Kim Kardashian is famously “staying away from bars” this year—but only the legal kind. On Tuesday, May 5, 2026, reports surfaced that the billionaire entrepreneur and SKIMS founder has decided to sit out both the February and July 2026 California bar exam administrations.
While Kim has been a vocal advocate for criminal justice reform and completed her four-year legal apprenticeship in May 2025, the path to becoming “Kim Kardashian, Esq.” is taking a temporary detour as she focuses on her burgeoning acting career and business empire.
The Kim Kardashian bar exam update comes six months after she revealed she had narrowly failed the July 2025 bar exam. Despite showing immense grit—Kim famously passed the “Baby Bar” on her fourth attempt in 2021—she has decided not to rush back into the high-stakes testing room this year.
• February 2026: Kim officially sat out the winter exam window.
• July 2026: Sources close to the star confirmed she has no plans to sit for the upcoming summer exam, meaning her next possible attempt won’t be until February 2027.
Playing a Lawyer vs. Being One
While her real-life studies are on hold, Kim is currently “practicing” law in front of the cameras. She recently stepped into the role of Allura Grant, a high-powered divorce attorney, in the Ryan Murphy series All’s Fair.
“I’m not a lawyer yet, I just play a very well-dressed one on TV,” Kim joked on her Instagram Story late last year. Insiders suggest that her intense filming schedule, coupled with the global expansion of SKIMS and her responsibilities as a mother of four, led to the decision to prioritize her current projects over the rigorous 18-hour-a-week study schedule required for the bar.
Despite the 2026 hiatus, Kim has emphasized that she is not giving up. Her apprenticeship under attorneys Jessica Jackson and Erin Haney officially concluded in May 2025, making her fully eligible to take the bar whenever she chooses.
“Six years into this law journey, and I’m still all in until I pass,” she shared in November 2025. “Falling short isn’t failure it’s fuel.” For now, that fuel is being channeled into her advocacy work and her solo appearances on the world stage, including her recent bronze-armored debut at the 2026 Met Gala.
