How to Become a Lawyer in Tennessee: Steps, Exams and Fees

Written by LawyerEDU.org Editorial Staff, Last Updated: November 5, 2026

Fact-checked by Susan Maphis

To become a lawyer in Tennessee, you need a bachelor’s degree and a J.D. that meets Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 7, usually from an ABA-approved law school or the Board-approved Nashville School of Law. You also need a Tennessee UBE score of at least 270, an MPRE score of 82, the online Tennessee Law Course and character and fitness approval.

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Lawyer Salaries and Jobs in Tennessee

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, lawyers in Tennessee earned a median annual salary of $136,180 as of May 2025, with 9,010 lawyers employed in the state. Nationally, lawyers earned a median of $159,670. Those are figures across all practice areas, and BLS doesn’t publish separate pay for specialties like family law or DUI defense. In the top quarter of earners, Tennessee lawyers made $198,470 or more.

Pay also depends on where you practice. Here’s the median for every Tennessee metro area BLS reports:

Area	Lawyers Employed	Median Annual Wage
Tennessee (statewide)	9,010	$136,180
Chattanooga, TN-GA	740	$147,640
Clarksville, TN-KY	160	$119,430
Cleveland, TN	60	$131,980
Jackson, TN	190	$133,770
Johnson City, TN	130	$117,390
Kingsport-Bristol, TN-VA	300	$107,560
Knoxville, TN	1,250	$126,520
Memphis, TN-MS-AR	1,670	$134,440
Morristown, TN	70	$115,230
Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, TN	3,990	$142,540

Projections Central estimates a 7.8% change in employment for lawyers in Tennessee between 2024 and 2034, with an average of 430 openings per year, based on Tennessee’s labor market projections. Nationally, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects employment of lawyers to grow 5% from 2025 to 2035, faster than the average for all occupations, with about 28,700 openings each year.

Step 1

Earn Your Bachelor’s Degree

Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 7 requires a bachelor’s degree or higher before you sit for the Tennessee bar exam. Rule 7 doesn’t require it before law school, but almost every ABA-approved law school does, so plan on finishing your degree first.

Accreditation

Your degree must come from a college accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), or by an equivalent regional accrediting association or any accrediting agency with substantially equivalent standards. So the list isn’t limited to named agencies. The other regional accreditors include:

If your undergraduate education doesn’t meet that standard, the Board may waive the requirement for a J.D. graduate who shows substantially equivalent undergraduate education. A degree from outside the United States needs a Foreign-Education Report from a member of the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES).

Requirements and Standards

The TBLE doesn’t require a particular major or set of classes. The American Bar Association (ABA) doesn’t either, and law schools admit students from history, engineering, nursing, and business. Courses in political science, philosophy, English, criminal justice, and business may help you build the reading and writing skills law school uses. What schools weigh most is your GPA and your LSAT score, so pick a major you’ll earn strong grades in.

Degree Options

A Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) or Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in any field works, as long as the college is accredited.

Step 2

Take the LSAT or Another Accepted Admissions Test

Tennessee’s licensing rules don’t require the LSAT, but most law schools require an admissions test, and the Law School Admission Test (LSAT), run by the Law School Admission Council (LSAC), is the one schools accept most widely. Some schools also accept the GRE or another test, so check the admissions page of each school you’re considering. Your test score and your GPA are the two numbers law schools look at first. The rest of this step covers the LSAT.

How to Prepare

Start with LSAC’s own materials. LSAC’s LawHub platform includes free official practice tests, which use the same format and interface as the real exam. Many test takers add a commercial prep course or tutor, but no prep course is required.

