New Hampshire bar exam: Legacy or current exam until July 2028; NextGen afterward.
| July exam | May 1 |
| February exam | Dec. 1 |
| Fees | First-time $995; attorney $995; repeater $995; laptop $52.50 |
| MPRE minimum | 79 |
Dates can change. Check the board’s site before you pay.
Before filing in New Hampshire, check the current NCBE profile ↗.
| Rule | N.H. Sup. Ct. R. 42: Admission by Motion, applied case-by-case |
| Accommodation | No dedicated named rule; the Board of Bar Examiners may waive strict compliance with the practice-duration requirement for a military spouse applicant on a case-by-case basis |
| Duration | Case-by-case |
| Supervision | N/A |
| Adopted | 2021 |
Confirm current status directly with New Hampshire's bar admission authority ↗: this area of law shifted federally in December 2024 and states are still catching up.
The application for the July exam is due May 1 and the application for the February exam is due December 1 of the preceding year, and the Office of Bar Admissions must receive it by then. The fee is one check or money order for $995 payable to the State of New Hampshire. The application needs an NCBE number, and applicants who need ADA accommodations submit the forms by the same deadline.
Under Rule 42(X), an applicant qualifies only if the minimum score was earned within no more than four attempts on the UBE, counting attempts in any UBE jurisdiction. The UBE is given on the last Wednesday of February and July and the Tuesday before, and every component, MPT, MEE and MBE, must be taken in New Hampshire. New Hampshire will implement the NextGen UBE in July 2028.
Source: Admission by Bar Examination ↗
Each applicant has an assigned number and papers are graded in absolute anonymity. The MBE is graded by American College Testing, and members of the Board of Bar Examiners grade the MPT and MEE, each answer on a scale of 1 to 6. The MEE is graded on law of general application, not New Hampshire law. No curve is used on an MPT or MEE answer, and an applicant does not have to pass each question, only reach an adequate overall performance.
The Board scales the combined MPT and MEE raw score to the MBE score with the mean and standard deviation method NCBE recommends. After scoring the Board conducts no further review of the MPT or MEE. Laptop use for the MPT and MEE is optional, and registration takes place in the month before the exam.
New Hampshire sets the passing MPRE score at a scaled 79. An exam applicant may take it before or after the exam, but must pass before admission, and applicants for admission without examination must pass it before filing their motion. A transferred UBE score must be 270 or better on the 400-point scale and earned within three years before the motion is filed, or between three and five years before with at least two years of primary active practice in a jurisdiction where the applicant was in good standing. The fee is $995.
The Daniel Webster Scholar Honors Program at the University of New Hampshire School of Law lets a graduate be admitted without an exam under Rule 42(XII). The graduate must apply within one year of finishing the program, at a $995 fee, and the deadline for those seeking admission on graduation is January 15.
The fee for a motion for admission without examination is $2,500, and the Board warns that review by the Committee on Character and Fitness and the Supreme Court may be lengthy. Rule 42(XI) has separate provisions for lawyers practicing in Maine and Vermont and general provisions for other reciprocal jurisdictions. Maine and Vermont lawyers applying under Rule 42(XI)(b) or (c) must complete 15 hours of CLE on New Hampshire practice and procedure before filing, and Maine is also reciprocal under Rule 42(XI)(a), which has no CLE requirement, so a Maine lawyer may choose either. Military spouses may seek a waiver of strict compliance with the duration-of-practice requirements.
Motion applicants file a petition and questionnaire with all documentation it asks for, the motion under Supreme Court Rule 42(XI)(a), (b) or (c), and, for Maine and Vermont lawyers under (b) or (c), a certificate of completion of the 15 hours of New Hampshire practice-and-procedure CLE. The Office publishes a separate packet completion checklist for each route: reciprocal jurisdiction, Vermont or Maine, and Daniel Webster Scholars. Maine counts as reciprocal under Rule 42(XI)(a), which has no CLE requirement, so a Maine lawyer may choose (a) or (c). The MPRE must be passed before the motion is filed.
