News from Nevada

Several graduates have regularly asked about the status of the bar exam given the rising COVID cases due to the Omicron variant. The TBLE has not made any announcement, so the status quo remains. Expect and study appropriately for an in-person UBE examination. Of course, as I receive any information, I will pass that along.

This bit of news did break overnight though. The Nevada Supreme Court decided to scrap its in-person bar exam and administer its February 2022 bar exam as a remote exam. This is the first U.S. jurisdiction to go remote for the February administration.

But before you read too much into this decision and question what this might mean in other jurisdictions, like Tennessee and other UBE states, it’s important to note that Nevada is NOT a UBE jurisdiction. The only test component it licenses from the NCBE component is the multiple-choice MBE.

As you recall, the NCBE has previously indicated that it’s not making its questions available for remote examinations. That seems to remain the NCBE’s current policy and perhaps the reason that Nevada’s remote exam in Nevada will NOT contain the MBE. Instead, the Nevada bar exam will consist of 7 essays and 2 performance tests, all drafted by locally by the Nevada examiners.

Since Nevada isn’t as reliant on the NCBE for its testing materials, or the portability rules of the UBE, Nevada probably has a bit more leeway, in my opinion, of being able to change the format of its examination.

So don't let Nevada's news affect your studying. Stay the course and continue to study appropriately for an in-person examination.