Details emerge about new bar exam

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By Sara Merken

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Bar exam officials have released details about structure and scoring of the new national test set to debut in July 2026, which will mark its first major redesign in 25 years. 

The NextGen UBE will be significantly shorter than the current Uniform Bar Exam, according to a new test blueprint released by the National Conference of Bar Examiners. It will also place greater scoring weight on the performance task portion of the test than the existing exam. Read the blueprint here.

The redesign of the national bar exam, which began in 2021, aims to rely more on practical legal skills and less on the memorization of laws. So far, 41 states and territories across the country have announced plans to transition to the NextGen UBE between July 2026 and July 2028. Read more about the new exam from Karen Sloan.

In New York: Hogan Lovells added former New York Jets general counsel Jill Kelley as a corporate finance partner … Debt finance partner Adam Longenbach joined Cooley from Paul Weiss … Mayer Brown hired restructuring practice leader Rich Stieglitz from Cahill … Vedder Price brought on real estate partner Robert Salame from K&L Gates and labor and employment partner John Paul Guyette from Morgan Lewis … Simpson Thacher picked up M&A partner Iliana Karaoglan from Weil.

In D.C.: Gregory Rosen, a former federal prosecutor who oversaw cases against people accused of storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, joined Rogers Joseph O'Donnell … Willkie hired financial regulatory and crypto partner Chelsea Pizzola from DRW and public company partner Hannah Thompson Frank from McGuireWoods … O'Melveny brought on Kevin Barstow, former senior counsel and special assistant to the president at the White House … Wilkinson Stekloff added partner Jolee Porter from the DOJ's computer crime and intellectual property section.

In London: Brown Rudnick hired private client partner Sarah Gogan from Harbottle & Lewis … Baker Botts added capital markets partners Patrick Lyons and Jennifer Rees from Dechert.

In Atlanta: Nelson Mullins picked up technology and privacy partner Amanda Witt from Kilpatrick Townsend … Aligned Health Law tapped partner Cameron Pariseau from Amazon's One Medical.

In Los Angeles: Thompson Hine brought on real estate partner William Ticknor from Troutman Pepper Locke … Seyfarth Shaw hired corporate partner John Babala from Greenspoon Marder …  Willkie added partner Beau Stapleton from Manatt.

In Boston: Kirkland added M&A partners Graham Robinson, Laura Knoll and Chadé Severin from Skadden … Pierson Ferdinand brought on IP partner David Boundy from Potomac Law … Privacy and cybersecurity partner Liza Cotter returned to Weil in Boston and New York from Cooley.

Across other cities: BakerHostetler hired Seattle-based partners Jessica Mitchell from Summit Law Group and Landon Sullivan from K&L Gates … Freshfields brought on former Debevoise partner Aly Love in the Bay Area as co-head of U.S. tech and life sciences M&A … Katten picked up former Kirkland healthcare partners Anthony Del Rio in Chicago and Kate Hardey in Charlotte.

New offices: Crowell will open a Boston office through a combination with life sciences law firm Faber Daeufer & Itrato … Foley & Lardner is breaking into Nashville with corporate partners Jesse Neil, Brent Bowman and Jon Gaston from Holland & Knight … Burr & Forman is launching in D.C. and Chicago with partners Dirk Haire, Joseph Cohen and Sean Milani-nia from Fox Rothschild and Jessica Haire from Thompson Hine … Cole Schotz opened in Miami with partners Luis Salazar and Jose Ceide from Salazar Law.

Class actions rarely go to trial, which is why a case against Google is proving to be an outlier. The tech giant is defending itself before a jury in Santa Clara County, California, superior court in an $800 million lawsuit by Android smartphone users who say Google misappropriates their cellphone data. In On the Case, Jenna Greene takes a look at the unfolding trial, and why Google lawyers from Cooley dispute the lawsuit's fundamental premise.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office lowered its estimate of how much President Trump's tax-cut and spending bill will add to the national debt … At least 11 people died in a crowd chaos outside an Indian cricket stadium … A CDC official resigned from a COVID vaccine committee advisory role, sources said … In his first month, Pope Leo has taken a very different approach to his predecessor Francis. Plus, a look at how Ukraine pulled off an audacious attack deep inside Russia.

sara.merken@thomsonreuters.com

@saramerken

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