A short, open-book multiple-choice exam required for admission to the New York Bar, separate from the Uniform Bar Examination (UBE). Because New York adopted the UBE for its general bar exam, candidates who pass the UBE in New York or transfer in a qualifying UBE score from another jurisdiction must still separately pass the NYLE, which tests New York-specific statutory and case law that the UBE's more generalized national content doesn't cover.
Who it's for
Candidates seeking admission to the New York Bar — both those taking the UBE in New York and those transferring in a qualifying UBE score earned in another UBE jurisdiction — since NYLE is a separate, mandatory requirement regardless of where the UBE portion was taken.
What's covered
- NY Civil Practice & Procedure (25%) — New York's Civil Practice Law and Rules (CPLR), which differs meaningfully from the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure tested on the national MBE/UBE
- NY Criminal Procedure & Family Law (25%) — New York's Criminal Procedure Law and New York-specific family law and domestic relations provisions
- NY Trusts, Estates & Real Property (25%) — New York's Estates, Powers and Trusts Law (EPTL), Surrogate's Court Procedure Act, and New York-specific real property rules
- NY Business Law & Professional Responsibility (25%) — New York business and commercial law provisions and the New York Rules of Professional Conduct
What to expect
The NYLE is a shorter, open-book multiple-choice exam (unlike the multi-day UBE) focused specifically on how New York law diverges from the generalized common-law and Federal Rules content tested nationally. Because it's open-book, the exam rewards efficient navigation of reference materials and precise issue identification over pure memorization, though genuine familiarity with New York-specific rules still meaningfully speeds up an open-book test.
How to prepare
Because the NYLE specifically targets New York's divergences from generalized national bar content, candidates should treat it as a distinct study project from UBE/MBE preparation, not an extension of it — reviewing New York's CPLR, Criminal Procedure Law, EPTL, and Rules of Professional Conduct directly, since these New York-specific sources are exactly what the exam tests.