New York is announcing reciprocity agreements with states also offering the October online bar exam, held by the National Conference of Bar Examiners.
New York State Board of Law Examiners announced in a notice on Monday reciprocity agreements with Connecticut, New Jersey, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, District of Columbia, Maryland, Ohio, Tennessee, and Vermont.
“The board will continue its efforts to secure reciprocity with other UBE jurisdictions administering the remote exam and will provide updates as additional information becomes available,” according to the notice.
A number of jurisdictions have announced reciprocity agreements, even though the upcoming October online test is not a uniform bar exam.
In June, the National Conference of Bar Examiners announced in June it would offer an abbreviated online bar exam in addition to in-person July and September UBE tests.
Around 20 jurisdictions plan to use NCBE materials for an October online exam and while 25 states held July in-person exams, 15 jurisdictions announced plans for a September test.
The online test scheduled for Oct. 5 and Oct. 6 will provide limited questions from the multistate bar exam, the multistate essay exam, and the multistate performance test.
“Remote testing is a significant departure from the conditions under which the [UBE] is administered, and scores earned on the remote test are therefore not comparable to those earned on a standard in-person administration of the UBE,” Judith Gundersen, NCBE’s president and CEO, told the ABA Journal.
New York’s transferable score agreements apply only to the following candidates:
1) Any candidate who graduated from an ABA-approved law school with a J.D. degree and who has not previously sat for a bar exam in any U.S. jurisdiction;
2) Any foreign-educated candidate who graduated from an ABA-approved law school with an LL.M. degree and who has not previously sat for a bar exam in any U.S. jurisdiction
3) Any candidate who graduated in 2018 with a J.D. degree from an ABA-approved law school and who sat for one prior administration of the UBE but who has not sat for more than one prior bar exam in any U.S. jurisdiction;
4) Any candidate who graduated in 2019 or later with a J.D. degree from an ABA-approved law school and who previously took the UBE and failed no more than two times.
Transferred scores will not be accepted from candidates who do not meet one of the aforementioned criteria.