July 2021 Florida Bar Exam Results: Florida International Is #1 For 7th Year In A Row

The July 2021 Florida bar passage rates by school are out. The overall pass rate for first-time takers is 71.6%, down 0.1 percentage point from last year. For the seventh year in a row, Florida International is #1. Here are the results for the 11 Florida law schools, along with each school's U.S. News ranking (Florida and overall):

Bar Pass Rank (Rate)	School	US News Rank FL (Overall)
1 (88.8%)	Florida Int'l	4 (88)
2 (82.5%)	Miami	3 (72)
3 (81.3%)	Florida	1 (21)
4 (78.8%)	Stetson	5 (111)
5 (73.9%)	Florida State	2 (48)
6 (67.6%)	Ave Maria	Tier 2
7 (66.7%)	Nova	Tier 2
8 (59.2%)	Barry	Tier 2
9 (56.8%)	Florida A&M	Tier 2
10 (53.3%)	Florida Coastal	Tier 2
11 (50.8%)	St. Thomas	Tier 2

Miami Herald, Want to Attend Law School in Florida? These Have the Highest Bar Passage Rates:

FIU, the largest public university in the South Florida, led the rankings of Florida’s 11 law schools with a whopping 88.8% passing rate. ... “I’m just so very proud and impressed by our Bar takers,” said FIU law dean Anthony Page. “They have shown an enormous amount of resilience and persistence and legal skill given all of the travails of the last year.” ... This marks the seventh consecutive year that FIU has come out on top in the larger fall administration of the exam. ...

Page credited FIU’s success to its Academic Excellence Program, which offers students optional courses about cognitive learning science. For instance, students who take a class called “Introduction to the Study of Law” in their first semester learn about the value of contextualization and quality feedback. About 85% of all FIU law students tend to take that class, Page said, which helps them develop the habits needed to succeed in law school, the Bar exam and later on in their careers.

“The key is it’s not about memorization or Bar preparation; it’s about teaching students how to teach themselves or how to more effectively learn,” he said. “We’re teaching people how to be better learners, which frankly, will make them better lawyers.”

For third-year students, the program has a class called “U.S. Law and Procedure,” which targets studying for the Bar exam.

After graduating, as they approach their Bar administration date, students can also sign up for the Bar Exam Success Program, which allows them to attend workshops and seek mentors.

Prior TaxProf Blog coverage:

• Louis Schulze (Florida International), The Science of Learning Law: Academic Support Measures at Florida International University College of Law
• Rory Bahadur (Washburn), High 1L Attrition And 2L Transfer Rates Contribute To Florida International's Over Performance On The Bar Exam
• Rory Bahadur (Washburn), Attrition And Bar Performance
• Jeffrey Kinsler (Belmont), The Best Law Schools For Passing The Bar Exam