Jan. 14, 2026 – A petition filed in the Wisconsin Supreme Court recently by the Board of Bar Examiners (BBE) would add Wisconsin to the states using the Uniform Bar Exam (UBE) – in theory making it easier to draw new attorneys who passed the UBE in other states.

Petition 25-04 reflects one action item in the Supreme Court’s Attorney Recruitment and Retention Committee Report and Recommendations released in November.

The report highlighted possibilities to increase the supply of lawyers in Wisconsin, especially in rural areas.

Thirty-nine states and the District of Columbia have approved using the UBE, including all states surrounding Wisconsin.

The Supreme Court has not acted yet on the petition filed Dec. 17. The BBE has not requested a hearing but does not object if the Supreme Court sets the petition for public hearing. The BBE’s petition requests adoption before the July 2026 bar exam.

Rule Changes

The petition primarily would change or create sections of Supreme Court Rule (SCR) 40.04.

SCR 40.04(2) would mandate the BBE administer the UBE prepared by the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE), starting in July. Starting in July 2028, the BBE would begin using the NCBE’s successor to the UBE, commonly known as the NextGen Bar Exam.

If that schedule is too ambitious, the BBE suggested making the change effective for the February 2027 bar exam.

New SCR 40.04(9) would make a UBE score from any jurisdiction of at least 260 (out of 400 points) within the last 36 months eligible for admission to Wisconsin’s bar.

Applicants to the Wisconsin bar using the UBE or NextGen – regardless of where the applicant took the test – would also have to complete 30 hours of education on Wisconsin law and practice, based on course requirements for diploma privilege in SCR 40.03, according to proposed SCR 40.04(10).

In its memorandum in support of its petition, the BBE anticipates that such online classes would be available from various sources, including the State Bar of Wisconsin.

Wisconsin’s diploma privilege, which supplants the bar exam for U.W. Law School and Marquette University Law School graduates who complete the required courses, means a majority of annual admittees to the Wisconsin bar never need to take a bar exam.

Although attorneys admitted to bars in other states may move the Supreme Court for admission based on proof of practice, that process requires three years of practice in the previous five years.

Like many states, Wisconsin’s bar exam includes an essay component with questions about state-specific law and the Multistate Bar Examination (MBE), a multiple-choice test.

The UBE includes a Multistate Essay Examination (30%), a Multistate Practice Examination (20%), and the MBE (50%). States may change the weight of the components and create requirements covering state-specific law, the NCBE website explained.

All applicants to the Wisconsin Bar must pass BBE’s character and fitness evaluation.

Report Documented Declines

The Supreme Court’s Attorney Recruitment and Retention Committee Report set out six recommendations for further research by component groups of the committee established by Chief Justice Annette Kingsland Ziegler in 2024.

The full committee is scheduled to reconvene in November to review progress in developing the committee’s recommendations.

Citing the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Profile of the Legal Profession 2024, the report said Wisconsin has an average of 2.6 attorneys per 1,000 residents.

That’s well below the ABA national average of 3.9 and lower yet than averages in neighboring Illinois, of 4.9, and Minnesota, of 4.6 attorneys per 1,000 residents.

The Milwaukee and Madison metropolitan areas contain about three-quarters of the state’s attorneys – but less than half the population.

Statewide the “number of active attorneys associated with circuit court cases of any type … has decreased by about 10% over the past eight years,” the report said.

It’s harder yet to find a lawyer in a criminal proceeding. Between 2017 and 2024, defense attorneys in criminal felony cases have declined 14% while the number of such cases has increased 14%.

Southwestern and northern Wisconsin have experienced the largest declines of practicing lawyers, as much as 13% in southwestern Wisconsin between 2020 and 2025.

A ‘Pathway’ to Wisconsin Practice

The committee recommended adoption of the UBE as an “additional pathway[] for admission to the State Bar of Wisconsin.

“By broadening eligibility through the UBE, Wisconsin may be better able to draw upon the services of attorneys who attended law school outside of Wisconsin.”

Transferability of UBE test scores offers to “expand options for recent graduates from adjacent states to become licensed in Wisconsin more readily,” the report explained, addressing specifically “the decline in Wisconsin’s attorneys … most pronounced in areas that border neighboring states.”

The BBE had been reviewing NCBE test offerings and recommended UBE adoption in a letter to the Supreme Court in October, the BBE explained in its memorandum in support of its rule petition.

Law Deans Approve

“At the Court’s request,” the memorandum explains, the BBE “asked that the Wisconsin law school deans provide their individual comments or concerns about the proposal. Both the Deans responded favorably to the proposal and did not note any concerns about it.”

The deans expanded on their support.

“I support authorizing the use of the UBE in Wisconsin for the reasons stated in the recent report of the Attorney Recruitment and Retention Committee, of which I was part,” said U.W. Law School Dean Dan Tokaji.

“Moving to the UBE could make it easier for lawyers who have taken that exam in other states to become members of the Wisconsin bar. It could therefore help ease the shortage of legal services in rural parts of the state.”

Marquette University Law School Dean Joseph Kearney’s support noted the process.

“I have been impressed by the way the Wisconsin Supreme Court has been ensuring that it connects with multiple stakeholders, not only the state’s law school deans but also any number of other individuals, in reviewing the form of the bar exam,” which “is consistent with its hands-on approach to regulating the legal profession in Wisconsin.”

“It seems to me that the Court is remaining attentive and responsive to national developments concerning lawyer regulation while keeping a close eye on what is needed and works in Wisconsin,” Dean Kearney said.

First UBE Adoption in 2010

Missouri became the first state to adopt the UBE in 2010, when 10 to 20 other states were considering the change.

Although Missouri historically tested on state-specific law, the director of its board of bar examiners said the UBE offered sufficient abilities to test lawyer competency.

Assistant deans of career planning at Wisconsin’s law schools noted then that a test that offered transferable scores would increase opportunities – and competition.

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