Tennessee Bar Exam Information

2010 exam dates and location(s)

The February 2010 Tennessee bar exam will take place on Wednesday, February 24 and Thursday, February 25. The July 2010 Tennessee bar exam will take place on Wednesday, July 28 and Thursday, July 29. Exams are given at the following locations: Nashville School of Law (Nashville), University of Tennessee School of Law (Knoxville), and University of Memphis School of Law (Memphis).

Subject matter (MBE subjects are in bold)

Constitutional Law (Federal and Tennessee); Criminal Law (Substantive and Procedural); Contracts; Torts; Property (Real and Personal); Evidence; Civil Procedure (Federal and Tennessee); Business Organizations (including Agency, Partnerships, and Corporations); Commercial Transactions (Articles 1, 2, 3, 6, and 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code); Wills and Estates; Domestic Relations; Professional Responsibility; Restitution and Remedies; and Conflict of Laws.

Structure

The Wednesday exam day consists of the MBE. The MBE is a 200 question multiple choice exam. 100 questions are asked in the morning over a three hour period, and 100 questions are asked in the afternoon over a three hour period. The MBE has 33 questions each for Contracts and Torts, and 31 questions each for Constitutional Law, Criminal Law and Procedure, Evidence, and Real Property. 190 of the 200 questions are graded, the other 10 are experimental. 200 questions over six hours averages out to 1.8 minutes per question. The Thursday exam day consists of 12 essays.

Scoring

An examinee who achieves a scaled MBE score of 125 must pass nine of 12 essays; an examinee who achieves a scaled MBE score of 130 must pass eight of 12 essays; and an examinee who achieves a scaled MBE score of 135 must pass seven of 12 essays.

MPRE

An examinee must achieve a minimum scaled score of 75 on the MPRE within two years of his or her first attempt at taking the Tennessee bar exam.

Pass rate

Tennessee’s pass rate for the July 2008 exam was 86% for first time takers, and 80% for all takers.

Other exam information

Tennessee accepts concurrent MBE scores. Requests for permission to sit concurrently for the MBE in another jurisdiction and the essay exam in Tennessee must be made in writing to the Board at the time that the Tennessee application is submitted.

Laptop testing will be available for the essay portion of the February 2010 Tennessee bar exam. There is no limit to the number of examinees who may take the exam with a laptop. Note that laptop testing will be available at only the Nashville location. Examinees who wish to take the exam on a laptop must pay a $100 fee. The laptop registration application must be submitted concurrently with the February 2010 bar exam application.

Bar examiner contact information

Application deadlines

An application to sit for the Tennessee bar exam consists of a notice of intent, exam application, and applicable fees.

The following deadlines* apply to the February exam: the notice of intent (and fee**) must be filed by October 1, and the exam application (and fee**) must be filed by November 15. The final deadline to submit an application for the February exam is January 10.

The following deadlines* apply to July exam: the notice of intent (and fee**) must be filed by March 1, and the exam application (and fee**) must be filed by April 15. The final deadline to submit an application for the July exam is June 10.

*All deadlines are postmark dates. The Board encourages the use of regular mail as it has deemed overnight and certified mail unnecessary.

**See below for a schedule of applicable fees. All fees must be submitted in conjunction with the application.

Application fees

The notice of intent fee is $80 for timely submission, and $130 for late submission. The exam application fee is $300 for timely submission, and $400 for late submission. All fees must be paid via personal check or money order payable to “Tennessee Board of Law Examiners.” In addition to the above fees, each applicant will be assessed a fee by the National Conference of Bar Examiners for its character and fitness application.

Forms

The following is a summary of actions that must be taken to apply for the Tennessee bar exam: 1) print, complete, and mail the Notice of Intent to the Board’s office along with the applicable fee; 2) submit signed and notarized Tennessee Supplemental pages Ei-Eiii to the Board; 3) submit one original and one copy of the character and fitness application to the Board along with the applicable fee; 4) submit the Undergraduate Degree and Law Degree verification forms (the forms must be notarized and sent by the respective schools directly to the Board); and 5) submit a signed and dated “check sheet.”

Character and Fitness considerations

Each applicant must complete and submit a character and fitness application available at www.ncbex.org/ea.

The following is a summary of actions that must be taken to complete the NCBE’s character and fitness application: 1) print, sign, and notarize a completed application; 2) make two photocopies (submit one copy and retain the other); and 3) mail the original application to NCBE with payment in the form of a check or money order, or by providing credit card information.

Each applicant must also sit for an interview.

Results

The Board releases the results of the February exam in mid-April, and the results of the July exam in mid-October. All results are posted by name on the Board’s website.

*All state bar exam information is subject to change without notice; please verify this information with the bar examiner’s office.*