New ABA Bar Data: Ultimate 2-Year Pass Rate Increased 1 Percentage Point; Ten Law Schools Fell Short of 75% Accreditation Threshold

Press Release, ABA Section of Legal Education Releases Comprehensive Report on Bar Passage Data:

The Managing Director’s Office of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar released today a comprehensive set of data on bar passage outcomes for American Bar Association-approved law schools. Spreadsheets are available on the section’s webpage under Legal Education Statistics, which report these outcomes under ABA Required Disclosures on a school-by-school basis and in more detail.

The new data shows that in the aggregate, 91.17% of 2019 law graduates who sat for a bar exam passed it within two years of graduation (91.27% with Diploma Privilege). The two-year “ultimate” aggregate success rate is slightly better than the 90.10% comparable figure for 2018 graduates. 

Here are the Top 50 law schools in two-year ultimate bar passage rates:

Rank  Law School	% Passers
1.   BELMONT	100.00%
1.   MARQUETTE	100.00%
3.   UC-BERKELEY	99.69%
4.   DUKE	99.54%
5.   CHICAGO	99.49%
6.   GEORGE MASON	99.36%
7.   VIRGINIA	99.30%
8.   BAYLOR	99.29%
9.   HARVARD	99.29%
10. ALABAMA	99.21%
11. YALE	99.04%
12. STANFORD	98.88%
13. MINNESOTA	98.69%
14. NORTHWESTERN	98.69%
15. MICHIGAN	98.34%
16. CAMPBELL	98.13%
17. NYU	98.11%
18. UCLA	98.08%
19. LIBERTY	98.04%
20. PENNSYLVANIA	97.97%
21. CORNELL	97.93%
22. OHIO STATE	97.87%
23. UC-IRVINE	97.86%
24. GEORGIA STATE	97.85%
25. FLORIDA	97.83%
26. BOSTON UNIVERSITY	97.61%
27. NOTRE DAME	97.37%
28. WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY	97.30%
29. TEXAS	97.29%
30. BOSTON COLLEGE	97.20%
31. WASHINGTON & LEE	97.20%
32. FLORIDA INT'L	97.16%
33. OKLAHOMA	97.09%
34. VANDERBILT	97.06%
35. ILLINOIS	96.72%
36. FORDHAM	96.71%
37. TEXAS A&M	96.69%
38. GEORGIA	96.67%
39. GEORGETOWN	96.43%
40. NEW MEXICO	96.30%
41. UTAH	96.20%
42. CARDOZO	96.04%
43. COLORADO	95.95%
44. FLORIDA STATE	95.88%
45. WILLIAM & MARY	95.81%
46. KANSAS	95.74%
47. MONTANA	95.65%
48. SAMFORD	95.59%
49. COLUMBIA	95.58%
50. GEORGE WASHINGTON	95.46%

First-time takers in 2021 achieved an aggregate 79.86% pass rate (80.28% with Diploma Privilege), which is approximately a 3-percentage point decrease over the comparable 83.66% pass rate (with Diploma Privilege) for 2020. Consistent with last year, those admitted to the practice of law solely based on their graduation status are considered bar passers.

Ten law schools fell short of the 75% accreditation threshold:

WESTERN NEW ENGLAND	74.00%
APPALACHIAN	73.33%
UNIVERSITY OF PUERTO RICO	69.87%
VERMONT	67.54%
AVE MARIA	67.21%
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA	66.67%
GOLDEN GATE	66.67%
INTER AMERICAN UNIV. OF P.R.	60.00%
WESTERN MICHIGAN	59.51%
PONTIFICAL CATHOLIC UNIV. OF P.R.	45.53%

• ABA Journal, Numbers Show Slight Increase in Two-year Bar Pass Rates
• Law.com, ABA Releases Bar Passage Data: 3% Decrease for First-Time Takers
• Reuters, Bar Exam Pass Rate Dropped Last Year for First-Time Testers