Almost 90 percent of University of Toledo College of Law graduates successfully passed the July bar exam on the first try, marking the strongest showing by students in the past decade.
This year, the passage rate for graduates taking the exam was 89 percent, an increase from last year’s 84 percent passage rate, according to a statement released by university officials. The average in Ohio this year was 82 percent.
With UT’s first-time passage rate improvement, the school tied with the University of Dayton as the third-highest among Ohio’s nine law schools. Ohio University had a 100 percent pass rate for their 21 first-time exam takers while Case Western Reserve University had 65 of 71 graduates pass on their first attempt. By comparison, UT had 31 of 35 graduates pass while the University of Dayton had 32 of 36 pass.
UT test-takers overall who passed this July — including those who passed on their second and third attempts — increased from last year with a 72 percent passage rate (34 out of 47 test-takers) compared to 64 percent in 2018 — when 18 of 28 students passed.
Statewide, the overall passage rate was 73 percent, with 647 out of 885 passing the exam.
In a written statement, UT College of Law Dean D. Benjamin Barros wrote that the university has made many changes to ensure success on the exams.
“I am very proud of our graduates for their success on the bar exam. We have done a lot of work at the College of Law over the past several years to help our graduates succeed on the bar exam. At the end of the day, though, it is the graduates who do the hard work needed to pass the exam, and this result is the payoff for their efforts.”
Those changes include expanding the third-year prep course, adjusting the curriculum to bar-test subjects, implementing a legal analysis course and academic success contract, and developing a first-year support program.
The college of law also created the position of director of academic success and bar preparation, which offers mentoring and support for both third-year students and graduates preparing for the bar exam.
In addition, the College of Law partnered with BARBRI, a company headquartered in Texas that offers comprehensive bar review courses through flexible classroom, online and mobile learning environments.
Successful applicants who have also satisfied all the Supreme Court of Ohio’s other admission requirements will be sworn in during a special session of the Supreme Court at 10:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. Nov. 12 at the Palace Theatre in Columbus.
First Published October 28, 2019, 10:18 p.m.
