Page 23 - 2025 May June Magazine

memorization of infrequently used black-
letter law.
Looking at the sample multiple-choice
questions provided by the NCBE, it is
not particularly clear how the questions
themselves differ from current UBE
questions (unfortunately, reproduction of
the questions in this article is prohibited
by the NCBE). However, the performance
tasks and integrated question sets do take
a new approach to testing legal doctrine
by placing examinees in a hypothetical
office and asking them to draft a memo
to a partner or prepare advice for an
upcoming client meeting.
How are law schools preparing students
for the NextGen Exam? Seattle University
School of Law is taking a proactive,
instead of reactive, approach to training
its students. Starting this year, 1Ls are
required to take a Bar Exam skills course,
and Bar Skills courses are offered for
3Ls geared towards the new kinds of
questions on the NextGen. Given the
shroud of secrecy currently shielding
the NextGen Exam, law schools are
limited in preparing students. Barbri
and Themis, Bar Exam preparation
companies, have a ssured students that
they will be well prepared to succeed on
the NextGen Exam regardless of which
program they pick.
So, as part of the first class that will take
the NextGen Bar, how do I feel about
the exam? I am both excited and scared.
Excited, of course, to have a shorter
exam with less doctrine to memorize.
Scared because jurisdictions have little
data outside that provided by the NCBE
pilot program as to how the NextGen
translates to the practice of law, and
whether it is an effective measure of
jurisprudential literacy. I am also eager to
tackle the more realistic legal questions
presented in the performance tasks. This
new subject area will feel familiar, at
least to graduates of Seattle University, as
timed “e-memos” make up a key part of
our legal writing curriculum during 1L.
As is true in being first at anything, there
is uncertainty and anxiety galore.
How do you feel about the approach
of the NextGen Bar Exam? If you had
two applicants to pick from, one having
taken the UBE and one the NextGen,
which would you pick? I’d love to hear
from local practitioners, so feel free to
send your thoughts to me at leupoldo@
seattleu.edu
Owen Leupold is a 2L at Seattle
University of Law. He will be a Summer
Associate at Gordon Thomas Honeywell
in Tacoma beginning in May 2025.
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