How to Become a Lawyer in Colorado: Exams, Costs, and Admission

To become a lawyer in Colorado, you need a bachelor’s degree, a Juris Doctor from an ABA-accredited law school, a passing score on the Uniform Bar Examination and the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination, a clean character and fitness review, and completion of a one-day professionalism course before you can take the oath. The Colorado Supreme Court sets the rules, and its Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel runs the admissions process from application through swearing-in.

Education You Need Before Applying

Two degrees are required. The first is a bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited college or university, and the state does not care about your major. The second is a JD from a law school accredited by the American Bar Association. That accreditation must be in place for the entire time you are enrolled, so a program that loses or lacks ABA status generally disqualifies you from the standard admission track. Colorado offers no reading-the-law or apprenticeship alternative.

The Bar Examination

Colorado administers the Uniform Bar Examination, the same test used in most U.S. jurisdictions. It has three components:

The Multistate Bar Examination, 200 multiple-choice questions on constitutional law, contracts, criminal law and procedure, evidence, real property, torts, and civil procedure.
The Multistate Essay Examination, six essay questions on issue spotting and rule application.
The Multistate Performance Test, two simulated lawyering tasks such as drafting a memo or brief from a provided file.

Your combined score must be at least 270. The Colorado Supreme Court lowered the cutoff from 276 in early 2023, the first change since 1985.¹ There is no additional Colorado-specific component on top of the UBE, and your score is portable to other UBE jurisdictions if you later decide to practice elsewhere.²

When the Exam Is Offered and When to Apply

The bar is given twice a year, in February and July. For the February exam, the timely filing deadline is November 1, with late applications accepted through December 1 for an extra $200. Nothing is accepted after December 1. For the July exam, the timely deadline is April 1, late filings run through May 1 with the same $200 fee, and a narrow extension to May 31 is available for candidates who did not pass the most recent February exam.³ February results are typically released in late April, and July results in early October.⁴

The Professional Responsibility Exam

Every applicant must also pass the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination, a separate 60-question test on legal ethics and the attorney-client relationship. Colorado’s minimum scaled score is 85. The MPRE is given multiple times a year by the National Conference of Bar Examiners, and most candidates take it during their last year of law school.

How long the score stays good depends on your situation. If you are not yet licensed anywhere in the U.S., the score expires two years after the test date. If you already hold a license in another state, it is valid for five years. Attorneys with 15 or more years of active practice and no public discipline can rely on a passing MPRE score previously accepted by any U.S. jurisdiction, no matter when it was earned.⁵

Character and Fitness Investigation

Character and fitness is where applications most often get hung up. The review looks at whether you have the honesty, reliability, and judgment to be trusted with client matters. Full, proactive disclosure is the right posture: concealing something that later surfaces damages your application far more than the underlying issue would have.

You must list every job and period of self-employment for the past ten years in reverse chronological order, with employer addresses and supervisor contact information.⁶ Gaps need to be accounted for, including study, travel, or unemployment. Your full criminal history gets disclosed, traffic violations and administrative matters included.

The application also requires a current credit report and details on outstanding debts, bankruptcies, or tax liens. Perfect credit is not the standard; responsible handling is. A documented student loan repayment plan is not a problem, but unexplained defaults or evasive answers are. Personal references who can speak to your character round out the file, and every detail is verifiable through third-party records or interviews.

Fingerprints are submitted electronically through one of two approved vendors, IdentoGo or Colorado Fingerprinting, which forward prints to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation for a background check. Hard-copy cards are not accepted, so leave room in your timeline for this step.⁷

What It Costs

Application fees are nonrefundable and depend on the admission path:

Bar examination: $710
UBE score transfer: $810
Admission on motion: $1,800
Late filing: $200 on top of the base fee

These cover the exam and the character and fitness investigation.⁶ Applications are submitted through the Colorado Supreme Court’s secure online portal, with payment handled at submission.

The Practicing with Professionalism Course

This requirement catches people off guard. Before you can take the oath and receive your license, you must complete a one-day course called Practicing with Professionalism, run jointly by the Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel and the Colorado Bar Association CLE program.⁸

Bar exam applicants can take it before or after sitting for the exam, but they are not cleared for the oath ceremony until the course is finished. Completion is valid for 18 months, so going too early could force you to retake it. Attorneys admitted on motion or by UBE score transfer run on a different clock: they must complete the course within six months of admission or face administrative suspension.⁸

The Oath and Your First Registration

The final step is the Taking of the Oath, usually held at an Admission Ceremony presided over by the justices of the Colorado Supreme Court. You sign the roll of attorneys and pay your initial registration fee. For attorneys admitted after January 1, 2023, the annual registration fee is $190, and those admitted before that date pay $395. Fees are due each year by February 28.⁹

If You Are Already a Lawyer Somewhere Else

Not every path runs through the Colorado bar exam. Two alternatives are available.

UBE Score Transfer

A UBE score of at least 270 earned in another jurisdiction within the past three years can be transferred to Colorado without retaking the exam, for a $810 fee.⁶ Scores between three and five years old can also qualify if you have been actively practicing law for at least two years immediately before applying.¹⁰ You still need the MPRE, the character and fitness clearance, and the professionalism course within six months of admission.

Admission on Motion

Experienced attorneys can seek admission without any examination. You must have been admitted through a bar exam in at least one U.S. jurisdiction and have actively practiced for at least three of the five years immediately before applying. Attorneys licensed through diploma privilege rather than a bar exam are not eligible.¹¹ You must be in good standing in every jurisdiction where you hold a license, with no pending discipline and current CLE compliance everywhere. The fee is $1,800, and the same character and fitness investigation applies.¹²

Continuing Legal Education Once You Are Admitted

Licensure is not the finish line. Every actively licensed attorney under age 72 must complete 45 credit hours of continuing legal education per compliance period. At least seven of those hours cover professional responsibility, with a minimum of two hours on equity, diversity, and inclusivity and at least five hours on legal ethics or professionalism. Your first compliance period begins on your admission date and runs through December 31 of the third full calendar year after that.¹³

1
Colorado Judicial Branch. Colorado Supreme Court Reduces Minimum Passing Score for Bar Exam
2
National Conference of Bar Examiners. UBE Local Components
3
Colorado Legal Regulation. Colorado Attorney Bar Examination Application Filing Deadlines
4
Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel. Colorado Bar Examination
5
Colorado Lawyer. Rule Change 2021(23) Rules Governing Admission to the Practice of Law in Colorado
6
Colorado Board of Law Examiners. Application Types and Fees
7
Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel. Fingerprinting Information
8
Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel. Practicing with Professionalism Course
9
Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel. Paying Your Registration Fees
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Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel. UBE Score Transfer
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Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel. On Motion
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Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel. Eligibility Requirements for Applications for Admission on Motion
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Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel. Continuing Legal and Judicial Education Requirements