Completed applications and the fee go to the New Hampshire Supreme Court Office of Bar Admissions. A courier should not be booked with a shipping option that requires a signature on delivery. Spouses of active military personnel assigned to New Hampshire may ask for a waiver of the duration-of-practice requirements for admission by motion and by transferred UBE score, by contacting the Office of Bar Admissions, and military veterans may be able to be reimbursed for New Hampshire bar exam fees.
Source: New Hampshire Bar Admissions ↗
New Hampshire's only law school, the University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law, reports its graduates' results to the ABA. For the class of 2024, 124 of 156 first-time takers passed (79.49 percent), against an ABA weighted average of 79.20 percent for the jurisdictions where its graduates sat. Of 206 graduates, 53 had not taken a bar exam at the time of the report.
Fifteen of the class of 2024 were admitted through alternative pathways to licensure, the ABA's term for licensure without sitting the exam, such as New Hampshire's Daniel Webster Scholar Honors Program; counting them lifts the school's total first-time admission rate to 81.29 percent. The class of 2023 had 11 such admissions (71.52 percent total, against 69.29 percent on the exam alone).
On the New Hampshire exam itself, UNH graduates went 43 for 53 (81.13 percent) in 2024, 20 for 35 (57.14 percent) in 2023 and 45 for 48 (93.75 percent) in 2022. The state figure for ABA-school graduates moved from 61.96 to 64.44 to 76.11 percent over those years, so the school beat it in 2022 and 2024 and trailed it in 2023.
Source: ABA Required Disclosures: University of New Hampshire bar passage report ↗
Beyond New Hampshire, the ABA report names the other jurisdictions where at least ten UNH graduates sat in a year. Massachusetts drew 19 (14 passed, 73.68 percent against 84.34 percent for ABA-school graduates there) and New York drew 11 (10 passed) in 2024; in 2023 Massachusetts drew 32 (24 passed) and Texas drew 12 (10 passed).
The two-year ultimate rate for the classes of 2020, 2021 and 2022 was 97.01, 90.91 and 90.09 percent. For the class of 2022, 100 of 111 graduates who sat within two years passed, and 11 did not take a bar exam in that time.
May 1 for the July exam and December 1 of the preceding year for the February exam. The application must be received in the Office of Bar Admissions by then.
$995, paid by one check or money order made out to the State of New Hampshire. A UBE transfer motion and admission through the Daniel Webster program also cost $995.
A scaled 79. Exam applicants may take it before or after the exam, but must pass before admission, and motion applicants must pass it before filing.
270 or better on the 400-point scale, earned within three years before filing. A score three to five years old needs at least two years of primary active practice.
The minimum score must have been earned within no more than four attempts, counting attempts in any UBE jurisdiction (Rule 42(X)).
A University of New Hampshire School of Law program whose graduates are admitted to the bar without a bar exam under Rule 42(XII), if they apply within one year of completing it.
$2,500, payable to the State of New Hampshire. Maine and Vermont lawyers using Rule 42(XI)(b) or (c) also need 15 hours of New Hampshire CLE first.
In July 2028. New Hampshire has said it will implement the NextGen UBE in July 2028.
Yes. Spouses of active military personnel assigned to New Hampshire may seek a waiver of the duration-of-practice requirements for motion and transferred-UBE admission by contacting the Office of Bar Admissions.
Yes. Maine is reciprocal under Rule 42(XI)(a), which has no CLE requirement, and Maine lawyers may also apply under (b) or (c) with the 15-hour CLE.
For the class of 2024, 79.49 percent (124 of 156 first-time takers), or 81.29 percent when 15 graduates admitted through alternative pathways are counted. The class of 2023 was 69.29 percent on the exam alone. Source: the ABA's 2025 report for the school.
Many do. In 2024, 53 of its 156 first-time takers sat in New Hampshire and 43 passed; others sat in Massachusetts, New York and elsewhere.
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Source: NCBE Comprehensive Guide: New Hampshire ↗ · reviewed August 21, 2026.