Hopeful lawyers-to-be should be prepared to take a revised version of the bar exam, starting in July of 2027.
The Kentucky Supreme Court made the announcement, with the court recently voting to be an early adopter of the NextGen exam being developed by the National Conference of Bar Examiners. NextGen will replace the Uniform Bar Examination that Kentucky has been using since February 2021. While the UBE focuses on memorization of doctrinal law, the new exam will concentrate on skills-based knowledge.
The exam will test nine areas of legal doctrine, including civil procedure, contract law, evidence, torts, business associations, constitutional law, criminal law, real property and family law. It will cover seven foundational lawyering skills such legal research, legal writing, investigation and evaluation, client counseling and advising, and client relationship and management. Tenets of attorney ethics will be also tested in conjunction with other topics and skills. The exam will be administered over one-and-a-half days, with six hours of testing on day one and three hours on day two. This is shorter than the time required for the current exam, which is administered in 12 hours over two days