How Law Schools Fared on California's July 2019 Bar Exam
Only two law schools—Duke and Chicago—saw 100% of their test-takers pass the latest exam. Here's a breakdown of how schools across the country fared.
December 13, 2019 at 06:59 PM
3 minute read
The original version of this story was published on The Recorder
It's examination time.
Want to pass the California bar exam? Maybe think about Duke and Chicago.
Duke University School of Law alumni continued their tradition of success on the California bar exam, with all 16 of the first-time test-takers from the North Carolina campus passing the July test, according to data released by the state bar Friday.
University of Chicago Law School also posted a 100% pass rate, edging out the numbers from Harvard Law School (97% passing), University of Michigan Law Shcool (97%) and New York University School of Law (96%). Just one student each at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School and the University of Virginia School of Law failed the exam.
Thirty-one students from Yale Law School passed the exam (91%), and Georgetown University Law Center (81%) was the top-performing school from the nation's capital.
The statistics show that students from out-of-state schools accredited by the American Bar Association did slightly better than their California counterparts, with 73% of non-California school alumni passing on their first attempt compared to 71.3% for those attending in-state schools.
The California schools with the highest pass rates for first-time takers in California were Stanford Law School (94%), the University of California at Berkeley School of Law (89%) and the University of California at Los Angeles School of Law (88%).
California schools showing some of the biggest jumps in pass rates over 2018 include University of California, Hastings College of Law (from 60% to 79%); Pepperdine University Caruso School of Law (from 66% to 82%) and the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law (from 50% to 63%).
Pass rates were up across the board for schools over July 2018, except for Duke, which had a 100% success rate last year, too. The numbers reflect a 10 percentage point improvement in the overall pass rate from last year's historic low of 40.7%.
Law school data for the July 2019 exam is posted below:
Read more:
Leah Wilson, Resigning as Bar Director, Reflects on Her 2-Year Leadership
Report Reveals Frantic Scramble After California Bar Exam Blunder
See Who Passed California's July 2019 Bar Exam
Slim Majority of Test-Takers Passed California's July Bar Exam
Nearly 7 in 10 Flunked California's February 2019 Bar Exam
How Law Schools Fared on California's February 2019 Bar Exam
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