Tennessee Board of Law Examiners

Tuesday, December 24 and Wednesday, December 25, 2024, the office of the Board of Law Examiners is closed for the Christmas Holiday. The office will reopen on Thursday, December 26.

Tuesday, December 31, 2024, and Wednesday, January 1, 2025, the office is closed in observance of the New Year. The office will reopen on Thursday, January 2, 2025.

IMPORTANT NOTICE REGARDING FEBRUARY 2025 EXAMINATION APPLIICATIONS: The Final Deadline  for completing a timely filed application for the February 2025 Examination, including Requests for Non-Standard Testing Accommodations, is December 20, 2024. 

Calls or emails to the Board regarding whether your application is complete will not receive a response. Notice will be sent by email on or before Tuesday, January 14, 2025, if the Board finds an applicant ineligible to take the exam.

Note that use of any application other than the Application for First-time Applicants or Re-Examination Applicants will not transfer to an exam application. The Application Deadline was December 2, 2024.  

FOR ALL APPLICANTS: The TN BLE is a small office of 5 people, working diligently to process all admissions applications, investigations, email messages, and phone calls. Most questions can be answered by reviewing our website at www.tnble.org. If the answer to your question can be found on the website, you will not receive a response. Otherwise, you will receive a response in 24 – 36 hours. If you call the office with a question that can be answered by review of the website, you will be directed to the website and the call will be terminated. An email to any other email address at the TNBLE office, including that of the Executive Director, will receive the same responses and may further delay any response.

We appreciate your cooperation and patience. Best wishes for a joyful holiday season. 

The Tennessee Supreme Court approved increases in the fees for applications for admission by Transferred UBE Score, Without Examination (Comity) and for Registration as In-House Counsel/Foreign Legal Consel. Miscellaneous fees were increased as well. The changes are effective November 1, 2024. Effective March 1, 2025, the fee for applications for admission by examination will increase, as well. This is reflected on the new Fee Schedule at the end of this page.

The Applications for Admission by Examination for the February 2025 Examination will open at midnight, October 24, 2024. Thank you for your patience as the system was updated. The Application Deadline is December 1, 2024 and the Final Deadline is December 20, 2024. Please see “How to Apply” and the Checklists for First Time and Re-Examination Applicants available here.

On October 23, 2024, the Tennessee Supreme Court approved a change to the Fee Schedule. The fee for all applicants for admission by examination is $625, effective immediately. This reflects a change in the fee for reexamination; the first time application fee has not changed.

Grades will be released on Friday, October 11, 2024, on or before 2:00 p.m. The Pass List will be posted to this website under Success List. All applicants will receive a letter from the Board regarding their scores on or before October 14, 2024, at 4:30 p.m.

Applications for the February 2025 Examination, including Requests for Non-Standard Testing Accommodations, originally scheduled to open on October 1, will open later in October due to updates. Please check this website for updates.

Note that use of any application other than the Application for First-time Applicants or Re-Examination Applicants will not transfer to exam applications. If you pay the fee for an application other than the Exam Application, the Board is not permitted to refund the fee for the incorrect application, absent a petition withdrawing the application and a request for refund, less a fee of $150 for administrative costs.

Your patience is appreciated. There are several steps you can take to be ready when the application open later in October. The first step, after reading Tenn. Sup. Ct. R. 7, and the Board Policies and Procedure, is to complete the NCBE Background Investigation Application, found here. Please see Board Policy P-6.03 if you previously applied for admission to Tennessee to determine if you need an updated investigation. If you have not previously applied, or your application has expired, or you were missing the Law Degree Verification, Undergraduate Transcript, or foreign-education evaluation report, you can provide the forms or order the transcript/report now and the Board will hold the document until your application is submitted and paid. For more information , please see the Checklist for First-Time and Re-Exam Applications, which can be found in the main menu by clicking the “Forms” link.

The General Instruction Manual and Acknowledgement Form has been posted to the website and can be found by clicking the link on the “Forms” page and on the website, here. You must read the Manual and upload the Acknowledgement Form each time you apply for the examination as the Manual and Form are updated for each exam. You may wish to read the Manual, then complete and save the Acknowledgement Form so that it is ready to upload when applications open.

Forms required for non-standard testing accommodations requests can be found here.

Updated Law Degree Verfications forms, Non-Standard and Courtesy Accommodations forms, and forms for foreign-educated applicants are available by clicking Forms. Applications for the July examination open on March 1 and will not be available until that date.

Checklists for a complete application can be found in Forms and in the main website menu. There is a checklist for First-Time Applicants and for Re-Examination Applicants.

Website pages have been updated to include changes related to the amendments to Rule 7 and to the recently amended Board Policies and Procedure. Both are available under “Governing Authorities.”

The Tennessee Board of Law Examiners website is being updated. Pages you wish to view may not be available at this time. It is anticipated that updates will be completed by February 5, 2024.

Amendments to Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 7, adopted October 30, 2023, and new Board Policies and Procedure approved by the Court on January 22, 2024, have been posted to the website under Governing Authorities.

On October 31, 2023, the Tennessee Supreme Court entered an order amending Supreme Court Rules 6 and 7. The Order and Appendix with the changes can be found on the Tennessee Courts website here. The following is a summary of the substantive changes:

RULE 6

Paragraph (2): The requirements for a personal statement and a statement by two sponsors. The paragraph has been rearranged and the numbering revised. New paragraph (A) describes what constitutes and application for admission by affidavit; paragraph (B) directs an applicant to appear to take the oath of admission before a judicial official listed in paragraph 4; paragraph (C) clarifies the process for submitting the completed and signed application for admission by affidavit to the Clerk and includes a time limit for submission of the documents.