Exam Content

The LSAT changed in August 2024, when LSAC dropped Analytical Reasoning (the “logic games” section). Older guides still describe it, so check the date on anything you read. As of the 2026-2027 testing year, the exam has four 35-minute multiple-choice sections:

Logical Reasoning (two sections): questions that test how well you analyze, evaluate, and complete arguments
Reading Comprehension (one section): long, dense passages like the material you’ll read in law school
Variable section (one section, unscored): a trial section that repeats one of the scored types, so you won’t know which one doesn’t count

LSAT Argumentative Writing replaced the old writing sample. You take it separately and remotely, starting about eight days before your test window. It isn’t scored, but LSAC sends it to every school you apply to.

Application Process

If you take the LSAT, you register through your LSAC account. For the 2026-2027 testing year, LSAC offers the LSAT in August, September, October, and November 2026, and in January, February, April, and June 2027. The registration fee is $253, which includes Argumentative Writing. LSAC is moving almost all test takers to in-person testing at Prometric test centers, with limited remote exceptions, so you’ll pick a center when you schedule. Plan to test by the fall before you apply, so your score is ready for early applications.

Receiving Your Score

Scores range from 120 to 180. LSAC releases them online on a set date, about three weeks after each test. Here’s where admitted students landed at three Tennessee law schools:

Law School	Median LSAT	Middle 50% Range
University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law	155	152 to 159
University of Tennessee Winston College of Law	164	160 to 166
Vanderbilt University Law School	170	167 to 171

Figures are for the fall 2025 entering class, from each school’s 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure. Schools publish new figures each December.

Step 3

Go to Law School in Tennessee

FIND SCHOOLS

Application Process

To sit for the Tennessee bar exam, you need a J.D. from a law school accredited by an Approved Accreditor or from a law school approved by the TBLE. The October 2026 amendments replaced the rule’s old “ABA-accredited” wording with “Approved Accreditor,” and the Tennessee Supreme Court will publish that list. Until it does, ABA approval is the standard to look for. Tennessee has six law schools:

Belmont University College of Law, Nashville (ABA-approved)
Lincoln Memorial University Duncan School of Law, Knoxville (ABA-approved, full approval since 2019)
Nashville School of Law, Nashville (not ABA-approved, approved by the TBLE)
University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law, Memphis (ABA-approved)
University of Tennessee Winston College of Law, Knoxville (ABA-approved, renamed from the UT College of Law in 2025)
Vanderbilt University Law School, Nashville (ABA-approved)

Nashville School of Law graduates are eligible for the Tennessee bar exam because the TBLE approves the school. Other states decide for themselves whether to accept a J.D. from a school that isn’t ABA-approved, so check that state’s rules first if you might practice outside Tennessee. The ABA keeps a full list of ABA-approved law schools across the country.

Credential Assembly Service

Most law schools require you to use the Credential Assembly Service (CAS), an LSAC service that collects your transcripts and letters of recommendation and sends a report to each school you apply to. For the 2026-2027 cycle, CAS costs $219, plus $45 for each law school report.

Course Requirements

Rule 7 no longer lists required law school courses. It relies on your school’s accreditor to set the curriculum. Two rules still apply to how you study:

The TBLE won’t accept correspondence courses toward your legal education.
Distance and online study counts to the extent your school’s accreditor allows it, so a J.D. from an ABA-approved online or hybrid program qualifies.

Online Law Degrees

Compare online and hybrid J.D. programs

(An online or hybrid J.D. from an ABA-approved program meets Tennessee’s legal education requirement.)

Internship

Tennessee lets law students practice under supervision. Under Rule 7, Section 10.03, once you’ve completed at least half of your law school’s required curriculum, your dean or clinic director can certify you, and the Tennessee Supreme Court issues an order approving you. You can then represent people who can’t afford a lawyer, or government agencies, through a law school clinic, a district attorney or public defender’s office, a legal aid program, or a nonprofit. A Tennessee lawyer with at least three years of practice supervises your work.

Degree Programs

Every Tennessee lawyer needs a J.D. You may add a concentration or earn a joint degree at the same time. Vanderbilt, for example, has offered these joint degrees:

J.D./Ph.D. in Neuroscience
J.D./MBA (Master of Business Administration)
J.D./M.D. (Medicine)
J.D./MPP (Master of Public Policy, Education Policy)
J.D./Ph.D. in Law and Economics
J.D./MSF (Finance)

Joint degree offerings change, so confirm the current list with the school.

