Passing the Bar Exam

Of the 7,130 people who took the California State Bar Exam last July, 59.4% passed and won the right to practice law. The pass rate was 73.1% among the 5,294 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 the 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, 1988, through July, 1992. Statewide, of 20,788 first-time bar applicants during that time, 15,130 or 72.78%--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 ’92 SCHOOL TAKING EXAM % PASS UCLA 221 90.0% Loyola University, 331 89.4% Los Angeles UC Davis 140 88.6% USC 159 88.1% Hastings, 312 87.5% UC San Francisco Univ. of the Pacific 279 86.7% (McGeorge), Sacramento Boalt Hall, UC Berkeley 225 86.2% Pepperdine 167 82.6% University, Malibu Stanford University 92 81.5% University of 191 80.6% San Francisco University of 197 77.7% San Diego Southwestern University, 225 76.0% Los Angeles California Western, 150 74.0% San Diego University of 282 73.4% Santa Clara Golden Gate Univ., 147 68.7% San Francisco Whittier College 130 63.1%

ACCREDITED, NON ABA-APPROVED SCHOOLS

FIRST-TIMERS JULY ’92 SCHOOL TAKING EXAM % PASS Glendale College of Law 12 75.0% San Joaquin College, Fresno 40 72.5% San Francisco Law School 23 60.9% Monterey College 15 60.0% John F. Kennedy Univ., 12 58.3% Walnut Creek Santa Barbara 12 58.3% College of Law California Northern 14 57.1% Law School, Chico La Verne University 18 55.6% Ventura College 18 55.6% Western State Univ., 60 55.0% San Diego University of La Verne at San Fernando, Sepulveda 31 54.8% Western State Univ., 167 49.7% Fullerton Lincoln Law School, 40 47.5% Sacramento Empire College, 32 46.9% Santa Rosa Univ. of West 56 41.1% Los Angeles New College, 25 28.0% San Francisco Humphrey’s College, 11 27.3% Stockton National Univ., 28 25.0% San Diego Northrop Univ., 0 0.0% Inglewood

STATE ACCREDITED, ABA-APPROVED SCHOOLS

ALL APPLICANTS JULY ’92 SCHOOL TAKING EXAM % PASS UCLA 245 83.3% Loyola University, 360 85.8% Los Angeles UC Davis 148 86.5% USC 171 83.6% Hastings, UC 376 77.1% San Francisco Univ. of the Pacific 312 80.1% (McGeorge), Sacramento Boalt Hall, UC Berkeley 236 83.5% Pepperdine University, 189 78.3% Malibu Stanford University 95 81.1% University of 222 73.4% San Francisco University of 221 71.9% San Diego Southwestern University, 275 68.0% Los Angeles California Western, 183 65.6% San Diego University of 317 68.1% Santa Clara Golden Gate Univ., 176 60.8% San Francisco 176 Whittier College 164 56.7%

ACCREDITED, NON ABA-APPROVED SCHOOLS

ALL APPLICANTS JULY ’92 SCHOOL TAKING EXAM % PASS Glendale College of Law 20 55.0% San Joaquin College, 42 69.0% Fresno San Francisco Law School 48 31.3% Monterey College 23 56.5% John F. Kennedy Univ., 31 35.5% Walnut Creek Santa Barbara 26 34.6% College of Law California Northern 17 52.9% Law School, Chico La Verne University 29 44.8% Ventura College 35 34.3% Western State Univ., 116 34.5% San Diego University of La Verne at San Fernando, Sepulveda 62 45.2% Western State Univ., 356 30.3% Fullerton Lincoln Law School, 65 32.3% Sacramento Empire College, 42 40.5% Santa Rosa Univ. of West 125 29.6% Los Angeles New College, 57 17.5% San Francisco Humphrey’s College, 16 25.0% Stockton National Univ., 45 17.8% San Diego Northrop Univ., 25 4.0% Inglewood

STATE ACCREDITED, ABA-APPROVED SCHOOLS

FIRST-TIMERS ‘88-92 SCHOOL TAKING EXAM % PASS UCLA 1,283 83.32% Loyola University, 1,780 81.79% Los Angeles UC Davis 726 87.46% USC 897 85.84% Hastings, UC 1,941 80.68% San Francisco Univ. of the Pacific 1,383 74.69% (McGeorge), Sacramento Boalt Hall, UC 1,197 88.80% Berkeley Pepperdine University, 821 80.14% Malibu Stanford University 513 85.76% University of 871 72.67% San Francisco University of 1,307 73.22% San Diego Southwestern University, 1,148 74.30% Los Angeles California Western, 775 66.32% San Diego University of 1,192 72.14% Santa Clara Golden Gate Univ., 598 64.88% San Francisco Whittier College 507 53.45%

ACCREDITED, NON ABA-APPROVED SCHOOLS

FIRST-TIMERS ‘88-92 SCHOOL TAKING EXAM % PASS Glendale College of Law 70 62.85% San Joaquin College, 127 80.31% Fresno San Francisco 141 40.42% Law School Monterey College 83 53.01% John F. Kennedy Univ., 112 53.57% Walnut Creek Santa Barbara 126 55.55% College of Law California Northern * * Law School, Chico La Verne University 115 58.26% Ventura College 143 53.14% Western State Univ., 438 56.84% San Diego University of La Verne at San Fernando, Sepulveda 204 50.00% Western State Univ., 1,285 52.84% Fullerton Lincoln Law School, 196 45.91% Sacramento Empire College, 97 49.48% Santa Rosa Univ. of West 292 44.17% Los Angeles New College, 127 29.92% San Francisco Humphrey’s College, 64 40.62% Stockton National Univ., 200 40.50% San Diego Northrop Univ., 29 06.89% Inglewood

* School just became California accredited in March of 1992.

SOURCE: State Bar of California