How to Become a Lawyer in Tennessee: Exams, Admission, and Licensing

To become a lawyer in Tennessee, you need a bachelor’s degree, a Juris Doctor from an approved law school, a passing score on both the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination and the Uniform Bar Examination, clearance through a character and fitness review, completion of the Tennessee Law Course, and the attorney’s oath of admission. The Tennessee Supreme Court has final authority over who gets licensed, and the Tennessee Board of Law Examiners handles the screening. Start to finish, most people spend about four years after college getting through it.

Education: Bachelor’s Degree and Law School

Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 7, Section 2.01, requires a bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited college or university before you can sit for the bar exam. The Board can waive that requirement if you hold a JD from an ABA-accredited or Tennessee-approved law school and can show your undergraduate education was substantially equivalent to a regionally accredited degree.¹

After the undergraduate degree, you earn a Juris Doctor. Most applicants attend an ABA-accredited law school, which takes three years of full-time study. Tennessee also recognizes a narrower path: graduates of non-ABA schools physically located in Tennessee can qualify if the school holds “Tennessee-Approved” status, which requires meeting standards comparable to ABA requirements, submitting to on-site evaluations paid for by the school, and having its dean certify compliance annually.¹ Only a handful of schools carry that status, so most people go the ABA route.

The MPRE

Every applicant must pass the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination, a two-hour, 60-question test on the ethical rules that govern lawyers. Tennessee requires a minimum scaled score of 82.² Most students take it during their second or third year of law school, which clears one requirement before bar prep begins.

Your MPRE score must be earned no more than two years before you earn a qualifying UBE score for Tennessee admission. There is one exception: if you are already licensed and in good standing in another state and passed the MPRE with at least an 82 more than two years ago, that older score still counts.¹ Official scores go directly from the National Conference of Bar Examiners to the Tennessee Board. Self-reported scores are not accepted.

The Bar Exam

Tennessee administers the Uniform Bar Examination, which has three components:

Multistate Bar Examination (MBE): 200 multiple-choice questions on seven foundational subjects, including constitutional law, contracts, and evidence.
Multistate Essay Examination (MEE): six 30-minute essays testing legal analysis and writing across a range of practice areas.
Multistate Performance Test (MPT): two 90-minute tasks that simulate real lawyering work, such as drafting a memo or persuasive brief from a case file.

You need a total scaled score of 270 to pass in Tennessee.² The July 2025 overall pass rate was 73.24%.³ Results typically come out in mid-October for the July exam and mid-April for the February exam.⁴

If you plan to type your answers, you have to register with the Board’s approved exam software provider and pay a separate, nonrefundable software license fee before the exam. Applicants who miss the registration window have to handwrite.⁵

NextGen Bar Exam Transition

Tennessee has adopted the NextGen bar exam, which will replace the current UBE format starting with the July 2027 administration.⁶ Anyone sitting in 2026 still takes the legacy UBE. The minimum passing score for the NextGen exam has not been announced.

Transferring a UBE Score

Because Tennessee uses the UBE, you can transfer a qualifying score earned in another jurisdiction instead of retaking the exam. Your score must be at least 270 and still valid when the Board approves your application. UBE scores are valid for three years from the date results were released. An expired score may remain usable for up to five years if you have been actively practicing law in the interim, but scores older than five years cannot be used.⁷ Transferred-score applicants still must pass the MPRE, clear character and fitness, and complete the Tennessee Law Course.

Character and Fitness Review

The Board will deny admission to anyone about whom it finds “reasonable doubt” regarding honesty, respect for the rights of others, or fitness to practice law.¹ That standard is broad, and any conduct that would get a licensed attorney disciplined can be held against an applicant.

Preparation starts well before you file. You need to document every residence and employer since age eighteen or for the last ten years, whichever is longer. Criminal history, traffic violations, and professional disciplinary actions all have to be disclosed with supporting records. Request driving records and court dispositions early so you have exact dates and case numbers when the forms demand them. Line up references who can speak to your integrity.

