MEE Topics: Subjects, Frequency, and July 2026 Changes

The MEE topics tested starting with the July 2026 administration are Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Contracts, Criminal Law and Procedure, Evidence, Real Property, Torts, and Business Associations. Six essay questions are drawn from those eight subjects on each administration, down from a pool of twelve on earlier exams.¹ The Multistate Essay Examination will continue in this form through February 2028, after which the NextGen bar exam replaces it.²

The Eight Subjects on the MEE

The National Conference of Bar Examiners publishes a subject matter outline covering what each area includes.¹ Any combination of six out of eight is possible on a given exam, so you cannot safely skip a subject in preparation.

Civil Procedure. Rules governing federal litigation, including subject-matter jurisdiction (diversity and federal-question), personal jurisdiction, venue, joinder, discovery, and summary judgment.
Constitutional Law. The structure of federal government, separation of powers, federalism, individual rights under the Bill of Rights, and limitations on state and federal authority.
Contracts. Formation, performance, and breach under both common law and Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code, which governs the sale of goods.
Criminal Law and Procedure. Elements of common crimes together with constitutional protections for the accused, including Fourth Amendment search and seizure rules and Fifth Amendment protections during interrogation.
Evidence. What testimony and documents come into trial, with heavy emphasis on hearsay exceptions, relevance, character evidence, and witness impeachment.
Real Property. Ownership, transfer, and use of land, including easements, covenants, landlord-tenant law, recording statutes, and mortgage priorities.
Torts. Civil wrongs including negligence, strict liability, intentional torts, and damages for personal injury or property harm.
Business Associations. Agency, partnerships, corporations, and limited liability companies, with particular focus on fiduciary duties, authority to bind the entity, and formation requirements.

Four Subjects Removed in July 2026

If you are studying from older prep materials, four subjects that appeared on earlier MEEs are no longer tested.³

Conflict of Laws. Which jurisdiction’s law applies when a dispute crosses state lines. It rarely stood alone and was usually embedded in other subjects.
Family Law. Marriage, divorce, property division, and child custody. It returns on the NextGen bar exam as a Foundational Concept starting July 2028.⁴
Trusts and Estates. Wills, intestacy, trust administration, and fiduciary duties. Historically tested in combination with areas like Future Interests.
Secured Transactions. Article 9 of the UCC, governing security interests in personal property used as collateral.

Narrowing the pool from twelve to eight raises the odds that any remaining subject appears on exam day. Frequency charts and study schedules built around the old twelve-subject list are now outdated for the July 2026 and later MEE.

How Often Each Subject Shows Up

Historical patterns from the past decade show clear favorites. Civil Procedure has appeared on roughly three out of every four administrations, making it the most reliable subject to prepare for. Contracts and Real Property also appear consistently, showing up on well over half of exams.

Evidence and Torts appear frequently but with more variation from one session to the next. Constitutional Law, Criminal Law and Procedure, and Business Associations rotate in and out, though none stays away for long. With six questions now drawn from eight subjects, every topic has at least a 75% statistical chance of appearing on any given administration. Deprioritizing a subject carries far more risk under the narrower pool than it did under the old twelve.

Two recent exams illustrate the mix. The July 2025 MEE tested Constitutional Law, Torts, Contracts, Trusts and Future Interests, Corporations and LLCs, and Criminal Procedure. The February 2025 administration included Constitutional Law, Torts, and Trusts combined with Decedents’ Estates. Because Trusts and Estates and Secured Transactions are gone, future exams will draw more heavily from the eight that remain.

When Two Subjects Appear in One Question

A single MEE essay often pulls from two or more subjects. Full credit on these cross-over questions means recognizing where one body of law ends and another begins, then addressing both with equal depth.

Some pairings recur. Torts and Business Associations show up together, where an employee’s negligence raises vicarious liability and whether the person acted within the scope of their agency. Evidence and Criminal Procedure make a natural pair, asking first whether police obtained a statement lawfully and then whether it is admissible at trial under the hearsay rules.

Removing four subjects eliminates certain combinations. Conflict of Laws used to be embedded in Family Law or Trusts and Estates questions to test which state’s law governs a divorce or contested will. Those pairings are gone. Expect new combinations among the remaining eight. A prompt may merge Civil Procedure with Constitutional Law by asking about federal court jurisdiction over a civil rights claim, or combine Contracts with Business Associations through an agreement signed by someone who lacked authority to bind a corporation.

The grading rubric allocates points across every subject a question touches. If an essay integrates Torts and Evidence, the point sheet lists separate issues for each.⁵ Spotting only the Torts issues and ignoring the evidentiary problems leaves significant points behind.

Format and Timing

The MEE consists of six essay questions in a single three-hour morning session, which averages 30 minutes per question.⁶ You can answer them in any order. Starting with a question in your strongest subject banks a solid answer early and leaves mental space for tougher prompts.

Thirty minutes is less time than it sounds. A well-structured answer follows IRAC: identify the issue, state the applicable rule, apply the rule to the specific facts, and reach a conclusion. Most of the points live in the application, not in reciting rules from memory. Many answers state the rule correctly and then fail to connect it to the prompt’s facts, which is where points are lost.

The MEE is administered on the Tuesday before the last Wednesday in February and July each year.⁶ The scheduled 2026 administration date is July 28.²

If Your Jurisdiction Switches to NextGen Early

The current MEE runs through the February 2028 bar exam. Starting July 2028, the NextGen Uniform Bar Examination replaces the MEE, MBE, and MPT.² Some jurisdictions are switching earlier. About ten, including Connecticut, Maryland, Missouri, Oregon, and Washington, plan to administer the NextGen UBE starting July 2026, with roughly a dozen more following in July 2027.⁷

If your jurisdiction adopts the NextGen exam before July 2028, you will not take the MEE at all. Confirm your jurisdiction’s adoption date before building a study plan around the traditional essay format.

The NextGen exam tests eight Foundational Concepts and Principles that closely mirror the current MEE subject list: Civil Procedure, Contract Law, Evidence, Torts, Business Associations, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, and Real Property. Family Law joins that list starting with the July 2028 administration.⁴ The substantive knowledge overlaps with current MEE preparation, but question formats and time structure differ. Candidates sitting in 2026 or 2027 should confirm which exam their jurisdiction is giving before investing in prep materials.

1
National Conference of Bar Examiners. MEE Subject Matter Outline
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National Conference of Bar Examiners. MEE Bar Exam
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National Conference of Bar Examiners. Some Subjects to Be Removed from MEE in 2026
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NextGen Bar Exam. NextGen Bar Exam Home
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National Conference of Bar Examiners. The Multistate Essay Examination
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American Bar Association. Bar Examinations
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National Conference of Bar Examiners. NextGen Bar Exam