For decades, aspiring Nevada attorneys typically followed a familiar path to licensure: pass the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam (MPRE), graduate from law school, sit for the Nevada State Bar Exam, complete a Character and Fitness review, and get sworn in.
That pathway is now changing.
Nevada has adopted a new attorney licensing system known as the Nevada Plan, or Nevada Comprehensive Licensing Examination. Effective January 19, 2026, the state began transitioning away from the traditional Nevada Bar Exam toward a three-part competency-based assessment designed to better reflect the skills attorneys actually use in practice.
If you're considering taking the bar exam in Nevada, here's what you need to know about the transition and how to prepare.
Why Nevada Changed Its Licensing Process
Nevada's move away from the legacy bar exam wasn't a sudden decision. After several years of research, the Nevada Commission to Study the Administration of the Bar Examination and Licensing of Attorneys recommended a new approach that would measure practical lawyering skills and professional competency instead of focusing primarily on memorization and rigorous testing.
The result was the Nevada Plan.
Your Guide to the Nevada Plan
The Nevada Plan is a licensing assessment built around the successful completion of three separate components:
The MPRE and Character and Fitness review remain required steps in the admissions process as well.
The FLE, LPE, and SPP can be completed separately over time and, for the FLE and SPP, while still in law school rather than through a single high-stakes examination after graduation.
Nevada's shift is occurring at roughly the same time as the National Conference of Bar Examiners’ transition to the NextGen Uniform Bar Exam (UBE). While those changes are separate, both reflect a broader movement toward assessing practical legal skills alongside doctrinal knowledge.
The Foundational Law Exam (FLE): Nevada's Knowledge-Based Assessment
The FLE is the doctrinal knowledge component of Nevada's new licensure pathway.
The exam consists of 100 multiple-choice questions in a closed-book format. You can expect coverage here of the foundational legal subjects traditionally tested on the Multistate Bar Exam (MBE), including things like Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Contracts, Evidence, and Torts.
One of the most significant differences from a traditional bar exam timeline is that you can sit for the FLE much earlier. You become eligible after earning 42 credits at an American Bar Association (ABA)-accredited law school. While this flexibility creates the opportunity to jump-start your licensure journey, it also creates the challenge of having to prepare for testing and still manage classes, internships, journals, clinics, and recruiting.
That's where a dedicated FLE-specific preparation course can make a meaningful difference.
Introducing BARBRI Nevada FLE Prep
BARBRI's new Nevada FLE Prep course was built specifically for Nevada's Foundational Law Exam using our proven legal education methodology backed by decades of bar exam preparation experience.
BARBRI Nevada FLE Prep provides:
- Structured coverage with Deep Dive lectures across all 7 tested subjects
- Nevada-specific substantive content and assessment tools
- Hundreds of practice questions
- Multiple full-length exams and frequent assessments
- An adaptive Personalized Study Plan that allows for the ability to set a course start date once the course is live (designed around the realities of the law school schedule)
Rather than trying to piece together materials intended for other exams, we make it easy for you to prepare with a program designed specifically for Nevada's licensing requirements.
Explore the BARBRI Nevada FLE Prep course. [Link when available]
The Lawyering Performance Exam (LPE): Demonstrating Real-World Lawyering Skills
While the FLE tests your legal knowledge, the LPE tests what you can actually do with that knowledge. The exam is modeled after Nevada's existing performance test format and focuses on practical legal work performed by new attorneys.
During the assessment, you can expect to be given a packet containing legal authorities, facts, and supporting materials. You will then analyze the information and complete a lawyering task similar to what a practicing attorney might encounter in a real office.
To be eligible to take the Nevada LPE, you must first graduate from an ABA-accredited law school. Success on the LPE comes by gaining targeted, graded practice on the exact skills Nevada's performance exam tests.
Introducing BARBRI Nevada LPE Prep
Performance-based testing is unique because it doesn't rely on memorization. Here, exam success comes through developing skills such as legal analysis, issue identification, fact evaluation, and professional writing. These are the kinds of skills that improve with guided practice and feedback.
BARBRI's new Nevada LPE Prep course is designed specifically for the Nevada Lawyering Performance Exam, acting as a skills-and-coaching complement to the FLE's knowledge-based preparation. The course is relevant for both recent graduates advancing through the Nevada Plan and licensed attorneys relocating from other jurisdictions who must complete the LPE regardless of prior licensure.
BARBRI Nevada LPE Prep provides:
- Guided skills development and self-assessment
- Practice exercises and a simulated exam experience
- Task-specific instructional videos
- Multiple Nevada Performance Tests
- Grading and feedback from BARBRI legal expert graders
- Coaching and instructional support
- Strategies for completing performance tasks efficiently
Because our LPE Prep course focuses on guided practice, grading, and instructional support over rote memorization of a volume of material, you build the skills and confidence to perform at a high level on exam day.
Check out the BARBRI Nevada LPE Prep course. [Link when available]
The Supervised Practice Program (SPP): Practical Exposure to the Legal Environment
The third component of Nevada’s licensing pathway is the SPP, which requires the completion of at least 40 hours of supervised legal work. These hours may be earned during law school through a clinic or externship or after graduation.
To fulfill the requirements of the SPP, you must:
- Work under an approved supervising attorney or program
- Complete a self-directed learning project
- Satisfy journaling requirements
- Perform at least four approved legal tasks designated by the State Bar of Nevada, including interviewing or counseling a client
The goal of the SPP is to ensure you gain real-world legal skills before gaining licensure and entering practice independently.
What About Attorneys Moving to Nevada?
Under the Nevada Plan, attorneys licensed elsewhere must still complete the FLE and LPE. According to the Nevada State Bar, certain experienced attorneys may qualify for an exemption from the Supervised Practice Program, depending on their practice history and approval by the State Bar.
You can find more Nevada licensure details on BARBRI's Nevada Licensure hub.
Prepare for Nevada's New Licensing Pathway with Confidence
Nevada’s new licensing pathway marks one of the most significant shifts in attorney licensure nationwide, and you don’t have to navigate it alone. With BARBRI, you have dedicated, Nevada‑specific resources designed to help you understand the changes, build the right skills, and move through each requirement with clarity and confidence.
BARBRI Nevada FLE Prep and BARBRI Nevada LPE Prep [link each to its dedicated page when available] give you structured guidance tailored to the exact expectations of the Nevada bar exam. And as the only national bar prep provider offering licensure‑pathway programs across every continental U.S. jurisdiction, BARBRI is uniquely positioned to support you wherever your legal career takes you—and wherever the profession evolves next.
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