Baylor Law School Tops Texas Bar Exam - Again

by Alan Hunt

Baylor Law School's winning tradition continues as its students again posted the highest passing percentage in the latest Texas Bar Exam. Results announced this week show that Baylor law students achieved a 94 percent pass rate for the bar exam taken in July 2002, topping the pass rates of students from the other eight law schools in the state.
Of the 100 Baylor law students who took the two-day examination, 94 passed, including the exam's top scorer, Beth Klusman, and the third highest taker, Brandye Brown. The overall state pass rate was 80.94 percent, with a total of 1,291 successful candidates among the 1,595 students who took the exam.
The bar exam is given twice each year and Baylor Law School has an unsurpassed record of success on the exam. Baylor also came first in the passing percentage of the other bar exam taken in February 2002.
Law Dean Brad Toben said the first-place result again underscores the effectiveness of Baylor Law School's distinctive program.
"This demonstrates what can be achieved by a combination of truly dedicated faculty and staff who put our students' professional preparation as a top priority, along with the vigorous support of our university leadership," he said. "This is a continuation of a long-running, unparalleled history of success for us as a school. Also, it is still another testament to our reputation as a school that really gets the job done for our students, including their future clients, and for the profession."
Baylor Law School was rated among the top 20 trial advocacy programs in the nation in U.S. News & World Report's recently released "2003 Best Graduate School" rankings. Also in a recently released assessment of the nation's law schools, The Princeton Review described Baylor Law School as "the Marine Corps of law schools." The publication called the school's "tough" Practice Court Program as "arguably the best training ground in the nation for practical lawyering."