The District of Columbia will adopt the UBE starting with the July 2016 administration of the exam. These changes were posted a few days ago and will be effective March 1, 2016. For all intents and purposes this does not changes anything about the actual exam itself, meaning the components (MBE, MEE and MPT) as well as the timing and subject matter tested, are unchanged. This does increase the portability and reciprocity of taking the DC bar exam however and is a welcome move. The court has rejected some other changes, including allowing third year law students to sit for the exam in DC, and those details are in the court order. Interestingly, there is now a limit on the number of times someone can sit for the DC bar exam, 4 times. The details of all these changes are posted in the full court order. Essentially, the rule change states that except for “extraordinary circumstances” no one will be allowed to take the DC bar exam more than four times. For those people out there that have already taken it four or more times, they will be allowed one more attempt before not being allowed to take the exam again.
Passing scores, time to apply, MBE transfer and MBE transfer minimum passing scores all remain the same. Again, these changes go into effect March 1, 2016 (after the February 2016 exam) so folks taking the exam this February need not concern yourselves.
See the full details in the court order here.
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