Maryland Bar Exam Results: (Almost) Everybody Wins!
July 2008 Bar Exam results were announced on Friday. I assume that everybody has already checked their results, but if you want to ogle the people who passed you can do so here.
The thing is, Maryland came in with an 81.6% passage rate. 1112 passes, 250 failures.
That’s 81.6% in a state with no MPRE nor CLE requirements.
Congratulations Maryland Bar Exam takers. Way to glide into the American bar.
New Yorkers, your day of reckoning draws nigh.
Earlier: Texas Bar Exam Results Have Been Posted
Exams! Results! Northeast Corridor!




Comments
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first
"New Yorkers, you're day of reckoning draws nigh."
FAIL.
Wonder who will be the first to point out the misuse of "you're". Again. Elie, you're day of reckoning draws nigh. And your fired.
No, you are day.
Elie, what would posses you to use "you're" instead of "your" in the last sentence of the post?
MysTTTal, I hope for HLS's reputation's sake that you're doing this on purpose.
Don't try and downplay MD. This is probably one of their highest pass rates in years!!!! Plus, we have to do a professionalism class and PR is tested on the exam so therefore no MPRE is required!
Thanks for nothing, that link only has applicant numbers and no name. Worthless.
Wow.
Anyone have a good idea of when NY results come out?
Guys in my high school used to think they're grammar was perfect all the time, it was no big deal.
@ #7
Nearly everyone does a "professionalism class" in law school.
And plenty of bar exams have prof. responsibility on the exam in ADDITION to an MPRE requirement.
That being said, there's no reason to fail the MPRE.
What's your point number 12? Nothing was said about failing the MPRE. Further, most people take the MPRE regardless because they want to waive into DC. Needless to say, I passed and I am happy!
Agreed. Elie, I hope you're doing this on purpose.
7 STFU.
The Maryland bar exam is useless.
These results have nothing on Texas' results. Not even close.
My POINT is that your points are somewhat pointless. As for the MPRE, I'm just suggesting that it is somewhat overrated anyhow.
Regardless, I wish you a congratulations!
Seeing as how he just edited it, I think 6 and 14 are giving that moron way too much credit.
Lat, your contest was--as democracy so often is--an abject failure to elevate the meritorious.
This EIC is action affirmative that anyone with a face can get into law school, particularly the hallowed halls of ivy cambridge.
Thank you 12!
For the rest, a bar passage is a bar passage. I will not get extra points in oral arguments or a depo for taking one bar or the other.
Ellie ate his bar exam and asked the proctors for another one.
No CLE?? I think that's way more important than MPRE. Basically, Maryland is saying "please don't hire an attorney more than 10 years out of LS because they are useless. Thank you."
We know MysTTTal can't pass a bar...dessert, chocolate or otherwise.
Mystal ate all of his siblings so he could be an only child and have more food at dinner. His parents just gave up after a while. Should be a cautionary tale to those parents who give birth to babies resembling Shrek.
I wonder if Elie is making these errors just to work some of the commenters into a foamy lather pointing them out.
"babies resembling Shrek"
I admit it, I laughed.
Am I missing something? Where are the names of the MD Bar passers?
For purposes of anonymity, MD uses numbers not names. It has for years.
The reality is that a sizable percentage of the people who pass the Maryland bar do not score high enough on the MBE to waive into D.C.
They then have to take and pass the D.C. Bar exam, or go work for the federal government, if they want to remain employed in D.C.
27: You're missing the joke that is the "person" who wrote this post. That's all.
Mystal: "Give me your lunch."
Lat: "No, get your own lunch."
Mystal: "I am warning you. I eat a lot of lunch. Give me your lunch."
Lat: "No. I am gay."
Mystal: "Oh"
So how are we supposed to "ogle the people who passed?"
The reality is that a sizable percentage of the people who pass the Maryland bar do not score high enough on the MBE to waive into D.C.
They then have to take and pass the D.C. Bar exam, or go work for the federal government, if they want to remain employed in D.C.
Stop the Elie bashing. He's a product of affirmative action, so what do you expect? We should all bow down to his 149 LSAT and URM status.
What kind of bird is that? Seriously, I really want to know.
When I took the MD bar, the guy at the table with me was taking it for his 4th time. Nervous as hell. When the results were posted, his number, which was one less than mine, wasn't on the list. Poor bastard. But the world needs ditch diggers too I guess.
