Bar Exams, Law Schools

Phoenix Law's Poor Bar Results Cause One Student to Ask For a Refund

This post is about Phoenix Law School, which received accreditation from the American Bar Association in 2010. In news that will shock no one, Phoenix Law is having a little bit of a problem when it comes time to graduate students that can pass the Arizona bar exam. It is marginally more interesting to listen to Phoenix Law students ask for a refund....

By  
on

To be clear, we’re talking about Phoenix Law, not a new legal program from the for-profit University of Phoenix. I mean, I’m sure the University of Phoenix will get around to starting an online law school, and when they do, students stupid enough to pay for it will end up struggling to pass the bar, but that’s not what this post is about.

This post is about Phoenix Law School, which received accreditation from the American Bar Association in 2010. (I’ll pause while we all digest the reality that the ABA is still approving new law schools despite all the evidence that we have too many. I’ll also pause because there is a little blood dripping into my eye from when I found the accreditation link and then slammed my head into my desk.)

In news that will shock no one, Phoenix Law is having a little bit of a problem when it comes time to graduate students that can pass the Arizona bar exam.

It is marginally more interesting to listen to Phoenix Law students ask for a refund….

The results of the July Bar Exam from Arizona are out, and the results are not too hot for Phoenix Law. The poor showing dismayed Shirley Mays, Dean of Phoenix Law. She sent out the following email to the community:

Dear Colleagues,

This morning we received the official results for bar exam pass rates for the three Arizona schools. Our first time pass rate was 61.8% compared to the statewide first time pass rate of 75.7%. Our overall pass rate was 57.8% and the overall state pass rate was 71%. I have attached the bar examination results sheet from the state supreme court for your information.

As you might expect, we are disappointed by the results. However, this is a prime opportunity for us to assess what we are doing well, what needs to be strengthened, and immediately identify and address areas for continuous improvement.

We’ll keep you informed as we receive additional information from the state and our internal documentation. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks,

Shirley
Shirley L. Mays, Dean and Professor of Law

Sponsored

Now, obviously my idea for immediate improvement would be to not admit every student with a dollar loan application and a dream to become a lawyer, and make sure the students know that after three years of higher education they’ll still need to take a test prep course. But I’m just a guy who believes the ABA should actually regulate legal education.

What do the students at a place like Phoenix Law think? Dean Mays didn’t include recent graduates in her email distribution about the bar, but the email found it’s way to July 2011 bar takers. One disgruntled graduate emailed the dean back with some helpful suggestions:

Dean Mays,

Your email to “PhoenixAll” dated October 11, 2011, has now circulated among alumni who sat for July 2011 bar exam (it appears you consciously chose not to include them in the email distribution). If you are truly disappointed by the bar results, begin your journey of improvement by firing the entire PhoenixLaw “bar prep” team. Just because an individual passed the Arizona bar exam doesn’t mean he or she is qualified to prepare others for the exam. PhoenixLaw’s bar prep team should consist of people who have actually graded past bar exams for the state. Those people exist. Find and hire them. Stop hiring PhxLaw graduates as “bar prep counselors” to inflate the school’s employment statistics.

The Bar Exam Rock Star program (or whatever it was called) was a waste of money. Bribing students with vacation trips and electronics didn’t work, did it? All of the money spent on the program came from tuition which is already too high for what the students get. In July 2009, your predecessor, Eugene Clark, justified a tuition increase by telling students that the investors need to see a return on their money. So, Dean Mays, exactly when do the students and alumni get to see a return on THEIR money?

And, I have another question for you. Can I get a refund?

Wow. I know it looks like I wrote that, but I totally didn’t. The information laced in this invective is almost too shocking for words. Allow me to highlight some of the allegations from this recent graduate:

  • Phoenix Law increased tuition in 2009 — that would be during the recession, and a year before it was accredited.
  • Going to Phoenix Law and passing the bar gets you a job teaching other Phoenix Law students bar prep.
  • Is it possible that Phoenix told these law students to take some kind of Phoenix Law bar prep course (“Bar Exam Rock Star”) as opposed to taking an established prep course?

Sponsored

That last thing would be horrible. Obviously, if you are going to the Phoenix Law, you don’t know a lot about how the legal market works or your actual employment opportunities. You are already at a disadvantage. If you compound that disadvantage by not taking a standard test prep program… well, of course you are going to fail the bar at a higher rate than other people.

Telling Phoenix Law students to take Phoenix prep instead of one of the big boys is akin to bar exam sabotage.

Not that this student, or anybody else, will ever get their money back from Phoenix. It would probably ruin their business model if they actually had to be held accountable by their graduates.

Topics

, , , , ,