Puerto Rico

Unverified — confirm with authority

Imported 2026-09-27 — not yet reviewed; confirm with the admitting authority.

How to apply

Admitting agencyBoard of Bar Examiners Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Supreme Court

Application portalApply online

Character & fitnessThis jurisdiction does not use NCBE's character and fitness services; please contact Puerto Rico for filing instructions. MPRE/character timing: character & fitness application should be filed with the bar exam application by the jurisdiction's filing deadline; most jurisdictions require the NCBE Character and Fitness Application to be submitted online via ncbex.org regardless of whether NCBE conducts the investigation.

Exam & score rules

Exam typeJurisdiction-drafted (non-UBE) exam; NextGen UBE date not yet announced; Local (non-UBE) exam only, administered in Spanish; Puerto Rico does not participate in the UBE/NextGen UBE system.

UBE min scoreConfirm with the admitting authority.

MPRE requiredNot required

Education requirementABA-approved JD required: No; Alternatives accepted: Non-ABA-approved in-state law school; Foreign-educated graduates eligible: No

Other required components

Local law componentEntire exam is Puerto Rico/Commonwealth-specific (civil-law-influenced curriculum); no UBE component.

Other pathsNo UBE, no admission on motion, no MPRE requirement per NCBE data. Entirely local exam and local character & fitness process (Board of Bar Examiners of the PR Supreme Court, does not use NCBE C&F services).

Transfer options

Accepts transferred UBENo (jurisdiction does not accept transferred UBE scores; own jurisdiction-drafted exam)

Admission on motion

Confirm with the admitting authority.

Essays & sample answers

Publishes past essaysyes

Years availableAt least September 2005 through September 2018 confirmed (individual PDFs: GUIA-CALIFICACION-FINAL-SEPTIEMBRE-2016, -2017, -MARZO-2018)

Sample answerspartial — pages are titled 'Preguntas, Criterios Finales de Evaluación y Guía Final de Calificación Operacional' (Questions, Final Grading Criteria and Final Operational Grading Guide) — i.e., grading rubrics/criteria rather than verbatim applicant sample answers

Exam typeNon-UBE (Spanish-language, Puerto Rico civil-law essay exam + multiple choice; does not use MEE/MPT/MBE/UBE)

Terms of useNot stated on PDFs found

Essay archive / sample answers Essay archive / sample answers

Junta Examinadora de Aspirantes al Ejercicio de la Abogacía y la Notaría (Puerto Rico Supreme Court) publishes exam questions with grading guides on poderjudicial.pr; also has a sample multiple-choice-question booklet.

Fees & deadlines

Feesfirst_time_applicant: $250; attorney_applicant: $250; repeater: $250; late_fee_note: Late fees reflected in the higher figure(s) shown for the filing-deadline fields above where jurisdiction publishes a two-tier fee; laptop_fee: —

Application deadlinesjuly_2026_regular: TBA; july_2026_late: —; february_2027_regular: TBA; february_2027_late: —

Next exam datesUBE jurisdictions administer the exam on the NCBE-set dates, generally the last Tue/Wed of Feb and July; New York has confirmed July 28-29, 2026 for the July 2026 administration. Confirm exact per-jurisdiction dates on the agency site; NCBE filing-deadline data above is confirmed for July 2026 / February 2027.

Official sources

Source 1 Source 2

Puerto Rico is one of the few US jurisdictions (with Louisiana, not in this list) that never adopted the UBE and has no announced NextGen UBE adoption plan as of Sep 2026 NCBE data. Application deadlines shown as "TBA" in NCBE data - confirm current-cycle dates directly with poderjudicial.pr; this is flagged verified=false for deadlines specifically.

VerdictUp is a study aid and does not provide legal advice or guarantee admission. Confirm with the admitting authority.