Step 4

Pass the Tennessee Bar Exam

The Tennessee Board of Law Examiners gives the bar exam in February and July. Tennessee uses the Uniform Bar Exam (UBE) through the February 2027 exam, then switches to the NextGen bar exam in July 2027.

Deadlines and Fees

Applications open October 1 for the February exam and March 1 for the July exam. For the February 2027 exam, the TBLE opened applications on October 5, 2026, because of system updates. The Final Deadline is December 1 for February and May 1 for July, at 11:59:59 p.m. Central Time. Since the October 2026 amendments, there’s no late-filing period and no late fee, and the Board can’t waive the Final Deadline. If you file early (by November 1 or April 1), the Board tells you about missing documents while you still have time to fix them.

Item	February Exam	July Exam
Applications open	October 1 (October 5, 2026 for February 2027, after TBLE system updates)	March 1
Early filing (deficiency notices)	By November 1	By April 1
Final Deadline (no late filing)	December 1	May 1
TBLE application fee	$725	$725
Laptop fee	$100	$100
Tennessee passing score	270 (UBE through February 2027)	620 (NextGen from July 2027)

The $725 fee applies to first-time and repeat takers. You also pay NCBE’s character and fitness fee directly to NCBE, and that fee went up on October 1, 2026, so check NCBE’s Tennessee fee schedule for the current amount. You can pay the TBLE by credit card online, or by check or money order payable to the Tennessee Board of Law Examiners, 511 Union Street, Suite 525, Nashville, TN 37219. Fees and dates can change: confirm them on the TBLE site before you apply.

Character and Fitness

Character and fitness is the review of your background that every bar applicant goes through: your honesty, your financial responsibility, and any criminal, academic, or professional discipline history. In Tennessee, the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) runs the background investigation, using the NCBE Character and Fitness application you file with your bar application. The TBLE reviews NCBE’s report and decides whether you meet Tennessee’s standard. Disclose everything the application asks about. A past problem you explain is usually far less serious than one the investigation finds on its own.

Application Process

First, create an NCBE account at ncbex.org and complete the NCBE Character and Fitness application. Then create an account in the TBLE’s Synergy portal, register as a new user, and submit the Application for First Time Examination. The Synergy dashboard then lists which documents you upload and which you have mailed to the TBLE. They usually include:

A PDF of your completed NCBE application
A current color passport-style photo
Your current resume, as a PDF
Undergraduate transcripts, mailed by your college directly to the TBLE
A law degree verification and dean’s certificate from each law school you attended, mailed directly to the TBLE
Certificates of admission and good standing, if you’re licensed in another U.S. jurisdiction
A credential evaluation, if you were educated outside the United States

Foreign Law School Graduates

Graduates of foreign law schools can qualify in one of three ways under Rule 7, Section 7.01: an education the Board finds substantially equivalent to a Tennessee-qualifying one, a foreign law degree plus active practice for five of the last eight years, or a foreign law degree plus an in-person, English-language LL.M. in American law from a qualifying U.S. law school. Every path needs a course-by-course Foreign-Education Report from a member of the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services.

Graduates of Law Schools That Aren’t ABA-Approved

If you graduated from Nashville School of Law, you’re eligible through the TBLE’s approval of the school. If you graduated from a school outside Tennessee that’s approved only by its own state, you may qualify under Rule 7, Section 2.02(e), if your study was in person or in a compliant hybrid format and you passed that state’s bar exam.

Preparation

NCBE writes the UBE and publishes free and paid study aids, including past essay and performance test questions. Most applicants also take a commercial bar review course over the eight to ten weeks before the exam.

