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News from the courts/agencies

Thursday, Jul. 28, 2016
Adoption of Uniform Bar Examination
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The Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court have endorsed the recommendation of the Committee to Examine the Uniform Bar Examination (Committee) to adopt the Uniform Bar Examination (UBE), with an effective date of July 2018. The Justices also endorsed the Committee's recommendation that, beginning in July 2018, applicants for admission to the Massachusetts bar be required to complete a new local component program that will ensure that newly-licensed attorneys are familiar with key Massachusetts laws and procedures. The Court will appoint working groups to develop the Massachusetts law component and to prepare for the transition to the UBE.

The UBE is a uniformly administered, graded, and scored bar examination prepared by the National Conference of Bar Examiners. The UBE produces a portable score that can be transferred to other UBE jurisdictions, subject to the applicant's satisfying any additional requirements imposed by a jurisdiction. Each jurisdiction sets its own pass rate for the UBE.  To date, 23 states and the District of Columbia have adopted the UBE. Eight of these jurisdictions have adopted a local law component.

Hon. Robert J. Cordy and Hon. Margot Botsford, justices of the Supreme Judicial Court, chaired the Committee. MBA Past President Richard P. Campbell represented the Massachusetts Bar Association on the Committee. A full list of Committee members is available below.

Committee Members Organization
Assoc. Dean Maris Abbene, Esq. Boston College Law School
Barbara F. Berenson, Esq. Supreme Judicial Court
Geoffrey R. Bok, Esq. Board of Bar Examiners
Hon. Nonnie Burnes (ret.) Supreme Judicial Court Standing Advisory Committee on Professionalism
Richard Campbell, Esq. Massachusetts Bar Association
Dean Michael Coyne Massachusetts School of Law
Clerk Maura S. Doyle, Esq. Supreme Judicial Court for the County of Suffolk
Melinda F. Drew, Teaching Professor Northeastern University School of Law
Rebecca Flanagan, Asst. Professor University of Massachusetts Law School
Professor Andrew Kaufman Harvard Law School
Wayne Kennard, Esq. Boston Bar Association
Kandace Kukas, Asst. Dean Western New England University School of Law
Carol R. Lev, Esq. Supreme Judicial Court
Mela Lew, Esq. Board of Bar Examiners
Dean Maureen O'Rourke Boston University School of Law
Dean Andrew Perlman Suffolk University Law School
Alice Richmond, Esq. Board of Bar Examiners (former member)
Nan M. Sauer, Esq. Massachusetts LGBTQ Bar Association
Professor Paul F. Teich New England Law, Boston
Marilyn J. Wellington, Esq. Board of Bar Examiners