The National Conference of Bar Examiners runs a background investigation using what you provide, and Tennessee adds its own state-specific disclosure forms covering educational history, financial stability, and past legal involvement.¹ Omissions and misrepresentations are treated more seriously than the underlying issues. If you have a DUI or a student-loan default, disclose it and explain the circumstances. Hiding it is the fastest route to denial.

Applicants whose history raises concerns are not always rejected. The Board can grant “conditional admission,” which can include requirements like debt management counseling or supervised practice for a set period.¹

Applications, Deadlines, and Fees

Tennessee requires two separate applications to sit for the bar exam: one through the NCBE’s character and fitness portal and one through the Tennessee Board’s “Synergy” system at synergy.tnble.com. Both must be completed by the applicable deadline.⁸

The deadlines are firm. For the July exam, the application deadline is May 1, with a final deadline of May 20. For the February exam, the application deadline is December 1, with a final deadline of December 20. Anyone who misses the application deadline cannot sit for that cycle. The final deadline is only for supplemental documentation.⁸

The Tennessee application fee is $725 for both first-time and repeat takers, effective March 1, 2025.⁹ You can pay by credit card through Synergy (with a small convenience fee) or by check mailed to the Board’s Nashville office. All fees are nonrefundable and nontransferable. This covers the Tennessee application only; the NCBE background investigation carries its own fee, paid directly to the NCBE.

Tennessee Law Course and the Oath

Passing the bar exam does not immediately make you a licensed attorney. You also have to complete the Tennessee Law Course, an online program covering state-specific topics that are not tested on the UBE. Instructions come after you finish the exam. You have one year from the date you complete all other licensing requirements to finish the course; miss that window and you take it again.¹

Once the Board certifies your eligibility, you take the attorney’s oath of admission. It can be administered in person by any Tennessee Supreme Court justice, appellate judge, trial court judge, general sessions judge, or certain court clerks, and it can also be administered virtually by video conference through a Supreme Court justice or the Clerk of the Appellate Courts.¹⁰

Admission Without Examination

Experienced attorneys licensed in another state can apply for Tennessee admission without sitting for the bar exam, a process often called “comity” or admission on motion. You qualify if you have been primarily engaged in the active practice of law for at least five of the seven years immediately before you apply, and your license in the other jurisdiction must be active and in good standing.¹

The application fee for admission without examination is $1,400 and is nonrefundable.¹¹ Comity applicants still have to pass character and fitness and complete the Tennessee Law Course, but they skip the UBE and the MPRE, assuming they met the MPRE requirement in their original licensing jurisdiction.

Keeping Your License Active

Getting licensed is the hard part; keeping the license active involves ongoing obligations that catch new lawyers off guard.

Every active Tennessee attorney pays a $270 annual registration fee to the Board of Professional Responsibility. It is due by the first day of your birth month each year and can be paid online or by mailed check.¹²

Tennessee also imposes a $400 annual professional privilege tax on licensed attorneys, due June 1. Penalty and interest begin accruing the following day.¹³ This is separate from the registration fee, so budget for both.

Continuing legal education is 15 hours per calendar year. At least three of those hours must cover ethics or professionalism; the remaining 12 can be general legal education on any topic.¹⁴ The compliance deadline is December 31.

1
Tennessee Courts. Rule 7 Licensing of Attorneys
2
National Conference of Bar Examiners. Tennessee
3
Tennessee Board of Law Examiners. July 2025 TN UBE Exam Statistics
4
National Conference of Bar Examiners. Bar Exam Results by Jurisdiction
5
Tennessee Board of Law Examiners. Appendix C-1 Testing on a Computer
6
Tennessee Courts. Tennessee Supreme Court Adopts Updated Bar Examination
7
Tennessee Board of Law Examiners. Transferred UBE Score – How to Apply
8
Tennessee Board of Law Examiners. First Time Applicant – How to Apply
9
Tennessee Board of Law Examiners. Fees for Admission by Examination Score
10
Tennessee Courts. Rule 6 Admission of Attorneys
11
Tennessee Board of Law Examiners. Fees for Admission without Examination
12
Board of Professional Responsibility. Attorney License Information
13
TN.gov. Profee Participant Guide
14
Tennessee Courts. Rule for Mandatory Continuing Legal Education