Exam Content

Through February 2027, the Tennessee bar exam is the two-day UBE. You’ll take the Multistate Bar Examination (MBE), 200 multiple-choice questions over six hours, plus two 90-minute Multistate Performance Test (MPT) tasks and six 30-minute Multistate Essay Examination (MEE) questions. You type the essays and performance tests on a laptop. Subjects tested on the UBE include:

Business associations and organizations
Civil procedure
Conflict of laws
Constitutional law
Contracts
Criminal law and procedure
Evidence
Real property
Remedies and restitution
Torts
Wills and estates
Problem-solving
Legal analysis and reasoning
Factual analysis
Communication
Organization
Recognizing and resolving ethical dilemmas

How the Exam Is Scored

The three parts of the UBE carry different weights:

UBE Component	Share of Your Score
Multistate Bar Examination (MBE)	50%
Multistate Essay Examination (MEE)	30%
Multistate Performance Test (MPT)	20%

You need a total scaled score of 270 to pass in Tennessee.

The NextGen Bar Exam Starts in July 2027

The February 23-24, 2027 exam is Tennessee’s last UBE in the current format, and it’s given in Nashville only. The first NextGen bar exam is July 27-28, 2027, in Knoxville, Memphis, and Nashville. NCBE’s NextGen exam is scored on a different scale, and the Tennessee Supreme Court set the passing score at 620 in September 2026. If you’ll graduate in 2027, check which version you’re preparing for before you buy study materials.

Results and Pass Rates

The TBLE emails results and posts a list of passing applicants on its site. February 2026 results came out April 9, 2026, and July 2026 results came out October 6, 2026. Recent Tennessee pass rates, from TBLE and NCBE statistics:

Exam	Takers	Overall Pass Rate	First-Time Pass Rate
July 2026	719	71.63%	80.46%
February 2026	240	44%	61%

February rates run lower because more of those takers are repeating the exam. First-time pass rates on the July 2026 exam by Tennessee law school:

Law School	First-Time Pass Rate (July 2026)
Belmont University College of Law	96.67%
Vanderbilt University Law School	92.30%
University of Tennessee Winston College of Law	90.65%
University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law	86.54%
Lincoln Memorial University Duncan School of Law	68%
Nashville School of Law	67.74%

Tennessee Law Course

Every applicant must complete the Tennessee Law Course (TLC), an online course on Tennessee-specific law run by the TBLE. It takes about 7.5 hours and costs $15, and exam applicants get access within 10 days after the exam. Under the October 2026 amendments, you must finish it before your UBE score expires and within 90 days after the Board tells you all your other requirements are complete.

Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam (MPRE)

Tennessee requires a scaled score of at least 82 on the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam (MPRE), NCBE’s ethics exam. Under the amended Rule 7, you must earn that score no more than two years before you earn your qualifying bar exam score. Lawyers already licensed in another state are treated differently, so check the rule if that’s you. NCBE gives the MPRE three times a year, in March, August, and November, on a computer at Pearson VUE test centers. The fee is $185 for 2026 and 2027.

Admission by Comity

If you’re already licensed in another state, you may not need to take the Tennessee exam. Admission by comity (also called admission on motion) lets an experienced lawyer join the Tennessee bar based on their license elsewhere. Under the amended Rule 7, you must have been admitted by exam in another U.S. jurisdiction, have a qualifying J.D., be in good standing in every jurisdiction where you’re admitted, and have actively practiced law for three of the five years right before you apply. You must also meet Tennessee’s other eligibility conditions, and the Board decides each application, so the practice requirement alone doesn’t guarantee admission. The fee is $1,400. You’ll still go through character and fitness and the Tennessee Law Course.

Transferring a UBE Score

If you took the UBE in another state but haven’t practiced long enough for comity, you can transfer your score instead. Tennessee accepts a score of at least 270 on the current UBE, or 620 on the NextGen exam, for three years from the date that exam’s grades were released. The fee is $675. Tennessee will keep accepting transferred scores from the current UBE through the February 2028 exam. It doesn’t accept transferred MBE scores on its own.

