Law Schools May Be Held Responsible for Students Who Can’t Pass the Bar

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As a part of a year long investigation, USA Today reports that the American Bar Association may hold law schools with low bar passage rates responsible under a newly proposed requirement for accreditation.

The American Bar Association, or ABA, released the bar passage rates of all 205 accredited law schools in 2018.

The lowest bar passage rate was held by Western Michigan University Cooley Law School, with only 70 percent of law students from that institution passing the bar within two years of graduation in 2015.

Under the new proposed regulation, to maintain ABA accreditation, law schools will need to meet a more stringent bar passage requirement. Currently, at least 50 percent of all students must pass a bar exam under Standard 316.

“It’s virtually impossible to fail,” Kyle McEntee, a representative of a nonprofit that monitors law school performance told USA Today of Standard 316, “although some schools are managing to come close.”

The newly proposed rule is a response to increasing scrutiny of the ABA in light of a continuing crisis in the legal industry, according to USA Today.

“This feels like an agency that is out of step with a crisis in its profession, out of step with the changes in higher ed and out of step with the plight of the students that are going through the law schools,” noted a National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity committee member in a hearing about the proposed rule.

The bar exam is offered twice a year in each state. Each attempt at a bar exam can cost more than $1,000, including a fee for the test, bar preparation courses and materials, as well as food and lodging during the multi-day exam that typically only takes place in major cities. Those who fail do not receive a refund.

Freshly minted law school graduates must pass an exam in the state where they wish to practice. If they fail to do so, they are not “admitted to the bar” cannot practice law – removing more lucrative jobs from their reach.

Though students typically learn the analytical and critical thinking skills necessary to practice law in the three grueling years of law school, some students and experts say that law schools are not doing enough to prepare students to pass the bar – a basic and necessary obstacle they must overcome to practice.

The proposed rule would mandate that at least 75 percent of law students pass a bar exam within two years of graduating or the law school will face consequences, including loss of accreditation.

Critics of the proposal contend that enacting the more stringent requirement will force law schools to accept a less diverse student body than under the old rule. Indeed, economically disadvantaged students have generally fared less well on that right of passage into law school – the Law School Admissions Test, or LSAT.

Former law students who have had trouble passing the bar contend that they were not adequately prepared to pass the bar by their law school. Failure to pass and move on to a more lucrative career is a hard price to pay for three years of high-pressure academic work and student debt, which averages $115,000, according to USA Today.

“I did not feel I was really prepared at all,” student Sam Goldstein told USA Today of his experience failing the bar eight times. “Even the best of test preps can’t really help you unless you’ve had that solid foundation in law school.”

Goldstein says he spent three years attending Arizona Summit Law School and is facing $285,000 in student debt, according to USA Today. He says he has spent upwards of $18,000 preparing for and taking bar exams, but remains in his low paying law clerk position until he manages to pass.

Twenty five percent of students from this institution, along with 17 others, could not pass the bar within two years of graduating, according to the year long investigation by USA Today.

If the new proposal goes into effect, law schools who can’t pass muster will have two years to improve bar passage rates or face losing their accreditation.

Law schools that lose their accreditation generally shut down.