Becoming a lawyer takes seven years of full-time education after high school, passage of a rigorous licensing exam, and a character review before you can practice. The path is straightforward in structure but demanding at every stage. Here’s what each step looks like and what it costs.
Earn a Bachelor’s Degree
Law schools require a bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited college or university, but they don’t require a specific major. There is no “pre-law” degree you need to complete. English, political science, history, philosophy, economics, and business are popular choices, but admissions committees care more about your GPA, the rigor of your coursework, and the trend in your grades than which department issued your diploma.
That said, your undergraduate years are a good time to build skills you’ll rely on heavily in law school: writing clearly, reading dense material carefully, constructing logical arguments, and managing heavy workloads. Courses in writing, logic, statistics, and public speaking tend to pay off regardless of your major. Most students finish their bachelor’s degree in four years, though some take longer if they’re working or changing majors.
Take the LSAT or an Accepted Alternative
Nearly every ABA-accredited law school requires a standardized admissions test. The Law School Admission Test (LSAT) has been the dominant exam for decades, and your score carries significant weight in admissions decisions. The LSAT measures reading comprehension, analytical reasoning, and logical reasoning rather than legal knowledge. Scores range from 120 to 180, and the median sits around 151.
A growing number of law schools also accept the GRE as an alternative, so check the admissions pages of your target schools. You can take the LSAT multiple times, and most schools consider your highest score. Preparation typically takes two to four months of focused study, and many applicants use prep courses or tutors, which can cost anywhere from a few hundred dollars for self-study materials to several thousand for intensive programs.
Complete Three Years of Law School
Law school is a three-year, full-time graduate program (some schools offer part-time programs that take four years). Your first year, often called 1L, follows a largely fixed curriculum: contracts, torts, civil procedure, criminal law, constitutional law, property, and legal writing. These subjects form the foundation for everything else you’ll study and are also the core areas tested on the bar exam.
During your second and third years, you choose electives, join clinics where you work with real clients under faculty supervision, and pursue internships or summer associate positions at law firms, government agencies, or nonprofits. These experiences shape your resume and often determine your first job after graduation.
Cost is a major factor. Net tuition for full-time students at ABA-accredited schools ranges widely, from roughly $6,000 per year at some public institutions to over $50,000 at private ones. Schools with bar passage rates of 85% or higher charge a median net tuition of about $19,200 per year, according to LawHub data for the 2025-2026 academic year. Over three years, tuition alone can total anywhere from $18,000 to over $150,000, before living expenses. Scholarships, grants, and loan repayment assistance programs can reduce that burden substantially, so compare financial aid offers carefully.
Pass the Bar Exam
After earning your J.D. (Juris Doctor), you must pass the bar exam in the state or jurisdiction where you want to practice. This is the single biggest hurdle between graduating and actually working as a licensed attorney.
The bar exam is currently undergoing a major transition. The National Conference of Bar Examiners is rolling out the NextGen Bar Exam starting in July 2026, replacing the current Uniform Bar Examination over a transition period that runs through 2028. Jurisdictions are adopting the new format on their own timelines, so the version you take depends on when and where you sit for the exam.
The NextGen exam is administered over a day and a half, with two three-hour sessions on the first day and one three-hour session on the second. You take it on your own laptop at a proctored testing location. It tests foundational lawyering skills like legal research, legal writing, issue spotting, client counseling, and negotiation, applied across core subjects: civil procedure, constitutional law, contracts, criminal law, evidence, property, torts, and business associations. Family law also appears on exams administered from July 2026 through February 2028. Scores range from 500 to 750, and each jurisdiction sets its own passing threshold.
Most graduates spend two to three months studying full-time for the bar exam after graduation, often using a commercial prep course. These courses typically cost $2,000 to $4,000, though some law schools subsidize them or include them in tuition. Bar exam application fees vary by jurisdiction but generally run a few hundred dollars.
Pass the Ethics Exam
Separately from the bar exam, nearly every jurisdiction requires you to pass the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination (MPRE). This is a two-hour, 60-question multiple-choice test administered three times per year. It measures your knowledge of the professional conduct rules that govern lawyers, covering topics like confidentiality, conflicts of interest, and duties to clients and courts.
Each jurisdiction sets its own passing score. You can take the MPRE while you’re still in law school (most students do, typically after completing a professional responsibility course), so it doesn’t have to add time to your overall timeline. A handful of jurisdictions waive the MPRE requirement if you complete a law school course on professional responsibility instead.
Clear the Character and Fitness Review
Before any state will grant you a law license, you must pass a character and fitness investigation. The bar authority in your jurisdiction will review your background for anything that raises questions about your honesty, trustworthiness, or fitness to practice law. This typically includes a detailed application asking about your criminal history, academic disciplinary records, financial history (including bankruptcies and significant debt defaults), substance abuse issues, and prior employment.
Having something in your past doesn’t automatically disqualify you. Bar authorities are generally more concerned with patterns of dishonesty or concealment than with isolated incidents. Failing to disclose something they later discover, however, is often treated more seriously than the underlying issue itself. The review process can take several weeks to several months, so most applicants start it well before they expect to receive bar exam results.
Get Sworn In and Start Practicing
Once you’ve passed the bar exam, passed the MPRE, and cleared the character and fitness review, your jurisdiction will approve your admission to the bar. You’ll attend a swearing-in ceremony, take an oath, and receive your license to practice law. From that point, you’re authorized to represent clients, appear in court, and perform all the functions of a licensed attorney in that jurisdiction.
If you want to practice in multiple states, you’ll generally need to be admitted to each state’s bar separately. Some jurisdictions allow score portability, meaning you can transfer a qualifying bar exam score rather than retaking the test. During the transition to the NextGen exam, jurisdictions may accept both current and NextGen scores for transfer purposes, though policies vary.
The Full Timeline and Cost
From start to finish, expect about seven to eight years after high school: four years for your bachelor’s degree, three years for law school, and a few months of bar preparation and licensing. Part-time law students should plan for eight to nine years total.
Total out-of-pocket costs vary enormously. On the low end, a student attending an in-state public university and a public law school with strong financial aid might spend under $100,000 total for both degrees. On the high end, four years at a private university followed by three years at a top private law school can exceed $400,000 in tuition alone. Factor in living expenses, bar prep courses, exam fees, and the opportunity cost of seven years without a full-time salary, and the financial commitment is substantial. Starting salaries for new lawyers range from around $50,000 in public interest and government roles to $225,000 or more at large corporate firms, so the return on that investment depends heavily on the type of law you practice and where you work.