Requirement	UBE Score Transfer	Admission by Comity
Who it fits	Recent UBE takers, licensed or not	Lawyers licensed by exam in another state
Score needed	270 (UBE) or 620 (NextGen)	None
Time limit or experience	Within three years of the score’s release	Active practice for three of the last five years
TBLE fee	$675	$1,400

Registration of In-House Counsel

If you’re licensed in another U.S. jurisdiction, or as a foreign lawyer, and you work for a company or organization that isn’t a law practice, you can register as in-house counsel under Rule 7, Section 10.01 instead of being admitted. You must finish registration within 180 days of starting work in Tennessee, and the fee is $900. You must be in good standing everywhere you’re licensed.

As registered in-house counsel, you may provide legal services only to your employer and its organizational affiliates. You may not appear before a Tennessee court, practice in any other capacity, or hold yourself out as licensed in Tennessee. If you’re licensed in another U.S. jurisdiction, you may also do pro bono work through an established bar, pro bono, or legal services program. You pay the annual Board of Professional Responsibility fee and meet Tennessee’s continuing legal education requirement like any other lawyer.

Step 5

Get Licensed and Admitted to the Tennessee Bar

Passing the exam doesn’t license you on its own. Once you’ve met every requirement, the TBLE issues your Certificate of Eligibility. You then take the Oath of Admission under Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 6, and you can’t practice law in Tennessee until it’s administered. The Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility (BPR), the state’s lawyer discipline agency, then emails you about your annual registration. Active lawyers pay $270 a year, due by the first day of their birth month.

Tennessee has no mandatory state bar, so joining the Tennessee Bar Association is voluntary. If you join, you’re automatically a member of its Young Lawyers Division (YLD) if you’re under 36 or have been licensed for five years or less. The YLD runs mentoring, networking, and practice programs for new lawyers starting a solo practice, joining a firm, or working in-house.

FIND SCHOOLS

Legal Specialty Certification

Specialty certification is optional and separate from your license: you don’t need it to practice in any area. The Tennessee Commission on Continuing Legal Education doesn’t certify specialists itself. Under Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 21, you can be certified by an ABA-accredited certifying organization and then register that certification with the Commission. The organizations on the Commission’s list as of November 2026 include the following. Check its current list before you apply:

National Elder Law Foundation:
- Elder law
American Board of Certification:
- Consumer and business bankruptcy
- Creditors’ rights
American Board of Professional Liability Attorneys:
- Accounting malpractice
- Legal malpractice
- Medical malpractice
National College for DUI Defense:
- DUI defense
National Association of Counsel for Children:
- Child welfare law
National Board of Trial Advocacy and its National Board of Social Security Disability Advocacy:
- Civil and criminal trial law
- Civil pretrial practice
- Family law
- Social Security disability law
Estate Law Specialist Board:
- Estate planning law
International Association of Privacy Professionals:
- Privacy law

Requirements for Maintaining Your License

Tennessee lawyers must complete 15 hours of continuing legal education (CLE) every calendar year: at least 12 general hours and 3 hours of ethics and professionalism. You can earn all of them online. The compliance year runs January 1 to December 31, and you report your hours to the Commission the following spring. Exemptions apply: inactive lawyers, some lawyers who practice outside Tennessee and newly admitted lawyers follow different rules, and starting with the 2026 compliance year, some qualifying lawyers no longer have to claim their exemption every year. The Commission’s CLE FAQ has the current reporting dates and exemptions. You also renew your BPR registration every year.

