New York Law School Requirements 2026

New York ABA law schools by ranking

The 15 ABA-accredited New York law schools span the full ranking distribution from T14 (Columbia, NYU, Cornell) through T50 (Fordham, Cardozo, Brooklyn) to access-mission programs (NY Law School, Touro, CUNY, Pace). The selection below covers the ten most-applied-to schools by New York-resident applicants. Bar passage rates and employment outcomes are published in each school's ABA 509 disclosure and should be reviewed before enrollment decisions.

The New York Bar: UBE structure and the New York Law components

New York adopted the Uniform Bar Examination effective July 2016, replacing the older state-specific bar exam structure. The UBE administered in New York consists of three components administered over two days: the Multistate Bar Examination (200 multiple-choice questions across six hours), the Multistate Essay Examination (6 essay questions across three hours), and the Multistate Performance Test (two 90-minute simulations of attorney work product). The components are scored together to produce a single UBE score on a 0-400 scale.

New York requires a passing UBE scaled score of 266 to qualify for admission to the New York Bar. The scaled score reflects equating across administrations; the underlying raw score required varies. Approximately 50% of test-takers nationwide score 266 or above on first administration; approximately 75-80% of first-time ABA-graduate test-takers in New York pass on their first attempt.

In addition to the UBE score, New York requires applicants to complete the New York Law Course (a free online course on New York-specific substantive law covering topics not on the UBE) and to pass the New York Law Examination (a 50-question multiple-choice exam on New York-specific topics). Both can be completed before or after the UBE. The New York Law components are typically completed in the weeks before or after the UBE; they add modest study time on top of UBE preparation.

UBE portability and the cross-state career implication

UBE adoption made New York one of the most portable state licenses in the country. A New York UBE score above 266 can be transferred to most other UBE jurisdictions within the score's validity period (typically 3-5 years, with some variation by jurisdiction). The transfer requires completion of the receiving state's additional requirements (typically a state-specific online course or short exam) but does not require retesting on the UBE itself.

As of 2026, the UBE has been adopted by approximately 41 jurisdictions including most of the Northeast, Midwest, and West, with notable exceptions of California, Florida, Louisiana, Georgia, Nevada, and a handful of others. A New York-licensed lawyer can transfer to states like New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Colorado, Oregon, or Washington without retesting. Transfers to non-UBE states require taking that state's separate bar exam or qualifying for admission on motion after the required years of practice.

This portability is the single biggest practical advantage of New York licensure for applicants with cross-state career uncertainty. A lawyer who clerks in New York for the first three years and then takes a position in Boston, Philadelphia, or Chicago can transfer their UBE score to the receiving state without sitting for a second bar exam. The cost savings on bar prep (a single $3,000-$4,000 course rather than two), the time savings (one bar exam rather than two), and the calendar flexibility are meaningful.

The New York BigLaw pipeline: where the volume actually goes

New York is the largest BigLaw market in the country by absolute employment volume. The major NY firms hire approximately 1,500 to 1,800 summer associates per year across the city's BigLaw cohort. The dominant firms by hiring volume include Cravath, Wachtell, Skadden, Sullivan & Cromwell, Davis Polk, Simpson Thacher, Paul Weiss, Latham, Kirkland, Weil, Cleary, Debevoise, Cahill, Milbank, Willkie, Sullivan & Worcester, and many others.

NY BigLaw hiring patterns: approximately 70% of summer associate offers go to T14 schools (with Columbia, NYU, Harvard, Yale, and Penn providing the largest shares). Approximately 20% go to T15 to T30 schools (Cornell, Northwestern, Penn, Fordham). Approximately 10% go to T31 to T100 schools and other accredited programs. The hiring is concentrated at the top of the rankings; below T14, top-of-class positioning matters substantially.

For NY BigLaw target applicants, the school-list strategy is: apply to all T14 schools (numerical profile permitting), apply to Cornell and Fordham as the next-tier NY-feeding schools, and consider Columbia or NYU Early Decision if NY is the clearly preferred market and the numerical profile supports it. Applicants from non-NY law schools targeting NY BigLaw should plan early outreach to NY firms during 1L and active networking through alumni connections.

Frequently asked questions

Data sources: ABA Standard 509 Required Disclosures for the 2024-2025 reporting cycle; New York State Board of Law Examiners; National Conference of Bar Examiners UBE. Last reviewed 15 May 2026.