ABA Committee Wants Disclosure of Pass-Fail Information Regarding Bar Exams

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The ABA Standards Review Committee, which is engaged in doing a comprehensive review of law school accreditation standards has recommended a new standard – a law school will have to show 80 percent of its graduates passed a bar exam within two years of graduation.

However, the proposal was tabled after it was found during recent meetings of the committee, last week, that many jurisdictions do not currently provide name-specific bar pass information to law schools, reported the ABA journal. The committee also found that many jurisdictions did not provide such information to law schools even upon request.

  

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Consequently the committee has decided to request the governing council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar to arrange for universal release of name-specific bar exam pass fail information to law schools. The committee, which met on Friday and Saturday in Atlanta, voted unanimously to recommend that the council pass a resolution calling on jurisdictions to start providing the required information to law schools.

Jeffrey E. Lewis professor and dean emeritus of St. Louis University School of Law, and the committee Chair, said the information is critical to a law school’s ability to assess the quality of its academic program. Jeffrey said, “It’s vitally important that law schools have access to that kind of information.”

Under the current draft proposal of the committee, which can become effective once the pass-fail information can be guaranteed to law schools, the schools will have two years to show that not only 80 percent of its graduates passed the bar exam, but also that it made best efforts to obtain bar pass information for all of its graduates. A school will have to report information for at least 80 percent of its graduates and report all information it was able to obtain.