ABA Standard 301-6: Law Schools Must Put Up or Shut Down on Bar Pass Rates

The new ABA standard 301-6 is compelling law schools to account for its bar pass rates. If the law school falls out of compliance, a loss of accreditation, being put on probation or even closing down are very real possibilities. Today, let’s examine what the standard actually says.

A law school’s bar passage rate shall be sufficient, for purposes of Standard 301(a), if the school demonstrates that it meets any one of the following tests:

(1) That for students who graduated from the law school within the five most recently completed calendar years:

(a) 75 percent or more of these graduates who sat for the bar passed a bar examination, or

(b) in at least three of these calendar years, 75 percent of the students graduating in those years and sitting for the bar have passed a bar examination.

In demonstrating compliance under sections (1)(a) and (b), the school must report bar passage results from as many jurisdictions as necessary to account for at least 70% of its graduates each year, starting with the jurisdiction in which the highest number of graduates took the bar exam and proceeding in descending order of frequency.

(2) That in three or more of the five most recently completed calendar years, the school’s annual first-time bar passage rate in the jurisdictions reported by the school is no more than 15 points below the average first-time bar passage rates for graduates of ABA-approved law schools taking the bar examination in these same jurisdictions.

In demonstrating compliance under section (2), the school must report first-time bar passage data from as many jurisdictions as necessary to account for at least 70 percent of its graduates each year, starting with the jurisdiction in which the highest number of graduates took the bar exam and proceeding in descending order of frequency. When more than one jurisdiction is reported, the weighted average of the results in each of the reported jurisdictions shall be used to determine compliance.

All law schools will be required to maintain a 75% bar pass rate, which includes all takers, even with the weaker repeat takers, or must stay within 15% striking distance of the state average.

Compliance with ABA Standard 301-6 looks to be a heavy burden to those schools in the middle to lower tiers, perhaps even affecting 2nd tier schools. There can also be a disparity of where the school is located. For example, schools in the jurisdictions with harder bars, like California, are going to be greatly affected by this standard.

Are those struggling law schools going to be able to put up, will they have to lock or close their doors or will they have to change who they let enter their schools?