Photo by: Michael Furman
After July’s preliminary results, 89 percent of the Sturm College of Law graduates who took the Bar examination for the first time this year passed.
This is a six percent increase from the 83 percent whose scores were considered as passing at this time last year.
Scott Johns, Director of DU’s Bar Success Program said that students on the cusp of passing are allowed to request that the scoring for the essay portion of their exam be reexamined and reconsidered.
Because of this, ultimately the percent of passing students was raised from 83 to 84 percent last year.
The final results for this year have yet to be tabulated.
DU’s success rate can be attributed to the community engagement and outside help encouraged by the Sturm College of Law.
“We have seen the rates go up periodically and there are many things that can account for that, but the most important is probably our community thinking positively that this is something they can do,” said Johns. “What we do is come along and give people the tools and opportunities to ensure success.”
Preparing for this exam involves over 600 hours of studying, practicing and critiquing.
The Sturm College of Law offers a class, Legal Analysis Studies, taken in the final semester of law school, which is designed to help students practice solving legal problems through precision in writing.
In the summer after graduation, students can take advantage of the Bar Success Program that provides weekly workshops proctored by nine Sturm College of Law faculty members.
“The Bar Success Program is our replacement for those run by commercial companies,” said Johns. “We provide them with the missing links for success.”
He also explained that this is a very significant passing rate in comparison to other law schools across the country.
According to the National Conference of National Bar Examiners, Colorado’s bar exam is more difficult than 41 states.
In understanding why this year’s graduates performed substantially better than those in years past, professors find that credit should go directly to the students.
“These are people that I would be just thrilled to have working on my behalf if I had a legal problem” said Johns. “They just hit a homerun.”
Scores such as these encourage DU’s current undergraduate population to put some thought into staying on campus for law school.
“I do not plan on leaving DU after I graduate because I want to be a part of all of this law school’s successes,” said Grace Shorr, second year-student and law school hopeful. “Seeing this school on my resume will put me above a lot of my occupational competition one day.”
Members of DU’s community see this rise in passing rates to be one that speaks well for the university now and for years to come.
“We believe (and the empirical data we have collected and analyzed suggests) that the best is yet to come,” said Marty Katz, Interim Dean of the Sturm College of Law.