And every attorney I knew in MD still did a ton of CLE, they just weren't forced to do so.
33: What's the basis for your statement that MD bar passers don't pass the MPRE? The MPRE is a joke compared to any bar exam.
I believe that bird is the Baltimore Crack Warbler. It likes to stand outside buildings and stab random people as they walk by.
Bindy Irwin
You've been watching too much The Wire.
Anyone really know the bird?
*IN ALL SERIOUSNESS, DO PEOPLE IN MARYLAND ACTUALLY VISIT THIS WEBSITE? I DONT KNOW ANYONE FROM MARYLAND WHO EVEN HAS INTERNET ACCESS. THEY ARE ALL A BUNCH OF SOUTHERN HICKS*
i am angry at myself for laughing aloud at 31's post
35, 39, really? You don't recognize the Baltimore Oriole?
35, 39, really? You don't recognize the Baltimore Oriole?
37,
Re-read what 33 said. The MPRE and the MBE are two different exams.
Ah - yes, the MBE v. MPRE - got it. Well then, what's the basis for that statement? I know plenty of MD attorneys (myself included) who scored high enough on the MBE to waive into DC.
MD requires a 406 score, which is the MBE score plus 2 times the essay score.
DC requires a MBE score of 133 to waive in.
So it's possible that someone does really well on the essays but really badly on the MBE, and thus can't waive into DC. But it is unlikely (and I don't know anyone who had this happen).
#33,
Please explain further your contention re MBE scores and DC waive-in rates. Where can I find the evidence? I have not heard of such a thing. Frankly, DC's required waive-in MBE scaled score of 133 is fairly low, so I would guess many MD passers would achieve that.
As for the MPRE, most MD bar applicants probably took it anyway, if nothing else b/c it is required to waive into DC.
No CLE is nice, but bfd.
40 -
That's funny I've lived in Maryland my whole life and I'm on the internet now. Maryland is also the home of one of the top 3 richest counties in the nation according to Forbes, so clearly we're poor, Southern hicks.
40, you're a douche. You do realize that the National Security Agency is in Maryland and a majority of the people who work their live in Maryland, right?
29, it's pretty damn hard to pass the Maryland bar and not waive into DC. One would have to massively rock the essays.
the reason MD has a high passage rate is because there are no unaccredited law schools in MD.
I passed MD bar in 05 and then, once I saw I had the MBE score to waive in, took the MPRE and destroyed it. The MPRE is a cupcake exam.
Btw, for all of this talk about CLEs, DC doesn't require them either. So in MD, you can waive into DC (provided your SCALED MBE score is high enough)and never be required to do CLEs. MD/DC corridor is AWESOME!
@40
You imply that MD residents don't have internet access yet you type like an old man from the stone age using caps. It might be time to trade in your Texas Instrument and get your self a Mac or a Windows based computer system.
40 = John McCain
40 - I agree with your assessment of Maryland. Given that it is south of the mason dixon line, it is likely filled with crab cake eating, gun toting, red necks (emphasis).
54 = 40 = John McCain! 54 is boosting by "agreeing" with him/herself - NUMBER 40! Way to go!
You actually sound like a West Virginian jealous of his/her life confined to a black hole of poverty practicing at the top black lung/mesothelioma plaintiff's law firm. Good luck to ya!
Assuming 81.6% represents the passage rate for all test takers, what was the % of first time takers passing the MD bar?
54, Maryland has a pretty hardcore anti-gun stance, and crabcakes are delicious.
I got the black lung, pa. Why is Maryland so filled with black people?
I heard that people in Potomac, Maryland made their fortune by harvesting crabs from the Chesapeake Bay. If so, doesnt this make rich marylander's akin to Bubba Gump?
Well son (58), it's because they fled there for refuge after your ancestors and I tried to make them work for free ... Had they not left, they'd be havin' the black lung and not you. It's a cruel world son ...
Its merman, pa, MERMAN!
gay is the new black-lung.
Rich is as rich does, 59.
40 You're a moron. Maryland has the highest median household income and one of the highest college graduate rates. Enjoy life in Nebraska.
I heard that the gene pool in Maryland is the least diverse of all 50 states because it is fairly common for a Marylander to have intercourse with their first cousin(s).
GULCers and douchebags from GW who insist on taking the NY bar, even though they'll be stuck in DC for the rest of their lives, instead of taking the easy route by taking the MD bar are retarded. Just like Elie.
