California Bar Withdrawal In Wayne
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Intent to replace the multiple-choice questions provided by the NCBE with questions developed by a new vendor, and. Intent to change modalities to administer the exam remotely and in person at small test centers.
25 and 26 — making California the first jurisdiction to fully break away from the bar exam created by the National Conference of Bar Examiners, which is set to launch its own overhauled exam in July 2026. California is the nation's second-largest bar exam jurisdiction behind only New York.
Washington joins Oregon, Wisconsin, and New Hampshire as the fourth state that no longer requires the bar exam to become a licensed attorney. Supreme courts in California, Minnesota, and Utah are considering similar moves.
Transition Away from the MBE: Starting in 2025, California will no longer use the National Conference of Bar Examiners' (NCBE) Multistate Bar Examination (MBE) for its multiple-choice component. Instead, Kaplan will develop new multiple-choice questions specific to California.
For California ABA-accredited law schools, the pass rate for first time test-takers was 81%, up 5 percentage points from 2023. The State Bar of California reported today that 53.8 percent of applicants passed the July 2024 General Bar Examination (GBX).
Contact Center To speak with a representative, please call 800-843-9053 if you are in California. If you are calling from out-of-state, please call 415-538-2000.
The State Bar does not have a retired status option; the only voluntary statuses are active, inactive, or resigned. If you simply stop paying annual fees, your license will be suspended. Notification of retirement is also not sufficient to change your status.
All applicants for admission to practice law in California must receive a passing score on the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination and pass the California Bar Examination.
