On State Bar Pass Rates, Florida Sits Near the Bottom
Results for the Sunshine State aren't so sunny compared with other states. The good news is Florida beat California.
March 29, 2018 at 01:35 PM
3 minute read
The American Bar Association overhauled the way it reports law school bar pass rates this year in a bid to get that information to the public faster and make it easier to compare data.
On the state-by-state rankings, Florida placed very low. Including the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, Florida is seventh from the bottom with a statewide passing rate of 67.9 percent. Puerto Rico sits in the cellar with no close competition at 40.25 percent, followed by Mississippi at 63.95 percent.
The state figures are based on the results for first-time test takers in 2017, the latest year available.
Pass rates for Florida law schools on the July 2017 exam ranged from 87.8 percent at Florida International University to 47.7 percent at Florida Coastal School of Law.
Florida Bar President Michael Higer of Berger Singerman in Miami had no comment by deadline on the state results, which create the newest supply of Florida lawyers.
Michele A. Gavagni, executive director of the Florida Board of Bar Examiners, the arm of the Florida Supreme Court responsible for administering the state bar exam, had no comment on the ABA numbers themselves.
She said by email Thursday: “The purpose of the Florida Bar examination is to ensure that all who are admitted to the Florida Bar have demonstrated minimum technical competence. To do that, an applicant must attain a passing score on the Florida Bar examination. The Florida Bar examination has a minimum passing score of 136, which was set after thorough and careful study.”
The average national pass rate was 74.99 percent. Oklahoma's pass rate was the highest at 86.9 percent followed by Iowa and Missouri closely bunched with 86 percent-plus numbers.
The average first-time pass rate across jurisdictions was 72.56 percent in 2016, when Missouri nabbed the top spot at 83.48 percent.
Floridians can take some comfort in the number for closely watched California, which had the fifth-lowest pass rate in 2017 at 66.19 percent.
This list has 51 entries because Alaska has no law schools.
Check out our chart to see how states fared.
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