The results are in, and Texas and New York are welcoming hundreds of new attorneys into their respective Bars. Earlier this week, both states’ bar associations released the results of their February exam, and the results are an improvement over the previous year’s pass rate.
The February bar exam traditionally has lower passage rates than the July exam, as those taking the July exam are usually first-time takers fresh out of law school. (The third year of law school typically concludes in the spring months of April, May, and June.) Are large portion of those taking the bar exam in February are typically foreign-born attorneys or retaking the test after an unsuccessful July exam.
Reuters reports that approximately half of the 4,152 candidates that sat for 2013’s February exam in New York passed the test, and that the total number of test takers was the largest that has ever sat for the February exam. The 50 percent overall passing rate is an improvement over last year’s 44 percent. Reuters also reports that 39 percent of those taking the test were foreign-educated, and had a passing rate of 30 percent. 64 percent of the first-time test takers passed.
In Texas, Texas Lawyer reports that 85% of the Texas law school graduates who sat for the Texas bar exam for the first time in February passed, which is another improvement over the last year’s pass rate for the same types of students, which was 76.5%.