Font Size: 
Strong Showing for Drexel Law School in Inaugural Bar Exam
The Legal Intelligencer
October 14, 2009
Drexel University's Earle Mack School of Law
Image: courtesy of Drexel University
With jobs on the line and intense employment competition in the entry-level legal market, law schools were paying extra close attention to their bar pass rates this year.
And for Drexel University's Earle Mack School of Law, the pressure was really on. So the nearly 90 percent pass rate for the school's inaugural attempt at the July bar exam has Dean Roger J. Dennis "pretty stoked."
When looking at the average pass rate for all of the region's law schools -- which would include candidates taking the test for the second, third and fourth times -- Drexel's pass rate was surpassed only by Temple University's Beasley School of Law and the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
As a new school, Dennis said, Drexel might be a little more focused on the bar results than some of its competitors. There is a part-time writing specialist dedicated to helping students outside of the classroom along with a full-time director of academic skills, Nancy Kraybill, who focuses in large part on working with students whose classroom work shows they might be in jeopardy of failing the bar. If that work helps just five people pass who might not have otherwise, the percentage pass rate is significantly improved, he said.
"It's particularly important in this job market to get students to pass the bar the first time through because it makes the job search" for places like small firms or government positions, where bar passage is often required, all the easier, Dennis said.
There were three Drexel graduates headed off for positions in the U.S. Army's and Air Force's Judge Advocate General Corps. Those were the first names the school looked up, Dennis said, because their jobs were dependent on them passing the bar. They all did.
And for a school that is awaiting full accreditation, a solid bar pass rate is definitely a plus, he said.
Dennis said paying attention to detail pays off, earning the school an 89.8 percent passage rate. Out of the 128 Drexel students who sat for the bar, 115 passed. The school knew it had to do well and created an intensive program to achieve that goal, he said.
Temple achieved an overall pass rate of 90.45 percent from the 220 Temple graduates who sat for the exam in July. That rate improves to 95.57 percent when looking at Temple graduates taking the test for the first time.
Penn had the best overall pass rate of any of the region's law schools with 92.45 percent of its students passing the bar. That pass rate jumps to 96.1 percent for those taking the test for the first time.
Many of the region's schools had strong showings when it came to first-time test takers. The University of Pittsburgh School of Law saw 92.86 percent of its students pass on the first try, Widener University School of Law's Harrisburg campus had a 94.3 percent pass rate for first-timers and Villanova University School of Law saw 90.57 percent of its students pass the bar on the first attempt.
When looking at pass rates for first-time test takers at the region's other law schools, the numbers drop a bit. Duquesne University School of Law had 88 percent of its students pass on the first try, Pennsylvania State University Dickinson School of Law had an 89.2 percent passage rate for the first attempt, Rutgers University School of Law-Camden had a 78.3 percent pass rate and Widener University School of Law's Delaware Campus saw 84.93 percent of its students pass the bar the first time.
The average pass rate for all first-time test takers at local schools was 87.3 percent, which was down from the 88.87 percent passage rate for first-time test takers in July 2008.
The overall pass rate for everyone who sat for the July 2009 bar exam was 81.27 percent compared with an 82.78 percent pass rate last year. The applicant pool was slightly larger this year with 1,997 students taking the bar exam compared to the 1,911 who took the test in July 2008.
Aside from Drexel, Penn and Temple, the region's other law schools had the following overall pass rates:
• Duquesne, 83.51 percent.
• Dickinson, 86.11 percent.
• Rutgers, 76.22 percent.
• Pitt, 88.02 percent.
• Villanova, 86.83 percent.
• Widener-Delaware, 75.88 percent.
• Widener-Harrisburg, 81.55 percent.
The pass rate for the 61 students taking the bar exam for the second time was 34.43 percent. The rate for the 44 third-time test takers was 25 percent and 13.4 percent of the 82 people taking the test for the fourth time passed. Those are significant drops from the 50 percent, 56.1 percent and 20.2 percent pass rates for those respective groups last year.
Of schools in the region, Penn had the fewest students taking the bar exam in Pennsylvania with 53 of its graduates sitting for the test. Temple had the most with 220 students taking the exam.
Aside from law schools in the region, other schools in the country had a notable number of students sit for the state's bar exam. There were 28 students from Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Michigan, 23 from Georgetown University Law Center, 19 from George Washington University Law School and 18 from Syracuse University College of Law.
