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The State Bar's Committee of Bar Examiners
announced last month that 56.9 percent of the applicants passed the
July general bar examination, a slim improvement over last July's
pass rate of 55.3 percent. If the 4,338 successful applicants satisfy
other requirements for admission, they will become members of the bar
and boost membership to nearly 179,000, the largest in the nation.
The committee also announced that 191 - 52.8
percent - of the 362 lawyers who took the attorneys' examination
passed, a rate lower than the July 2000 exam when 54.7 percent passed.
The attorneys' exam is open to lawyers who have practiced at least
four years in another jurisdiction.
Preliminary information shows that 69.6 percent
of the 7,618 applicants were first-time takers. Their passing rates
were: 70 percent overall, 78.6 percent for applicants who attend-ed
California law schools approved by the ABA, 70.3 percent for those
from ABA-approved schools outside California, 33.3 percent for
applicants from schools accredited by the committee but not approved
by the ABA, 14.3 percent for those from unaccredited law schools, and
50.8 percent for those who did not take the bar exam within one year
of graduation.
Twenty-seven percent of the 2,316 repeaters
passed. |
