By Ashley Fletcher Frampton
aframpton@scbiznews.com
Published Oct. 26, 2009
The Charleston School of Law improved its bar-exam passage rate for the second consecutive year.
In the third year that Charleston School of Law graduates sat for the state’s July bar exam, 76% passed. That’s up from 72% last year and 70% in 2007.
Related:
Charleston School of Law moves up in bar exam pass rate with 2nd graduating class
Law school graduates must pass the S.C. bar exam to practice law in the state. The exam is given in July and February each year. More students take the exam in July, following spring graduation.
The pass rate for the Charleston School of Law, opened in 2004, still lags behind that of the longer-established University of South Carolina School of Law. This year USC’s bar exam pass rate was 85%. Last year USC’s overall rate was 86%.
This year 107 of 141 Charleston School of Law graduates passed the exam. Among USC graduates, 162 of 191 passed.
Among first-time exam takers, Charleston School of Law’s pass rate was 84%, according to spokesman Andy Brack.
Charleston School of Law officials have said the pass rate among first-time test takers is a key measure. The numbers reported by the S.C. Supreme Court, which administers the bar exam, count new and repeat test takers.
“Any time a relatively new school gets a first-time pass rate of 75%, that’s very good,” Brack said. “But when Charleston School of Law students taking the test for the first time in July got 84%, they hit the ball out of the park.”
Last year’s pass rate among first-time exam takers was 78%.
USC officials said that based on preliminary counts, the pass rate among first-time test takers was about 85%, the same as the school’s overall rate.
The pass rate for test takers who graduated from out-of-state law schools was 66%.