Court Systems in Tennessee

Tennessee’s court system has four levels, and its 95 counties are grouped into 32 judicial districts:

Trial courts of limited jurisdiction, funded locally:
- General Sessions Courts: one in every county. They handle preliminary hearings in felony cases and try misdemeanors and smaller civil cases.
- Juvenile Courts: 98 courts handle juvenile cases. Seventeen are separate juvenile courts created by private act, and the rest are General Sessions Courts with juvenile jurisdiction.
- Municipal Courts: city courts that hear violations of city ordinances, such as traffic and parking cases.
Trial courts of general jurisdiction:
- Circuit Courts: in every judicial district. They hear civil and criminal cases and appeals from the lower courts.
- Chancery Courts: in every judicial district. They hear equity cases and many civil matters.
- Criminal Courts: in the districts with the heaviest criminal caseloads, where they take criminal cases off the Circuit Courts.
Intermediate appellate courts:
- The Court of Appeals: hears civil appeals. Its 12 judges sit in panels of three in Jackson, Knoxville, and Nashville.
- The Court of Criminal Appeals: hears criminal appeals, including post-conviction and habeas corpus cases. Its 12 judges also sit in panels of three in the same three cities.
The Tennessee Supreme Court: the state’s highest court. It hears appeals from the intermediate courts and direct appeals in cases such as state tax disputes and challenges to the right to hold public office. It meets in Jackson, Knoxville, and Nashville.

Elective Membership Organizations

You can also join a Tennessee organization of lawyers in your practice area, demographic or interest, such as:

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does it take to become a lawyer in Tennessee?

Plan on about seven years after high school: four years for a bachelor’s degree and three years of full-time law school. A part-time J.D. usually takes four years. After graduation, add the bar exam, about two to three months for results, and the time to finish the Tennessee Law Course and take the oath.

Can you become a lawyer in Tennessee without going to an ABA-approved law school?

Yes. Nashville School of Law isn’t ABA-approved, but the Tennessee Board of Law Examiners approves it, so its graduates can take the Tennessee bar exam. Other states may not accept that degree, so check their rules if you might move. Graduates of state-approved schools in other states may qualify after passing their own state’s bar exam.

What score do you need to pass the Tennessee bar exam?

Tennessee requires a scaled score of 270 on the Uniform Bar Exam, which it gives through February 2027. Starting with Tennessee’s July 2027 NextGen exam, its passing score is 620. Other states set their own passing scores. You also need an MPRE score of at least 82.

Can I transfer my UBE score to Tennessee?

Yes. Tennessee accepts a transferred UBE score of 270 or higher for three years from the date the exam’s grades were released, and the fee is $675. If your score is older and you’ve practiced for three of the last five years, you may qualify for admission by comity instead.

How much does it cost to take the Tennessee bar exam?

The TBLE application fee is $725, plus a $100 laptop fee and $15 for the Tennessee Law Course, as of November 2026. You also pay NCBE’s character and fitness fee and the $185 MPRE fee. Confirm current fees with the TBLE and NCBE before you apply.

Education: You need a bachelor’s degree before the bar exam and a J.D. that meets Rule 7, usually from an ABA-approved law school or the TBLE-approved Nashville School of Law, with limited other paths for state-approved and foreign-educated graduates.
Deadlines: The Final Deadline is December 1 for the February exam and May 1 for the July exam, with no late filing since the October 2026 rule changes.
Exams: Tennessee requires a UBE score of 270 (620 on the NextGen exam starting July 2027) and an MPRE score of 82.
Tennessee extras: Every applicant completes the online Tennessee Law Course and a character and fitness review, investigated by NCBE and decided by the TBLE.
Already licensed: Lawyers from other states can transfer a recent UBE score or qualify by comity after three of the last five years in practice.

2025 US Bureau of Labor Statistics salary figures for Lawyers. Job growth projections (2024-2034) are from the US Department of Labor-sponsored resource, Projections Central. Figures reflect state and national data, not school-specific information. Conditions in your area may vary. Data accessed November 2026. National job outlook figures (2025-2035) are from the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook.

In Tennessee, your law school decides more than where you spend three years. An ABA-approved J.D. is widely accepted for bar exam eligibility, but each state sets its own admission requirements. If you’re working full-time, compare part-time, evening, and hybrid J.D. formats among the programs listed on this page before you apply.

Featured Programs: