National Unified Legal Professional Qualification Exam (China)法考

Overview

法考 (the National Unified Legal Professional Qualification Examination) is China's common entry exam for legal professions such as judges, prosecutors and lawyers. The Ministry of Justice sets the question papers and publishes a yearly announcement. This page follows the Ministry's 2026 announcements. The exam has two parts: a computer-based objective part and a subjective part.

Who can apply

Under the 2026 announcement, an applicant must:

• hold Chinese nationality and support the Constitution, with the right to vote and stand for election;

• have good political, professional and moral standing;

• have full civil capacity;

• meet one of three education routes: a full-time bachelor's degree in law with a bachelor's degree or higher, a full-time non-law bachelor's degree or above together with a Juris Master (法律硕士), Master of Laws (法学硕士) or higher degree, or a full-time non-law bachelor's degree or above with the corresponding degree and three years of legal work.

The three years of legal work are counted until 31 August 2026 for this cycle. Legal work means jobs such as legislative, judicial, procuratorial, police and justice administration work, practising as a lawyer, and teaching or researching law. People who held a place in a law programme before the implementing rules came into force, and applicants whose household registration is in a relaxed-policy area, can follow special rules. For those areas the education requirement is a bachelor's degree. Final-year students can apply under conditions set out in the announcement.

You cannot apply if you have a criminal punishment for an intentional crime, were dismissed from public office or had a lawyer or notary licence revoked, had a legal qualification certificate revoked, are within a ban period from the exam, are on the national joint credit-punishment list for serious dishonesty, or already hold an A-class legal professional qualification certificate. Hong Kong and Macau permanent residents who are Chinese citizens, and Taiwan residents, may also take the exam under separate registration arrangements.

Exam pattern

Objective subjects:

• Paper 1: Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law, jurisprudence, constitutional law, Chinese legal history, international law, judicial system and legal professional ethics, criminal law, criminal procedure, administrative law and administrative litigation.

• Paper 2: civil law, intellectual property law, commercial law, economic law, environmental and resources law, labour and social security law, private international law, international economic law, civil procedure (including arbitration).

Subjective subjects: Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law, jurisprudence, constitutional law, criminal law, criminal procedure, civil law, commercial law, civil procedure (including arbitration), administrative law and administrative litigation, judicial system and legal professional ethics. Where optional questions are set, you answer one of them.

The objective part in 2026 is closed-book and on computer. The subjective part is also on computer, with the question and answer screen both on the monitor and an electronic law database provided. Candidates who find a computer hard to use because of health or age can apply for paper answering when they confirm their subjective registration. Candidates answering in a minority language (Mongolian, Tibetan, Uyghur, Kazakh or Korean) take the subjective part on paper.

Marking and results

Only those with a passing objective score can take the subjective part. The Ministry of Justice sets the pass mark with the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate and other bodies. For 2026 the national pass mark on the objective part was 180 out of 300. Relaxed pass marks were set for some regions: 140 for Tibet, 150 for certain Tibetan-area counties in Qinghai, Sichuan, Yunnan and Gansu, southern Xinjiang prefectures, Liangshan, Nujiang, Linxia and national key rural revitalisation counties, and 160 for other designated relaxed areas.

An objective pass is valid for the year of the exam and the next exam year. The Ministry does not publish questions or reference answers. Candidates can ask the registration-area justice authority for a score check in writing within 15 days of subjective results being released. Subjective results, the pass mark and how to apply for the qualification certificate are announced separately by the Ministry.

Important dates

2026 schedule:

How to apply

Registration is online through the Ministry of Justice website, and late registration is not allowed. You choose a registration area among those set up by provincial justice authorities and cannot change it after paying the objective fee. Upload your ID, degree certificates (which must be verifiable on the national higher-education student information site), a photo in the required size, and, for the three-year work route, proof of legal work. Pay the fee according to the standard published by the justice authority of your registration area. If you cannot register or print an admit card online, you can use the justice authority in your registration area within the set time.

People who passed the objective part in 2026, or kept a valid passing score from 2025, confirm the subjective exam and pay on the Ministry website during the subjective registration window.

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