen exam.

(A few states, such as Wisconsin and New Hampshire, waive the bar exam for graduates of in-state law schools under certain conditions. A handful of states do not require a law school degree to become a lawyer, but still require passing a bar exam.)

Proponents of new non-exam pathways recognize that some exam questions and the cost of studying for the exam may favor candidates from certain demographic groups.

“The alternative pathways have the potential of reducing some of the debt associated with bar examination preparation. Because federal student loans are available only for education, not for the bar exam, new graduates incur a great deal of cost studying for the bar exam and living expenses from graduation until licensing, typically some six or more months,” says Suzanne Schmitz, president of the Illinois Board of Admissions to the Bar. “Some proponents also hope that this alternative will encourage graduates to practice in areas underserved by lawyers. Both of these are laudable goals.”

On the other hand, Schmitz says, these alternative pathways offer limited portability, whereas those who pass the UBE and NextGen can transfer their scores to dozens of other jurisdictions. Also, Washington and Oregon are relatively small states and have fewer law schools with which to coordinate preapprenticeship requirements.

While Illinois probably will not be an early adopter of alternative pathways—any formal discussion would take years before any proposals would be submitted to the Illinois Supreme Court—that doesn’t mean nothing is to be gained by discussing them.

“It is too early to tell if the alternative pathways will achieve the desired results and if they can work in a state as large as Illinois,” Schmitz says. “But all of us, including members of the Illinois State Bar Association, should study them, their advantages, and their disadvantages.”  

(The ISBA has not yet taken formal positions on the NextGen exam and non-exam pathways to a law license.)

Pete Sherman is managing editor of the Illinois Bar Journal.
psherman@isba.org