West Virginia Bar Exam

West Virginia Bar Examiners

West Virginia Board of Law Examiners
City Center East, Suite 1200 B
4700 MacCorkle Avenue, SE
Charleston, WV 25304
(304) 558-7815

Bar Exam Format

The West Virginia UBE includes the MPT, the MEE, and the MBE.

Day 1

Day one involves answering two MPT questions in the three-hour morning session and six MEE questions in the three-hour afternoon session.

Day 2

Day two involves answering 100 MBE questions in the 3-hour morning session and 100 more of them in the 3-hour afternoon session.

Reciprocity

An attorney from another state can qualify for admission to practice law in West Virginia (“Admission”) without taking the West Virginia bar exam, if: 1) the attorney intends to practice law there; and 2) the attorney fulfills all of the eligibility requirements.  Under certain circumstances, West Virginia allows for Admission of resident law professors. West Virginia has reciprocity based on a UBE score of 270 attained in another UBE jurisdiction within the prior 3 years, effective July, 2017.

Subjects/Topics

West Virginia Uniform Bar Exam (“UBE”) essay questions can 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 West Virginia 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

Approximately seven weeks after each West Virginia bar exam, the law examiners post online the anonymous, unofficial results of the exam.  The law examiners mail official results to the exam’s takers.

Scoring/Grading

To pass the West Virginia UBE, you must score at least 270.  The West Virginia Board of Law Examiners calculates the score by combining the scores of the Multistate Performance Test (“MPT”) and the Multistate Essay Exam (“MEE”), scaling them to the Multistate Bar Exam (“MBE”), and adding them to the MBE scaled score.  The scores have these weights: MPT 20%, MEE 30%, and MBE 50%.

Pass Rate/Stats

The West Virginia bar exam’s pass rates can vary per administration.  For some traditional West Virginia bar exams, the pass rates have been:

  • for total takers, between 49% to 76%;
  • for first-time takers, between 56% to 84%; and
  • for repeat takers, between 25% to 71%.