Paragraph (5) has been amended to include a process for virtual admission, making permanent the process implemented during the pandemic.

RULE 7

Section 1.07(f) has been modified to permit UBE score transfer, comity, or spouse of a military service member applicants to access the Tennessee Law Course upon receipt of the completed character and fitness investigation rather that after the Board approves the applicant for admission.

Section 2.01(a) has been amended to remove the phrase “before taking his or her first bar examination” as the requirement is included in paragraph (b).

Section 2.02(e) has been amended to incorporate the current ABA requirements for distance learning.

Section 3.03: THE DEADLINES HAVE CHANGED FOR FILING AN APPLICATION FOR ADMISSION BY BAR EXAMINATION.

• Sec. 3.03(a) creates two deadlines, the Application Deadline and the Final Deadline.
• The Application Deadline is May 1 for a July exam and December 1 for a February exam.
  • The correct Tennessee application and the filing fee must be received by the Application Deadline. A copy of the NCBE background investigation application must uploaded to the Tennessee application by the Application Deadline.
  • If the application is not submitted, the fee not paid, and/or the NCBE application not uploaded on or before the Application Deadline, the applicant will not be permitted to sit for the exam.
  • No new applications will be accepted after the Application Deadline, even if started prior to the Application Deadline.
• The Final Deadline is May 20 for a July exam and December 20 for a February

exam.

• To meet the Final Deadline, all supporting documents required to complete the application, including completion of all steps necessary to initiate the background investigation, must be completed, uploaded, or received on or before the Final Deadline.
  • If a required document is not received by the Final Deadline or all steps have not been completed for the background investigation to begin, the applicant will not be permitted to sit for the exam.

Section 3.05:

Paragraph (b) modifies the method for measuring time in practice for an applicant whose UBE score has expired but was not earned more than five years ago. The computation of the time in practice requirement of 3 years is measured from the date upon which the application is submitted or the date the UBE score expired, whichever is later. However, in all cases, the applicant must demonstrate sufficient time in practice prior to the final expiration of the score after 5 years.

Paragraph (c) adds as an application filing requirement that the applicant for admission by transferred UBE score must request transfer of the score from the NCBE. This was moved from Paragraph (a), as it is a requirement for the application, not for eligibility.

Section 4.04, which listed the topics tested on the Tennessee Bar Exam, was deleted as Tennessee now utilizes the NCBE MPT, MEE, and MBE test materials. Content and Scope outlines are on the NCBE website.

Section 4.08, Voluntary Withdrawal from the Examination, is new. The section details when an applicant may withdraw from the exam and what conduct during the exam constitutes a voluntary withdrawal.

Section 5.01(c) modifies the definition of active practice of law to eliminate “full-time.” The list of categories in paragraph (c)(1) has been expanded to more closely align with the list in the ABA Model Rule. Paragraph (c)(3) has been modified to include a sentence moved from paragraph (2) regarding practice pending admission.

Section 7.01 has been amended to include multiple paths for applicants who received their legal education outside the United States to meet the educational requirements. In addition to substantially equivalent education, an applicant can demonstrate eligibility with a foreign law degree and an LL. M., or a foreign law degree, a license to practice law in at least one U.S. or foreign jurisdiction, and time in practice. Each option can be documented and verified and does not require the exercise of discretion by the Board. The requirements for the Foreign-Education Report has been moved to new paragraph (c).

Section 10.01 has been revised to clarify when the registration process is complete for purpose of timeliness of the registration application and to align the filing requirements with similar requirements for other types of admission. The changes make clear that the registration is specific to the employer, registration must be completed within 180 days of establishing a systematic and continuous presence, and the steps the lawyer must take to complete registration.

Section 10.03 has been modified to clarify that law student practice is not an “admission” to the bar of Tennessee but a permission to practice under supervision. Further, the section has been revised to make clear that the supervising attorney must be an active member of the bar. The change requiring the supervising attorney to be in active status has also been added to Section 10.04.

Section 12.11 has been amended to permit release of performance test and essay question answers to applicants who are unsuccessful on the examination.

The Board of Law Examiners updated the link to forms. If you receive an error message when trying to access a form, please clear your history and cache, and do not use saved links. Go to the “Forms” link for Admission by Examination Score or Admission Without Examination to download forms.

Applications for Admission without Examination (Comity) have been delayed due to the extensive amount of time the Board and staff members have had to dedicate to administering and processing the remote examinations given between October 2020 and July 2021. At this time, review of comity applications and approval by the Board are taking an average of 14 months. The Board and staff are committed to completing the pending cases and reducing the time between application submittal and Board decision.

To permit attorneys who have been affected by the delays to continue to practice pending admission as provided in Tenn. Sup. Ct. R. 7, Sec. 10.07, the Supreme Court filed an order on November 9, 2021, modifying Rule 7, Sec. 10.07. Lawyers who submitted and paid for an application for admission by comity prior to July 1, 2021, and who have registered or subsequently register to practice under section 10.07, may continue to practice pending admission until July 1, 2022, absent a terminating event as provided in section 10.07(b).