Vt. Bar Admission Rule 13

(a) General Requirements. To be admitted by transferred UBE score earned in another U.S.

jurisdiction, the Applicant must file an Application on forms required by the Board, pay the

required fee, and arrange for the NCBE to transfer the Applicant’s UBE score to Vermont. The

following additional requirements must be met.

(b) Age of Score. The Applicant must achieve a passing UBE score, as defined in Rule 9(b):

(1) in the administration of the UBE immediately subsequent to the date on which the

application for admission by transferred UBE score was filed; or

(2) in an administration of the UBE which occurred within 5 years before the date on

which the application for admission by transferred UBE score was filed.

(c) Attempts. The required score must have been achieved within no more than 4 sittings for

the UBE. For purposes of this rule, attempts to achieve the required score count toward the limit of

4 regardless of where the Applicant sat for the UBE.

(d) MPRE. The Applicant must have achieved a scaled score of 80 or higher on the MPRE

taken within a period beginning 5 years before, and concluding 1 year after, the date on which the

application for admission by transferred UBE score was filed.

(e) Educational Requirement. The Applicant must meet the educational requirements set

forth in Rule 6.

(f) Additional CLE and Experiential Requirements. The Applicant must satisfy the

requirements set forth in Rule 12.

Board’s Notes—2026 Amendment

In further preparation for the adoption of the NextGen bar

exam, Rule 13(b) is amended to allow for the transfer of NextGen

UBE scores prior to Vermont’s first administration of the NextGen

UBE in July 2027.

Board’s Notes—2026 Amendment

Rule 13(b)(2) is amended to extend the age of a qualifying

transferred UBE score to 5 years. At the same time, the provision in

(b)(3) pertaining to UBE scores that are between 3 and 5 years old is

removed. The basis for this change is the Board’s experience that

the added requirements for scores that are 3 to 5 years old are

unnecessary to ensure that an Applicant’s legal knowledge is not

stale.

In conjunction with an amendment to Rule 9, Rule 13(d) is

deleted to remove the requirement that the UBE score must be

from an administration no later than 5 years after the Applicant

completed the necessary educational requirements. Former

subdivisions (e) to (g) are relabeled as (d) to (f).

In conjunction with an amendment to Rule 11, former Rule

13(e) pertaining to the MPRE is amended to remove the good-cause

extension. Also, the age of a usable MPRE score is extended to 5

years, to match the age of a usable UBE score..

Board’s Notes—2023 Amendment

In conjunction with a similar amendment to Rule 11, Rule 13(e)

is amended to clarify what good cause means in the context of the

Board of Bar Examiners’ determination of whether to extend the

time within which the Board will accept an MPRE score.

Board’s Notes—2021 Amendment

In conjunction with a similar amendment to Rule 9(b)(1), Rule

13(d) is amended to clarify what factors the Board of Bar Examiners

considers when determining whether to waive the requirement that

the bar exam must be taken within five years of graduating from

law school or completing the LOS Program.

Board’s Notes – 2018 Amendment

Rules 9(b)(1), 11, and 13(e) have been revised to ensure

consistency and clarity with regards to the permitted age of UBE

and MPRE scores. Rule 13(e) is revised to impose a one-year outer

limit for the MPRE score, consistent with the outer limit in Rule 11.

Also, Rule 13(e) now allows for an extension to the time limitation

for good cause, consistent with existing Rule 13(d) and the revisions

to Rules 9(b)(1) and 11. See Board’s Notes to simultaneous

amendments to Rules 9 and 11.

In addition to the above change, Rule 13(b) is revised to

specifically permit concurrent applicants for admission by

transferred UBE score, meaning that an applicant can apply to sit for

the UBE in a UBE jurisdiction other than Vermont and at the same

time apply for admission by transferred UBE score to the Vermont

bar, although the UBE score has not yet been earned.

Board’s Notes – 2017 Amendment

Consistent with the recent amendment to Rule 9(b)(1), Rule

13(d) is amended to extend the time in which the Applicant must sit

for the UBE from 3 to 5 years. The amendment also provides for an

extension of this deadline for good cause shown, consistent with

the concurrent amendment to Rule 9(b)(4).

This rule is new and establishes the process for admission by

transferred UBE score. An Applicant may transfer a UBE score for

three years, or up to five years if the Applicant has been practicing

law in another U.S. jurisdiction for at least two years. After five

years, the score is too stale and an Applicant must qualify for

admission without examination under Rule 14 or retake the exam.

Generally, Applicants for admission by transferred UBE score

must meet the requirements for admission by examination. The rule

restates or cross-references those requirements, as appropriate.

The rule does not restate the requirements of Rule 5, because Rule

5 expressly applies to all Applicants.

PART III. ADMISSION WITHOUT EXAMINATION