Multiple State Bar Exam

Getting Licensed in Multiple States Without Losing Your Mind

I spent the better part of two years figure out a strategy for getting licensed in three states while working a full-time job. I wrote down every detail I could remember. Most people just take one bar exam and call it done. Some people, though, need to practice across state lines. Maybe you move around a lot. Maybe you work for a national firm. Maybe you run a remote practice and take on clients wherever they happen to be. Here is how I handled it, and what I would do differently next time. There is no single "multiple state bar exam." You either take the exam in each state separately, or you use one of several shortcuts that exist between certain jurisdictions. The biggest shortcut is the Uniform Bar Exam, or UBE. A UBE score from one jurisdiction transfers to other UBE jurisdictions without retaking the written portions. The problem is that not every state uses the UBE, and the minimum passing scores vary widely. New York requires a 260. Missouri requires a 260. Utah requires a 260. But some states that don't even use the UBE have their own separate requirements that make transfer impossible. I ran into this exact issue when I tried to transfer my New York UBE score to Massachusetts. Massachusetts is not a UBE jurisdiction. They require you to take their own bar exam. No amount of goodwill from the board of bar examiners changes that. I ended up having to sit for the February Massachusetts bar exam separately. That cost me roughly $2,000 in fees, travel, and lost time, not including the study materials I had to buy all over again. It was a completely unnecessary expense that I should have researched months earlier.

Planning Your Strategy Before You Register for Anything

The first thing most people get wrong is assuming they can retroactively figure out which states accept score transfers. You need to build your plan around where you actually want to practice, not where you happen to live right now. I wasted three months studying for a bar exam in a state I eventually decided not to practice in, simply because the timeline got pushed forward by a job offer I didn't have yet. Check the NCBE website for current UBE jurisdiction lists. Then check each individual state bar's website for their specific character and fitness requirements, because those vary enormously and can add months to your timeline if you have any minor issues in your past. Here is a counter-intuitive point that nobody mentions: the order in which you take your bar exams matters more than you think. Taking a harder state first is not usually the best play. I took New York first because it seemed like the hardest one, and then I felt confident about everything else. Instead, I should have taken the easiest qualifying exam first, built momentum, and used that success to fuel the harder ones. My second attempt at a different state's bar was weaker than it needed to be partly because I was already mentally exhausted from the first one. There is a real cognitive fatigue cost to multiple bar exams that compounds quickly.

Score Transfer Mechanics That Trip People Up

When you pass the UBE and want to transfer your score, you do not automatically get licensed in the other state. You apply separately, pay separate fees, and go through separate character and fitness reviews. Each state treats it like a new admission. I learned this the hard way when I passed with a 265 in one UBE state and assumed the second state would process my transfer in a few weeks. It took five months. The character and fitness review for the second state was essentially a full background check all over again. They wanted new references, new documentation, new essays. Five months of waiting while jobs came and went. The fees for score transfers range from about $400 to $1,500 depending on the state. That is in addition to whatever you already paid to take the exam. If you are looking at three or four states, the transfer fees alone can add up to $3,000 or more over a couple years. It is a significant expense that most people underestimate because they focus entirely on the exam preparation costs, which are already substantial.

My Actual Timeline and Costs

July 2021: Passed the New York UBE bar exam. Score: 265. Study period: roughly four months of full-time prep while working evenings and weekends. Cost for New York: approximately $4,200 including bar prep course, registration, travel, and hotel. October 2021: Applied for admission by score transfer to a second UBE state. Character and fitness process started. January 2022: Character and fitness for the second state was still pending. I decided to start studying for the February bar exam in a third state that does not use the UBE. This was a mistake in timing. I split my study time between a transfer application process and active bar prep for an exam that required studying state-specific law I had not touched since law school.

February 2022: Took the third state's bar exam. Scored high enough to pass. Total cost for that attempt: roughly $2,800 including a separate bar prep course, registration, and travel. The study period overlapped with the character and fitness review for the second state, which meant I was simultaneously filling out long-form disclosures about my past while trying to memorize business associations law for the MBE section of the third exam. It was not sustainable. May 2022: Second state admitted to the bar. Third state admitted to the bar shortly after. Total spend across all three states: approximately $9,500 to $10,000 when you include bar prep courses, exam fees, travel, hotel stays, and the separate character and fitness application costs. Total elapsed time: about 22 months from first exam to final admission in all three states.

What I Would Do Differently Next Time

First, I would consolidate the timeline. Take all the UBE exams back to back, ideally in the same testing window if possible, or within two weeks of each other. The mental framework for bar exam prep is similar enough across UBE states that taking them close together is more efficient than spreading them out over many months. The one exception is the state-specific essay section that some UBE-adjacent jurisdictions require. Budget extra time for those. Second, I would research character and fitness requirements for every target state before taking any bar exam. Some states ask for extremely detailed disclosures about things that would surprise you. A minor traffic violation from ten years ago might require a full written explanation. A college disciplinary action could trigger additional review. Getting that information upfront prevents you from discovering halfway through that you need six months to clear a character and fitness hurdle that could have been addressed before you ever sat for the exam. Third, I would consider whether admission by motion makes sense for any of my target states. Several states allow attorneys in good standing to be admitted without taking the bar exam at all, provided they meet certain experience and education requirements. The requirements differ significantly by state. Some want two years of active practice. Some want three. Some require you to have passed a UBE or a state exam within a certain number of years. It is worth checking because it could eliminate one or two entire exam costs from your plan.

The main downside of pursuing multiple state admissions is the financial and time burden. If you are early in your career and not sure where you will end up practicing, it may not be worth the investment yet. A lot of people take this approach too early and then spend years maintaining three or four licenses they barely use. Several states have minimal continuing legal education requirements just to keep a license active, which means you are paying dues and completing CLE hours for a jurisdiction you may never practice in. That is a real cost that accumulates silently over decades. If you are certain you will practice in multiple states, do the research upfront and build a timeline that minimizes overlap between exam prep and character and fitness processing. If you are not certain, pick the state where you most likely will practice first and wait on the others until you have a concrete need. The bar exams are hard enough once. Doing them twice or three times without a solid plan is just unnecessary suffering.