Six In A Row: Another 'First' for Baylor Law Students on Texas Bar Exam

Contact: Julie Carlson, Baylor Law School, (254) 710-6681

For the sixth straight exam and the 10th time overall since 2002, Baylor law students claimed the top pass rate on the Texas State Bar Exam with 95.83 percent success rate, the highest pass rate for students from the nine Texas law schools. Of the 48 Baylor students who took the three-day exam in February, 46 passed on their first try.

The overall state pass rate was 85.01 percent, with 312 successful candidates out of 367 who took the exam for the first time. Texas Tech University was second behind Baylor with a 92.86 percent pass rate, while SMU was third with a 92.31 percent pass rate.

Baylor Law School has an unsurpassed record of success on the State Bar Exam, which is given twice a year and qualifies a candidate to practice law in Texas. Baylor Law School had a 97.85 percent success rate on the July 2007 exam, a 100 percent pass rate on the February 2007 exam and also the highest pass rate for the exams given in 2006.

"Baylor Law School and its faculty and staff have our priorities straight," said Baylor Law Dean Brad Toben. "We have a genuine fealty to our serving profession and a felt and foremost dedication to preparing our students for the effective and ethical practice of law. My colleagues and I cannot conceive of or imagine a higher calling for a law school that is part of a Christian faith mission-driven university such as Baylor than to effectively and fully prepare our students through our teaching and instruction to serve others in the practice of law. There is no higher or more pressing need in legal education in our nation today."

In the 2008 edition of "170 Best Law Schools," published by the Princeton Review, editors praised Baylor Law School's practical approach to legal education. Baylor Law School is described as one that "embraces a practical approach and is thorough in teaching students all the essentials of practicing law." Additionally, Baylor Law School's Trial Advocacy program rose to eighth best in the nation, ahead of American University, New York University and University of Texas at Austin, in the law specialty rankings in the 2009 edition of "America's Best Graduate Schools," published by U.S.News & World Report.