Passing the Bar Exam

Of the 7,255 people who took the California State Bar Exam last July, 54.9% passed and won the right to practice law. The pass rate was 69.2% among the 5,457 people taking the exam for the first time. The pass percentage traditionally is higher among first-timers than among the total group of applicants, which includes people who repeatedly fail the exam.

Among the statistics compiled by the State Bar of California are comparative pass-fail rates for graduates of California-accredited law schools. Shown below are results of the July exam, with schools ranked according to percentage of first-time applicants passing.

Also shown are the combined results for first-time applicants taking the 10 bar exams given over five years--from February, 1987, through July, 1991. Statewide, of 20,428 first-time bar applicants during that time, 14,400--or 70.49%--passed the test. Rankings of unaccredited and correspondence schools are not included. Schools listed in bold are in Los Angeles County.

STATE ACCREDITED, ABA-APPROVED SCHOOLS

FIRST-TIMERS JULY ’91 SCHOOL TAKING EXAM % PASS Stanford University 94 91.5% UC Davis 130 90.8% Boalt Hall, UC Berkeley 216 89.8% UCLA 254 85.8% Univ. of the Pacific 276 80.4% (McGeorge), Sacramento Hastings, UC San Francisco 435 80.2% Loyola University, Los Angeles 338 79.6% USC 190 79.5% University of San Diego 259 76.1% Southwestern University, 208 76.0% Los Angeles Pepperdine University, Malibu 191 75.9% University of San Francisco 164 74.4% University of Santa Clara 230 74.3% California Western, San Diego 94 58.5% Whittier College 82 45.1% Golden Gate Univ., 80 45.0% San Francisco

STATE ACCREDITED, ABA-APPROVED SCHOOLS

ALL APPLICANTS JULY ’91 SCHOOL TAKING EXAM % PASS Stanford University 99 87.9% UC Davis 136 88.2% Boalt Hall, UC Berkeley 230 86.1% UCLA 284 77.8% Univ. of the Pacific 316 71.8% (McGeorge), Sacramento Hastings, UC San Francisco 481 74.6% Loyola University, Los Angeles 373 74.3% USC 197 76.6% University of San Diego 303 69.0% Southwestern University, 257 66.1% Los Angeles Pepperdine University, Malibu 204 72.5% University of San Francisco 194 66.0% University of Santa Clara 268 66.4% California Western, San Diego 130 45.4% Whittier College 111 37.8% Golden Gate Univ., 111 37.8% San Francisco

STATE ACCREDITED, ABA-APPROVED SCHOOLS

FIRST-TIMERS ‘87-91 SCHOOL TAKING EXAM % PASSED Stanford University 499 86.77% UC Davis 759 85.50% Boalt Hall, UC Berkeley 1,200 88.66% UCLA 1,298 81.66% Univ. of the Pacific 1,388 71.61% (McGeorge), Sacramento Hastings, UC San Francisco 2,029 80.87% Loyola University, Los Angeles 1,790 77.65% USC 910 83.51% University of San Diego 1,320 70.90% Southwestern University, 1,112 71.49% Los Angeles Pepperdine University, Malibu 781 75.67% University of San Francisco 830 69.63% University of Santa Clara 1,135 69.42% California Western, San Diego 628 60.82% Whittier College 437 47.59% Golden Gate Univ., 538 59.10% San Francisco

ACCREDITED, NON ABA-APPROVED SCHOOLS

FIRST-TIMERS JULY ’91 SCHOOL TAKING EXAM % PASS San Joaquin College, Fresno 20 75.0% San Francisco Law School 24 66.7% John F. Kennedy Univ., 14 64.3% Walnut Creek Glendale College of Law 15 60.0% Empire College, Santa Rosa 21 47.6% Lincoln Law School, Sacramento 37 45.9% Univ. of La Verne at 25 44.0% San Fernando, Sepulveda Western State Univ., Fullerton 137 43.1% Univ. of West Los Angeles 35 42.9% Western State Univ., San Diego 55 41.8% Santa Barbara College of Law 12 41.7% Humphrey’s College, Stockton 17 35.3% Ventura College 9 33.3% New College, San Francisco 22 31.8% Monterey College 19 31.6% La Verne University 15 26.7% National Univ., San Diego 45 17.8% Northrop Univ., Inglewood 1 0.0%

ACCREDITED, NON ABA-APPROVED SCHOOLS

ALL APPLICANTS JULY ’91 SCHOOL TAKING EXAM % PASS San Joaquin College, Fresno 23 65.2% San Francisco Law School 49 38.8% John F. Kennedy Univ., 32 31.3% Walnut Creek Glendale College of Law 19 47.4% Empire College, Santa Rosa 30 36.7% Lincoln Law School, Sacramento 57 29.8% Univ. of La Verne at 58 29.3% San Fernando, Sepulveda Western State Univ., Fullerton 315 22.2% Univ. of West Los Angeles 102 16.7% Western State Univ., San Diego 113 23.9% Santa Barbara College of Law 24 25.0% Humphrey’s College, Stockton 21 28.6% Ventura College 24 16.7% New College, San Francisco 49 16.3% Monterey College 23 30.4% La Verne University 24 16.7% National Univ., San Diego 59 15.3% Northrop Univ., Inglewood 24 0.0%

ACCREDITED, NON ABA-APPROVED SCHOOLS

FIRST-TIMERS ‘87-91 SCHOOL TAKING EXAM % PASSED San Joaquin College, Fresno 113 76.10% San Francisco Law School 142 39.43% John F. Kennedy Univ., 110 47.27% Walnut Creek Glendale College of Law 67 58.20% Empire College, Santa Rosa 91 48.35% Lincoln Law School, Sacramento 190 44.21% Univ. of La Verne at 201 45.77% San Fernando, Sepulveda Western State Univ., Fullerton 1,275 49.25% Univ. of West Los Angeles 285 42.80% Western State Univ., San Diego 430 52.55% Santa Barbara College of Law 120 52.50% Humphrey’s College, Stockton 71 46.47% Ventura College 131 48.09% New College, San Francisco 126 31.74% Monterey College 94 46.80% La Verne University 104 51.92% National Univ., San Diego 192 44.27% Northrop Univ., Inglewood 32 06.20%

SOURCE: State Bar of California