Utah Bar Exam

Utah Bar Examiners

Utah State Bar
Utah Law & Justice Center
645 South 200 East
Salt Lake City, UT 84111-3834
(801) 531-9077

Bar Exam Format

Because Utah adopted the Uniform Bar Exam (“UBE”), the Utah bar exam format consists of the MEE, MPT, and MBE.

Day 1

On day one, the three-hour morning session has six MEE questions to answer and the three-hour afternoon session has two MPT tasks to complete.

Day 2

On day two, the 3-hour morning session has 100 MBE questions to answer, and the 3-hour afternoon session has 100 more to answer.

Reciprocity

If you fulfill all other applicable prerequisites, then you can obtain admission to the Utah State Bar without taking the Utah bar exam when: 1) you are a lawyer who qualifies for such admission on motion; or 2) you transfer into Utah a passing UBE score.

Subjects/Topics

The Utah bar exam essay questions may test these subjects:

  • Agency;
  • Article 9 of the U.C.C. – Secured Transactions;
  • Conflict of Laws;
  • Constitutional Law;
  • Contracts (including Article 2 of the U.C.C. – Sales);
  • Corporations;
  • Criminal Law (including Criminal Procedure);
  • Decedents’ Estates;
  • Evidence Law;
  • Family Law;
  • Federal Civil Procedure;
  • Limited Liability Companies;
  • Partnerships;
  • Real Property;
  • Torts; and
  • Trusts and Future Interests.

Bar Exam Dates

The Utah bar exam is held in February and July. The exam is usually on the last Wednesday and prior Tuesday of each month.

2024

  • February 27-28, 2024
  • July 30-31, 2024

Exam Results

Commonly, eight weeks after the Utah bar exam, the Utah Board of Bar Commissioners posts the exam results on their website by listing the takers’ pass or fail status and mailing their results to them.

Scoring/Grading

To pass the Utah bar exam, you have to score at least 270.  The Utah Bar Examiner Committee calculates the score by adding the scaled written component score to the scaled Multistate Bar Exam (“MBE”) score.  The Utah committee weights the MBE 50%.  For the written component, the Utah committee weights the Multistate Essay Exam (“MEE”) score 30%, and the Multistate Performance Test (“MPT”) score 20%.

Pass Rate/Stats

Traditionally, total takers have pass rates from 70% to 87%, first-time takers have pass rates from 79% to 91%, and repeat takers have pass rates from 27% to 72%. Each Utah bar exam’s pass rates can vary.