From LL.M. to the California Bar Exam: Requirements for Foreign Law Graduates (2027 Guide)

Short answer. You can take the California Bar Exam with a foreign law degree and no law license. You need a first degree in law from outside the United States plus one year of U.S. legal education (Rule 4.30(A), Rules of the State Bar). In practice you need four things. First, a credential evaluation from a State Bar-approved agency. Second, an LL.M. of at least 20 semester units at an ABA-approved or California-accredited law school. Third, one professional responsibility course on the ABA Model Rules inside that LL.M. (State Bar Guidelines). Fourth, the general-applicant fees: $155 to register, $900 for moral character and $878 for the exam (Appendix A, Schedule of Charges). You do not take the First-Year Law Students' Examination (the "Baby Bar"). For the February 23–24, 2027 exam, applications open October 1, 2026. The timely deadline is November 2, 2026, and the final deadline is January 4, 2027 (Dates and Deadlines).

Applies to: the February 2027, July 2027 and February 2028 sittings of the current two-day exam. From July 2028 California moves to the NextGen UBE (State Bar notice, July 15, 2026). Fees are the current Schedule of Charges (Appendix A), in force since the Board's November 2025 fee action. Posted dates, fees and rules were checked on September 24, 2026 against the official page linked next to them. July 2027 and February 2028 dates are projections from Rule 4.61 and the Court's last-Tuesday order.

Already licensed as a lawyer in your home country? You do not need an LL.M. Read our guide for foreign-admitted attorneys instead.

Which route applies to you?

The State Bar recognizes three situations for people who studied law outside the United States (Foreign Education).

This guide covers the middle row. A "first degree in law" is the degree a law student earns first in your country, such as an LL.B. or a bachelor of laws. The approved evaluation agency confirms that your degree qualifies (see Step 1).

What Rule 4.30(A) says, in plain English

Rule 4.30(A) sets two conditions (Title 4, Division 1). First, you must "have a first degree in law, acceptable to the Committee, from a law school in the foreign state or country". Second, you must "have completed a year of legal education at an American Bar Association Approved Law School or a California accredited law school in areas of law prescribed by the Committee". The rule took effect on September 1, 2008 and has not been amended since.

The rule does not say "20 units" or "LL.M." Those details come from the Committee of Bar Examiners' Guidelines. Their full title is "Guidelines for Foreign-Educated General Applicants with a First Degree in Law". The current Guidelines were approved on June 21, 2024, with an effective date of March 1, 2024 (Guidelines PDF; HTML summary).

Step 1: Credential evaluation

Before the State Bar accepts your foreign degree, an approved agency must evaluate it. Guideline 1 accepts any one of three documents (Guidelines PDF):

1. A certificate from an approved credential evaluation service that your first degree in law is substantially equivalent to a J.D. from an ABA-approved or California-accredited law school.
2. A certificate from an approved service that your degree meets the educational requirements for admission to practice law in the country where you earned it.
3. An affirmation to the same effect from the Law School Admission Council's Credential Assembly Service (CAS) International Credential Evaluation for LL.M. applicants.

The agency must be on the State Bar's list. The current list, revised in August 2025, names 11 agencies (Credential Evaluation Services PDF). All are members of the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES). The 11 are: CAREE, Educational Credential Evaluators (ECE), Educational Perspectives, Educational Records Evaluation Service (ERES), Foundation for International Services, Institute of Foreign Credential Services, International Consultants of Delaware, International Education Research Foundation (IERF), Josef Silny & Associates, The Evaluation Company, and World Education Services (WES).

What to order and send:

• A detailed course-by-course evaluation report, not a document-by-document summary (Foreign Law Degree page).
• The Foreign Law Study Evaluation Summary form, completed by the agency and submitted with the report (form ES76Esf).
• A certified English translation of every document that is not in English, plus the original-language document (Registration).

The State Bar lists no fee of its own for this step. The agency charges its own fee, and the State Bar does not publish agency prices. The evaluations are "advisory in nature and are not determinative", so the Committee makes the final decision (Credential Evaluation Services PDF). Start early. The slow part is usually collecting certified transcripts and degree certificates from your home university.

Step 2: Register with the State Bar as a law student

Every applicant must register in the Applicant Portal before filing any other application. Law students must register within 90 days of beginning law study. The registration fee for a general applicant is $155 (Registration; Appendix A). For a foreign-educated applicant, the registration documents are the evaluation report and the Foreign Law Study Evaluation Summary form (Registration). The State Bar must approve your registration before you file any other application (Rule 4.16(B)).

Two rules often cause problems. Registration is deemed abandoned, with no refund, if the documents and fees are not received within 60 days of submission (Rule 4.16(B), Title 4 PDF). And the application asks for a Social Security Number; if you are not eligible for one, request an exemption in the online form (Registration).

