PASSING THE BAR EXAM

Of the 6,990 people who took the California State Bar Exam last July, 58% passed and won the right to practice law. The pass rate was 73.4% among the 4,964 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 5 years--from February, 1986, through July, 1990. Statewide, of 28,947 first-time bar applicants during that time, 18,265--or 63.09%--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 ’90 ALL APPLICAN SCHOOL TAKING EXAM % PASS TAKING EXAM Boalt Hall, UC Berkeley 222 90.5 239 USC 177 90.4 189 UC Davis 140 88.6 148 UCLA 263 85.9 295 Pepperdine University 151 85.4 172 Malibu Loyola University, 311 85.2 364 Los Angeles Stanford University 81 85.2 88 Hastings, UC San Francisco 324 84.6 371 University of San Diego 246 79.3 304 University of San 156 78.8 190 Francisco University of Santa Clara 205 78.5 246 Univ. of the Pacific 230 78.3 282 (McGeorge), Sacramento Southwestern University, 218 71.6 276 Los Angeles Golden Gate Univ., 63 69.8 96 San Francisco California Western, 88 62.5 136 San Diego Whittier College 64 53.1 96

TS JULY ’90 SCHOOL % PASS Boalt Hall, UC Berkeley 85.8 USC 86.8 UC Davis 86.5 UCLA 79.3 Pepperdine University 79.7 Malibu Loyola University, 78.3 Los Angeles Stanford University 81.8 Hastings, UC San Francisco 77.1 University of San Diego 71.4 University of San 68.4 Francisco University of Santa Clara 69.9 Univ. of the Pacific 70.6 (McGeorge), Sacramento Southwestern University, 64.1 Los Angeles Golden Gate Univ., 58.3 San Francisco California Western, 52.2 San Diego Whittier College 40.6

ACCREDITED, NON ABA-APPROVED SCHOOLS

FIRST-TIMERS JULY ’90 ALL APPLICAN SCHOOL TAKING EXAM % PASS TAKING EXAM San Joaquin College, 16 87.5 16 Fresno Santa Barbara College 11 63.6 19 of Law Monterey College 16 62.5 21 Ventura College 7 57.1 26 Lincoln Law School, 32 56.3 54 Sacramento Western State Univ., 96 54.2 318 Fullerton National Univ., San Diego 28 53.6 42 Univ. of La Verne at 15 53.3 55 San Fernando, Sepulveda Glendale College of Law 12 50.0 16 Humphrey’s College, 8 50.0 15 Stockton Northrop Univ., Inglewood 2 50.0 38 La Verne University 13 46.2 23 Empire College, Santa Rosa 11 45.5 24 Univ. of West Los Angeles 40 42.5 114 New College, San Francisco 23 39.1 58 Western State Univ., 40 37.5 111 San Diego San Francisco Law School 23 26.1 51 John F. Kennedy Univ., 4 25.0 29 Walnut Creek

TS JULY ’90 SCHOOL % PASS San Joaquin College, 87.5 Fresno Santa Barbara College 42.1 of Law Monterey College 52.4 Ventura College 30.8 Lincoln Law School, 40.7 Sacramento Western State Univ., 29.2 Fullerton National Univ., San Diego 40.5 Univ. of La Verne at 32.7 San Fernando, Sepulveda Glendale College of Law 37.5 Humphrey’s College, 40.0 Stockton Northrop Univ., Inglewood 10.5 La Verne University 34.8 Empire College, Santa Rosa 20.8 Univ. of West Los Angeles 19.3 New College, San Francisco 17.2 Western State Univ., 19.8 San Diego San Francisco Law School 23.5 John F. Kennedy Univ., 17.2 Walnut Creek

STATE ACCREDITED, ABA-APPROVED SCHOOLS

FIRST-TIMERS ‘86-90 SCHOOL TAKING EXAM % PASSED Boalt Hall, UC Berkeley 1,198 86.72 USC 882 81.51 UC Davis 759 81.55 UCLA 1,266 78.90 Pepperdine University, Malibu 745 69.26 Loyola University, Los Angele 1,722 74.44 Stanford University 487 85.21 Hastings, UC San Francisco 1,952 79.81 University of San Diego 1,271 66.95 University of San Francisco 844 64.81 University of Santa Clara 1,092 66.48 Univ. of the Pacific (McGeorge), 1,448 70.02 Sacramento Southwestern University, 1,058 67.29 Los Angeles Golden Gate Univ.,San Francisco 561 56.68 California Western, San Diego 566 57.77 Whittier College 425 43.05

ACCREDITED, NON ABA-APPROVED SCHOOLS

FIRST-TIMERS ‘86-90 SCHOOL TAKING EXAM % PASSED San Joaquin College, Fresno 119 68.90 Santa Barbara College of Law 123 52.03 Monterey College 108 55.55 Ventura College 136 45.58 Lincoln Law School, Sacramento 180 45.00 Western State Univ., Fullerton 1,317 45.63 National Univ., San Diego 156 51.28 Univ. of La Verne at San 192 45.83 Fernando, Sepulveda Glendale College of Law 66 53.03 Humphrey’s College, Stockton 66 53.03 Northrop Univ., Inglewood 42 04.76 La Verne University 111 47.74 Empire College, Santa Rosa 93 47.31 Univ. of West Los Angeles 303 40.26 New College, San Francisco 146 30.82 Western State Univ., San Diego 460 49.13 San Francisco Law School 146 31.50 John F. Kennedy Univ., 140 38.57 Walnut Creek

SOURCE: State Bar of California