Baylor Law School Claims Highest Pass Rate on Texas Bar Exam

Follow us on Twitter: @BaylorUMediaCom

For the 14th time since 2001, Baylor Law School students claimed the top pass rate on the Texas State Bar Exam with 94.64 percent success rate, the highest pass rate for students from the nine Texas law schools. Of the 112 Baylor students who took the three-day exam in July, 106 passed on their first try.

The overall state pass rate was 86.37 percent, with 1,470 successful candidates out of 1,702 who took the exam for the first time. The University of Texas was second behind Baylor with a 92.80 percent pass rate, while the University of Houston was third with an 90.39 percent pass rate.

"This is yet again proof that our longstanding and proven approach of integrating the teaching of legal theory with practical skills training is a model for legal education that works (and is an approach heartily endorsed in both the MacCrate Report and the Carnegie Report on Legal Education)," said Baylor Law Dean Brad Toben. "I thank each person, within and outside of our school - faculty, staff, our remarkable alumni, our university colleagues, and of course our terrific students - all of whom by their hard work, creativity, focus and 'buy-in' make the consistent successes in our program possible."

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 97.06 percent success rate on the February 2009 exam; a 95.83 percent success rate on the February 2008 exam; 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.

In the 2011 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 prepares students "for the real world by teaching the law, practical lawyering skills, and professionalism." Additionally, Baylor Law School's Trial Advocacy program rose to fourth best in the nation, 2011 edition of "America's Best Graduate Schools," published by U.S.News & World Report.

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