New Mexico bar exam: Legacy or current exam until July 2027; NextGen afterward.
| July exam | May 1, late filing May 15 |
| February exam | Nov. 1, late filing Dec. 15 |
| Fees | First-time $750 / $1,250; attorney $750 / $1,250; repeater $500 / $750 / $1,250; laptop $100 |
| MPRE minimum | 80 |
Dates can change. Check the board’s site before you pay.
Before filing in New Mexico, check the current NCBE profile ↗.
| Rule | Rule 15-306 NMRA (recompiled from 15-301.3): military spouse limited license |
| Accommodation | Conditional limited license without exam pending character-and-fitness review; New Mexico's implementation is currently the subject of a DOJ SCRA-portability lawsuit (filed 2025) |
| Duration | Expires 180 days after the earliest of: spouse's transfer outside New Mexico, dependent status ending, applicant relocating, full bar admission, or voluntary termination |
| Supervision | Not required |
| Adopted | Originally adopted as Rule 15-301.3; recompiled and approved as Rule 15-306 on November 15, 2023 |
Confirm current status directly with New Mexico's bar admission authority ↗: this area of law shifted federally in December 2024 and states are still catching up.
New Mexico lists six paths: the first-time bar exam, re-examination for applicants who did not pass the UBE in any state, transfer of a UBE score, reciprocity, limited license, and reinstatement. A UBE transfer is for applicants who took the UBE within the last five years and scored 260 or above. Reciprocity is for attorneys licensed elsewhere with at least five years of practice in a reciprocal state. A limited license is for attorneys working with an approved government or legal service agency, military spouses, in-house counsel and law professors, and reinstatement is for New Mexico attorneys inactive two years or more or suspended.
The Board's site announces a new exam format beginning in July 2027 and a New Skills-Based Examination, described only as coming in 2027, with a separate skills-based pathway page. Admission is governed by Rules 15-101 to 608 NMRA.
A first-time applicant needs a JD from an ABA-approved school, or a JD from a non-ABA school plus licensure in another state for four of the six years before applying, must show good moral character and fitness, must be in good standing in any other jurisdiction of admission, and must comply with any child or spousal support orders. For the July exam applications open February 1, the deadline to avoid a late fee is 5:00 p.m. Mountain Time on May 1, and the final deadline with a late fee is May 15. For February, applications open September 1, the no-late-fee deadline is November 1, and the final deadline is December 15.
The Board warns that an application filed just before a deadline with missing or incorrect items may draw the late fee or be denied as untimely. The first-time application fee is $750 and the late fee is $500. An applicant uploads a credit report no more than 30 days old from one of the three major bureaus, along with an acknowledgment and release form and a certificate of understanding.
Source: First Time Bar Exam ↗
Once the Board accepts the application, the applicant must take the MPRE, score at least an 80 and have it reported, complete fingerprints and a background check through IdentoGo (in-state applicants are processed digitally and out-of-state applicants request fingerprint cards), and have the law school send a certification and transcripts. The applicant also completes the required New Mexico law class, sends certificates of good standing and disciplinary history from other states that are no more than 30 days old, and arranges for three licensed attorneys in good standing to send character and fitness forms.
For July 2026 the Board reported a pass rate of 55% for all takers and 72% for first-time takers. It then posted two lists of successful examinees. The first is applicants the Board certifies to the Court as having met every requirement for admission. The second is applicants who passed the exam but have not finished the MPRE requirement or other requirements, and whose admission is deferred until they do.
An unsuccessful examinee can order the MEE and MPT answers for $15.00. The request is open only until the 60th day after results are posted, so the request is time-limited, and it is available to unsuccessful examinees only.
Source: New Mexico Board of Bar Examiners: Bar Exam Results (July 2026) ↗
The Board published a passage-rates study in August 2025, prepared by Paul Guerin, Ph.D., on 1,852 first-time examinations between July 2017 and February 2025. It reports an average score of 282.6, a median of 282 and more than 80% of first-time takers passing. Takers sat on average 1.6 years after graduating, half of them within about four months, and averaged 31.4 years of age (median 29). University of New Mexico graduates were 44.6% of first-time takers.
The study's model found that race and ethnicity was the most influential factor in outcomes. The odds of failing were higher than for White examinees for every racial and ethnic group, ranging from an odds ratio of 1.9 for the group it calls Other to 10.7 for American Indian examinees. Gender was not statistically significant. Older takers and graduates of lower-ranked schools had higher odds of failing, and examinees who did not graduate from UNM were three times more likely to fail (odds ratio 3.0).
The study says its review was limited, because it had no LSAT scores, law school or undergraduate GPAs, bar preparation data or socio-demographic data. It calls the fit of its data moderately good, so read the numbers as the Board's own descriptive analysis, not as a prediction for any one candidate.
Source: New Mexico Board of Bar Examiners: Bar Exam Passage Rates Study (August 2025) ↗
260 or above, taken within the last five years. New Mexico lists UBE transfer as its own path to admission.
5:00 p.m. Mountain Time on May 1 for July and November 1 for February to avoid a late fee. The final deadlines with a $500 late fee are May 15 and December 15.
$750 for a first-time applicant, plus a $500 late fee if you file in the late window.
At least an 80, reported to the Board after your application is accepted.
At least five years of practice in a reciprocal state, for an attorney licensed outside New Mexico.
Yes, if you have been licensed in another state for four of the six years immediately before you apply.
The MPRE score, fingerprints, law school certification and transcripts, the New Mexico law class, certificates of good standing and disciplinary history no more than 30 days old, and three attorney character forms.
The Board says a new exam format begins in July 2027 and a New Skills-Based Examination is coming in 2027, with a separate skills-based pathway page on its site.
55% for all takers and 72% for first-time takers, as reported by the Board of Bar Examiners. Its pass list is split into applicants certified for admission and passers whose admission is deferred pending the MPRE or other requirements.
Yes, for $15.00 you can request all your MPT and MEE answers, but only up to the 60th day after results are posted, and only if you were unsuccessful.
Compare other state bar exam guides: New York · North Carolina · North Dakota · Ohio · Oklahoma · Oregon
Source: NCBE Comprehensive Guide: New Mexico ↗ · reviewed August 21, 2026.