California Bar Exam Results By Law School: Open Thread (July 2014)

The school-by-school breakdown of the California bar exam results is out. Let's take a look!

Results from the July 2014 administration of the California bar exam were released on November 21, 2014. Ever since, people have been wondering about the pass rates by law school.

The only information we’ve had until now has been the overall, shockingly low pass rate of 48.6 percent (down a woeful 7.2 percentage points from July 2013’s results). We also knew about the overall pass rates for first-time takers who attended ABA-accredited law schools, both in-state (69.4 percent) and out-of-state (59.9 percent).

It’s just one month later — incredibly quick by the California Committee of Bar Examiners’ standards — and now we know all of the individual California bar exam pass rates for law schools nationwide.

Last year, we praised Stanford for its top performance. Which law school took home the glory this time?

Congratulations go out to… NOT STANFORD. Whoa there, do you mean to tell us that the number three law school in the nation can’t come in first place when it comes to passing the bar exam in its home state? That’s way harsh, man. This year, just 87.6 percent of Stanford graduates passed the California bar exam (down from its July 2013 pass rate of 91 percent). Unfortunately, the school was unable to secure a threepeat for top bar exam performances.

Which law school was this year’s victor on one of the most grueling exams in the country? That would be UC Berkeley’s Boalt Hall, with an 88.3 percent pass rate — which is very impressive given the disappointing pass rates we’ve seen nationwide. Nice work, Boalties! You can mark this one down as the year you beat Stanford.

How did everyone else do? Here’s a chart of the July 2014 bar performances for all 21 ABA-accredited California law schools (gavel bang: TaxProf Blog):

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UC Irvine, we urgently need to talk to you. This school went from a pass rate of 90.2 percent in 2012 — second place for the entire state — to a 77.5 percent pass rate in 2013, and now it’s down to a 77.1 percent pass rate in 2014. If you wanted to be a top 20 school in your inaugural U.S. News ranking this spring, you needed to have tested like one. UC Irvine not only placed below all the current top 20 California law schools this summer, but it also placed below a school ranked #87 by U.S. News. No bueno.

In other news, we’ve got this amazing report on the much-maligned Thomas Jefferson School of Law: the school was NOT dead last in California bar exam pass rates as it had been for years prior. With a 44.7 percent pass rate, the school placed third to last of all ABA-accredited California law schools for the July 2014 bar exam. Applause is in order for not sucking quite as hard as Golden Gate (43.8 percent pass rate) and Whittier (42.7 percent pass rate) did this time around.

Here are some brief notes as to the rest of the pass rates for California’s law schools:

  • UC Hastings weighed in with a pass rate of 68.3 percent, which was below the statewide average. What the hell happened there?
  • Loyola L.A. remains a top performer, despite its U.S. News ranking. This year, the law school was in sixth place in terms of bar pass rates for California law schools, and last year, it was in third place. Way to go!
  • Just 58.8 percent of graduates from Western State passed the bar exam this summer, and one of them was a porn star. We suppose the school could consider this its money shot.

Enough about California’s law schools. Let’s chat about out-of-state schools and their pass rates for the July 2014 administration of the California bar exam. Here are the five schools with the highest pass rates:

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  • 97.1%: Michigan (35 test-takers)
  • 96.7%: Duke (30 test-takers)
  • 92.6%: Pennsylvania (27 test-takers)
  • 90.0%: William & Mary (10 test-takers)
  • 89.5%: Boston University (19 test-takers)

Um, excuse us, but where are Harvard and Yale? Is this real life? It seems that Harvard’s pass rate was 87.9 percent (91 test-takers), and Yale’s was an astonishing 75.8 percent (33 test-takers). Go home, Yale, you’re drunk.

Without further ado, here are the out-of-state law schools with the lowest pass rates:

  • 33.3%: Syracuse (21 test-takers)
  • 20.0%: Hofstra (5 test-takers)
  • 14.2%: Case Western (7 test-takers)
  • 6.3%: Thomas Cooley (16 test-takers)
  • 0.0%: Loyola New Orleans (6 test-takers), Phoenix (13 test-takers), Seattle (5 test-takers)

Once again, Cooley Law was the second-best… at not being the worst. Yay?

What are your thoughts on the bar passage rates for California’s law schools? Feel free to discuss — to brag about your law school or alma mater, talk trash, or offer dispassionate analysis — in the comments.

July 2014 California Bar Exam Results [TaxProf Blog]
General Statistics Report – July 2014 California Bar Examination [State Bar of California]
State Bar Announces Results for July 2014 California Bar Examination [State Bar of California]

Earlier: California Bar Exam Results By Law School: Open Thread (July 2013)
California Bar Exam Results By Law School: Open Thread (July 2012)