Bar Exams, Law Schools

California Bar Exam Results By Law School: Open Thread (July 2015)

Which law schools (both in-state and out-of-state) did the best on the test, and which schools did the worst?

By  
on

Shocking results from the July 2015 administration of the California bar exam were released on November 20, 2015. Given the disappointing overall pass rate, people have been wondering about the pass rates by law school ever since.

The only information we’ve had until now has been the overall, frighteningly low pass rate of 46.6 percent. We also knew the overall pass rates for first-time takers who attended ABA-accredited law schools, both in-state (68 percent) and out-of-state (59 percent).

One month has passed, and now we know all of the individual California bar exam pass rates for law schools nationwide. Which law schools (both in-state and out-of-state) did the best on the test, and which schools did the worst?

Congratulations go out to Stanford Law for reclaiming the number-one pass rate for all California law schools. Last year, the prestigious school was knocked out of the top spot by UC Berkeley Law, but this year, a healthy 88.8 percent of Stanford graduates were able to pass the hardest bar exam in the country on the first try. Well done!

How did everyone else do on the test? Here’s a chart of the July 2015 bar performances for all 21 ABA-accredited California law schools (gavel bang: TaxProf Blog):

UC Hastings, we need to have a chat. For the second year in a row, your law school’s pass rate has been below the state average for first-time test takers. The school’s 67.5 percent pass rate places it in good company — schools whose troublesome stats have forced them into the “rank not published” tier of the U.S. News law school rankings. Yikes! We know that UC Hastings just lost Frank Wu as dean, but it looks like his replacement’s job will be to find a way to fix the school’s year-after-year bar pass problems.

In other news, it looks like Thomas Jefferson School of Law has once again defied the odds. For the second year in a row, the school avoided being dead last when it came to graduates passing its own state’s bar exam, as it had been for so many years prior. With a 47.7 percent pass rate, the school placed fourth to last of all ABA-accredited California law schools for the July 2015 bar exam. Polite golf claps are in order for not sucking quite as hard as San Francisco (47.4 percent pass rate), Golden Gate (39.3 percent pass rate), and Whittier (37.7 percent pass rate) did this time around. Excellent work!

Sponsored

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

  • Loyola L.A. continues to outperform law schools that are ranked more highly than it is by U.S. News. This is the third year in a row that Loyola graduates have made a killing on the bar exam. Way to go!
  • Three cheers for Chapman Law! Despite being ranked No. 127 by U.S. News, the school managed to slip into the Top 10 best-performing law schools in the state with a 71.2 percent pass rate.
  • Kudos are also in order for McGeorge Law. The school’s rank may not be published by U.S. News, but its 69.9 percent bar pass rating placed it in the Top 10, above California’s state average for first-time takers.

Enough about California’s clown car of law schools. Let’s chat about out-of-state schools and their pass rates for the July 2015 administration of the California bar exam. Here are the five out-of-state schools with the highest pass rates:

  • 93.3%: Yale (30 test-takers)
  • 92.1%: Virginia (38 test-takers)
  • 89.7%: Chicago (29 test-takers)
  • 88.9%: Pennsylvania (18 test-takers)
  • 86.0%: Harvard (93 test-takers)

Yale made up for last year’s performance on the test (a 75.8 percent pass rate with 33 test-takers), and Stanford did better than Harvard. We suppose that settles the issue on which school really ought to be No. 2 in the nation. Our condolences, Harvard.

Sponsored

And now, for the moment you’ve all been waiting for. Without further ado, here are the out-of-state law schools with the lowest pass rates on the July 2015 California bar exam:

  • 25.0%: Michigan State (8 test-takers), New England (12 test-takers)
  • 14.3%: Charlotte (7 test-takers), Miami (7 test-takers), Vermont (14 test-takers)
  • 12.5%: John Marshall-Chicago (8 test-takers)
  • 7.7%: Phoenix (13 test-takers)
  • 0.0%: Florida Coastal (4 test-takers), Suffolk (10 test-takers), Syracuse (13 test-takers), Thomas Cooley (8 test-takers)

Both Florida Coastal and Cooley found themselves in a four-way tie for a zero percent pass rate. Ouch. Enjoy that schadenfreude while you can, because we’re sure both schools will be back next year with absolutely stellar performances.

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 talk trash — in the comments.

July 2015 California Bar Exam Results [TaxProf Blog]

Earlier: California Bar Exam Results Reveal Worst Pass Rate In Nearly 30 Years — But It’s Not All Bad News

Topics

, , ,