Step 3: The 20-unit rule

Guideline 2 defines "a year of legal education". Your law school must submit your transcript and certify that you completed one of two options (Guidelines PDF).

Three conditions apply to both options. All coursework must be graded on the same standard the school uses for its J.D. students. You must receive a passing grade in every course. And the program must finish within three calendar years of the day you started (Guidelines PDF).

The professional responsibility course

This is the one course you cannot skip. It must cover the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct and the leading federal and state case law on professional responsibility. Until June 2021 the Guidelines also required California-specific content. That requirement was removed, so a standard LL.M. professional responsibility course now qualifies (Guidelines PDF).

Check the course description before you enroll. A course on "ethics in international practice" may not cover the Model Rules. When in doubt, ask the registrar to confirm in writing that the course meets the California Guidelines.

The LL.M. course only makes you eligible. On the exam, the professional responsibility content map tells you to answer according to both California and ABA authorities (Professional Responsibility content map; Scope of the Exam). Professional responsibility was an essay subject on every exam from February 2024 through July 2026 (Past exams; July 2026 questions). So plan to learn the California Rules of Professional Conduct during bar preparation, even though your LL.M. course did not have to teach them.

Which subjects count as "bar-tested"

The California Bar Exam tests 13 subjects (Scope of the Exam): Business Associations, Civil Procedure, Community Property, Constitutional Law, Contracts, Criminal Law and Procedure, Evidence, Professional Responsibility, Real Property, Remedies, Torts, Trusts, and Wills and Succession. Seven of them also appear on the 200-question MBE.

If your program lets you choose, pick courses that do double duty. Community Property and Wills and Succession are tested entirely on California law, and neither appears on the MBE. They are the hardest subjects to learn from general U.S. materials. Evidence and Civil Procedure are tested on both the federal rules and the California rules (Scope of the Exam). See our subject guide for how each subject is tested.

Step 4 (optional): Ask the State Bar to evaluate your study

After you register, you can request a Legal Education Evaluation through the Portal. It costs $106 and generally takes three to four weeks. The State Bar tells you whether you are exempt from the Baby Bar, how much credit your study earns, and what additional coursework you need (Legal Education Evaluation; Appendix A). It is optional, but it gives you the State Bar's answer in writing. You must register first and send sealed transcripts.

Step 5: Transcripts after the LL.M.

When you finish, your law school must mail official transcripts, sealed by the school, to the Office of Admissions (845 South Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, CA 90017). The school must also certify that you met the Guidelines. Electronic transcripts are not accepted under any circumstance (When are transcripts required). The school certifies completion only after you finish. If you plan to file your exam application before your last term ends, confirm the timing with the State Bar's eligibility team ([email protected] or 800-843-9053) (Foreign Education).

No Baby Bar on this route

The First-Year Law Students' Examination is a 100-question multiple-choice test on contracts, criminal law and torts (FYLSX page). Rule 4.30(A) contains no Baby Bar condition. Rule 4.55(A)(2) also exempts applicants who qualify "by reason of study in a foreign law school as provided by these rules" (Title 4 PDF). Among foreign-educated applicants, you face the Baby Bar only if you have foreign law study without a first degree in law (Rule 4.30(B)). For that group, the next sitting is October 27, 2026 and the fee is $925 (Dates and Deadlines; Appendix A).

Moral character, fingerprints and the MPRE

Passing the exam is not enough. Three more requirements run in parallel, and two of them take months.

Moral character determination. The fee is $900 for a general applicant (Appendix A). Applications are processed in a minimum of 180 days from the date they are complete. The State Bar recommends filing at the beginning of your last year of law study. At the latest, file 8 to 10 months before the date you want to be admitted (Application Process). A positive determination is valid for 36 months under Rule 4.51, as amended effective June 23, 2025. You must submit fingerprints within 60 days of filing. Outside California you cannot use Live Scan. Instead, a law enforcement agency or a certified technician takes your prints on two FBI FD-258 cards, and you mail the cards to Los Angeles (Fingerprint Instructions PDF). If you live abroad, allow extra time for mailing FD-258 cards to Los Angeles.

MPRE. California requires a scaled score of at least 86, with no time limit on when you earned it (State Bar MPRE page). The fee is $185 for the 2026 and 2027 administrations, paid to the NCBE. Registration for the November 12–13, 2026 test closed on September 17, 2026. The next dates are in the table below (State Bar MPRE page). Designate California when you register, and add your NCBE number in the Applicant Portal.

Five-year limit. Every requirement, including the oath, must be complete within five years of the last day of the exam you pass (Rule 4.17(A), Title 4 PDF).