64 = disgruntled MD bar exam failure. 64 is attacking Marylanders because it makes him/her feel better about failing the MD bar. 64 should give up his/her goals of becoming a lawyer and go to DeVry University for a certificate in Paralegal studies. 64 is an embarassment and should probably commit suicide so as to reduce family shame for failing such a seemingly easy bar exam.
MysTTTal, why can you not do anything correctly the first time? Why can't you write at a basic high school level? Why must others constantly correct your lazy, inconsiderate ass?
You aren't dumb (though you aren't especially intelligent), you're something far worse: sloppy.
The most important question-when is New York coming out?
Elie, and other folks on this blog, seems to think MD's pass rate is unusually high compared to other states. Don't think so. For example, VA's overall pass rate this year is nearly 80% and 85% for first-timers.
See for yourself: http://www.vbbe.state.va.us/results.html
MD's February bar passage rate is much lower, like around 55%.
The average bar passage rate for MD over the past couple years has been around 73%. There were probably more GULCers and GW students taking the bar to raise the average this year. On average, the MD schools, Catholic and Howard fare around that passage rate for MD or worse.
71,
You do know that neither Catholic nor Howard is located in MD, right? True, students from those two schools regularly take the MD exam, I just wanted to make sure you knew neither of the schools you mentioned as MD schools was actually located in MD.
72: (From not 71) Okay, but...ARE there schools in Maryland?? I mean, I've only been there once and the coast seemed perfectly fine (usually does, it's those damn inland areas you have to watch out for) but I can't think of one LS in MD.
Thoughts?
Has anyone else noticed that people from Maryland are slow in the head? Its like everyone in that state takes the slow bus to law school.
-I meant "short bus." Forgive me, I am from Maryland.
People, help me out here. I got a 133 on the MBE-so that waives into D.C.? Is it 133 and up or above 133? Sorry for the confusion, i'm from Maryland and slow.
73...uhhh
University of MD and UBalt immediately come to mind, and I'm from nowhere near MD.
-Not 72
72, I think the point was that the MD schools *along with* Catholic and Howard fare worse, not that Catholic and Howard are MD schools. Note the absence of a comma after Howard, which would suggest that Catholic and Howard ARE MD schools.
-Not 71
76 - you're fine. It's greater than or equal to 133.
72 - have you ever seen a comma before???!?! MD schools COMMA Catholic AND Howard. The "MD" schools are a different category than Catholic and Howard. Learn to read bozo!!
72 - have you ever seen a comma before???!?! MD schools COMMA Catholic AND Howard. The "MD" schools are a different category than Catholic and Howard. Most people don't use the serial comma anymore and it is OBVIOUS to anyone with a brain that knows anything about law schools that the latter two are in DC. Why are people on this board such idiots?
79/80 - Learn to post. Idiot.
81 - Give the kid a break. He is probably from Maryland.
Follow-up. Maryland, when I took the bar exam, only required a 120 on the MBE to pass, along with a now-forgotten number on the essay part. Since DC, then as now, required 133 on the MBE to waive in, that meant that a significant percentage of people passed the Maryland bar but not by enough to waive into D.C. Personally, I know four people who fell into that category, all from the year that I took the test. Two took the D.C. Bar exam the following March, and the other two went to work for the federal government instead of trying to pass the D.C. Bar. Yet another acquaintance, several years later, took three tries to pass Maryland, and even after passing, still could not waive into D.C.
Although Maryland subsequently shifted to a sliding scale, i.e., a low MBE score can be offset by a high essay score, or vice versa, to get a combined passing score, the reality is that there will still be a number of Maryland bar passers who did not break 133 on the MBE, since the overall passing rates have remained relatively stable. Those people cannot waive into D.C., and must take the D.C. Bar.
There seem to be a significant number of associates at DC firms who aren't DC barred. Not all of them are recent graduates (who presumably would have a pending application). If that's the case, is waiving into DC necessary at all DC firms?
Seems like you'd have to do extremely well on the essays to not get the 133 and still pass.
The New York July 2008 Exam results will be available online Friday November 14 at 9:00 AM
80: because "their" still in school. god help the rest of us when "their" released.
I passed the MD bar (yay), but my MBE is just a couple of points below what DC requires to waive in. So I need to take the DC bar in Feb '09 to keep my DC job. I'm just wondering if this happened to anyone else this year or in recent years ...