The University of Toledo finished second among law schools whose students took the bar exam for the first time in July.

Ohio State University was first among the Ohio schools. The University of Michigan was first among Michigan law schools, but UT was second in both states, a point of satisfaction for UT Law School Dean Daniel Steinbock.

“We have been first in both Ohio and Michigan. We’ve been second in Ohio and Michigan,” he said. “But I can’t think in my 30 years here when we have been this high in both states at the same time behind just the flagship institutions.”

Of the 59 UT law graduates who took the Ohio bar exam for the first time, 51 passed for an 86.4 percent passage rate. OSU had a 90.9 percent passage rate. The University of Cincinnati trailed UT by a negligible amount, 86.2 percent of its first-time takers passed the Ohio bar.

In Michigan, 11 of the 13 UT graduates who took that state’s bar passed for an 84.6 percent rate. The University of Michigan was first with 86.8 percent of its graduates passing the bar.

“We’re proud of this,” Mr. Steinbock said. “We want our alumni to know about it. We want employers to know about it.”

Steven Spitler, who graduated from the law school in December, said UT’s consistently high passage rate on the bar exam was a deciding factor for him when he was choosing a law school in 2011.

The Sylvania native and St. John’s Jesuit High School graduate will take the bar, which is given twice a year, in February.

“It does help to know the University of Toledo College of Law has prided themselves on this for a number of years,” Mr. Spitler said. “… The professors in the core-required courses mention it from day one: ‘We’re going to make sure you’re prepared.’ ”

While UT consistently posts a passage rate “in the mid-80s,” rates dropped at a number of law schools across the country this time around. The dean would not speculate on the reason for the declines but said UT’s consistent results are indicative of the law school’s faculty and curriculum.

“We really have fantastic teachers here,” Mr. Steinbock said. “We also give an honest hour of teaching so that for one credit you get 60 minutes of teaching, not 50 as in many places, so our students actually get more classroom time than most.”

After several years of declining law school enrollment here and across the country, UT is working to expand its reach into the tristate region.

The dean said this is the second year UT has offered law students from Michigan less costly, in-state tuition rates. Next fall, he said, law students from Indiana will be charged in-state rates too.

That is significant, considering UT will reduce its law-school tuition by 13 percent in the fall of 2015.

“What this boils down to — especially with the tuition drop but even before it — is that students are going to get this kind of preparation for the bar and for practice at the lowest tuition price in Ohio, Michigan, or Indiana,” Mr. Steinbock said.

The drop in law school applications nationwide has been attributed in large part to the high cost of a degree that may not pay off in the form of a high-paying job or any job at all.

UT is in the process of gathering employment data from its 2014 law graduates.

“My sense is that employment has improved,” the dean said. “Employment opportunities are better than they were two or three years ago.”

Contact Jennifer Feehan at: jfeehan@theblade.com or 419-213-2134.

First Published January 22, 2015, 5:00 a.m.