Exam dates and deadlines: February 2027 and July 2027

The February 2027 dates are posted (Dates and Deadlines). The July 2027 dates are projections. They follow Rule 4.61 and the Supreme Court's order that the exam runs on the last Tuesday of February and July (Rule 4.61, Title 4 PDF; Supreme Court order S296951). The State Bar has not posted them yet.

Two notes. The NCBE's chart prints the generic "November 1 / January 1" dates, but the State Bar's dates control. Rule 4.61(A) moves a deadline that falls on a weekend or holiday to the next business day (Rule 4.61, Title 4 PDF). And February 2028, expected on February 29 to March 1, 2028 under the last-Tuesday order, is expected to be the last sitting of the current exam, because NextGen starts in July 2028 (State Bar notice, July 15, 2026).

Suppose your one-year LL.M. runs from August 2026 to May 2027. Then the July 2027 exam is your first realistic sitting, and February 2028 is expected to be your last chance at the current format. If you fail July 2027, the results notice sets your filing deadline for February 2028 (at least 10 days after results; Rule 4.61(B), Title 4 PDF). The October 1 to January 4 schedule above does not apply to you. Our application walkthrough lists every Portal step in order, and our 2027 dates and deadlines post tracks each date as the State Bar posts it.

Every State Bar fee on the LL.M. route

All amounts are from the current Schedule of Charges (Appendix A), in force since the Board's November 2025 fee action (Appendix A; Board action, November 2025). The State Bar has not posted separate 2027 fees; re-check Appendix A when the July 2027 application opens. The LL.M.-route applicant is a general applicant, which is the lower fee tier.

Adding the required State Bar items for a timely, laptop-based applicant ($155 + $900 + $878 + $153) gives $2,086, plus $185 for the MPRE. LL.M. tuition and the credential evaluation agency's fee are separate. Prep-course sites that still quote $850 for the exam are out of date. Our fee guide lists every other State Bar charge.

LL.M. route versus foreign-attorney route

Many readers qualify under both routes: a Chinese, Korean or Japanese lawyer who is fully admitted at home and also plans an LL.M. If you are fully admitted, you register as an attorney applicant even if you also earn an LL.M. Here is how the two routes differ.

Sources: Foreign Education; Attorney Applicants; Proof of Admission and Good Standing; Appendix A; February 2026 statistics.

Pass rates for LL.M.-route candidates

The State Bar reports a separate line for applicants "who completed their law study, equivalent to a U.S. JD degree, outside of the United States, and completed one year of additional education through a U.S. JD or LLM program" (February 2026 statistics). The numbers are low, and they should shape your study plan.

Sources: July 2025 statistics; February 2026 statistics. The February 2025 administration (41.2%) is excluded because the Supreme Court ordered scoring adjustments after the failed remote exam (February 2025 statistics).

The State Bar does not publish reasons for the gap. Three features of the exam are worth planning around. The MBE gives you 200 questions in two three-hour sessions, which is 1.8 minutes per question (July 2026 exam page). Six of the 13 essay subjects never appear on the MBE, so MBE practice alone does not cover them. Community Property and Wills and Succession are tested on California law only (Scope of the Exam). Our pass-rate analysis has the full tables. AntCABar's textbook, question bank and study planner are built for this reader; see plans and pricing.

The July 2028 change and why timing matters

On July 15, 2026 the California Supreme Court ordered the State Bar to replace the current exam with the NextGen UBE from July 2028. The passing score must be "equivalent to" the current 1390 out of 2000 (Order S296951; Court press release). The State Bar's notice adds that there will be no California component in July 2028 or February 2029. A California component can start no earlier than July 2029, and only if the Court approves the Committee's recommendation, which is due by February 26, 2027 (State Bar notice, July 15, 2026).

What this means for an LL.M. candidate:

• February 2027, July 2027 and February 2028 are expected to be the current exam. Day one is five one-hour essays and a 90-minute Performance Test; day two is the 200-question MBE (July 2026 exam page; Scope of the Exam). Our exam overview describes this format.
• July 2028 and February 2029 are NextGen only, with California's exact passing score still to be announced.
• July 2029 onward may add a California component, which is only a proposal today.

As of September 24, 2026, nothing published by the Court or the State Bar changes Rule 4.30 or the Guidelines, so the LL.M. route itself stays the same. What changes is the exam you sit. If you fail February 2028, your next attempt is a different exam with a different score scale (State Bar notice, July 15, 2026). Check the State Bar's notices page before you plan for July 2028. Our post on the 2027, 2028 and 2029 changes has the full timeline.

A planning calendar for an LL.M. that starts in August 2026

Adjust the dates if your program starts in January or runs longer than one year. The 36-month limit gives you room; the July 2028 switch to NextGen does not move. If you want a study schedule for the months after your LL.M., read how to study as a non-native English speaker.