Schools under ABA scrutiny struggled on February bar exam

Two California law schools already facing scrutiny from the American Bar Association because of poor bar exam results likely did not help their cause with their graduates’ performance on the February test.

A lackluster showing by graduates from Thomas Jefferson School of Law and Golden Gate University School of Law came on a California exam in which a record-low 27.3 percent of all takers passed.

San-Diego based Thomas Jefferson, which is on ABA probation, saw only six of its 32 first-time takers pass, a 19 percent rate. The school’s repeat takers fared only slightly better, with just 26 of 133 passing, a 20 percent showing.

“Thomas Jefferson needs to turn a corner on its bar passage outcomes to get out from under the ABA’s thumb,” said Kyle McEntee, executive director of the advocacy group Law School Transparency. “These are not results that are going to do that. I think the losing of accreditation is the next step.”

The ABA’s standards say that a school placed on probation is at risk of having its accreditation withdrawn.

Asked about her school’s February results, Thomas Jefferson Dean Joan Bullock said in a statement: “While I am disappointed that our graduates did not perform as well as expected, it is disconcerting to know that just over a quarter of all bar takers who sat for the February California bar exam passed.

“The State Bar of California seems concerned as well, having launched an intervention program for July test takers,” Bullock said, referring to a productive mindset intervention project. “Likewise, we have responded by devoting additional resources to support our current cohort of bar studiers and we continue to diligently address all issues of compliance related to our probationary status.”

The ABA’s legal education council wrote that its 2017 decision to place Thomas Jefferson on probation stemmed from concerns about the school’s “present and anticipated financial resources, admissions practices, academic program, and bar passage outcomes.”

The association said immediate and substantial action was needed to put the school back on a path toward full compliance. Bullock previously said an ABA site visit took place this spring, and she expects an ABA committee to discuss the school at a meeting in the fall.

Thomas Jefferson also announced in May that it was moving to several floors of downtown office space in order to cut costs, less than eight years after it opened a sparkling building built just for the school.

As for Golden Gate University School of Law, the ABA notified it earlier this year that it was “significantly out of compliance” with the accreditation standard requiring it to only admit students who appear capable of finishing law school and passing the bar.

On California’s February 2018 test, half of the school’s 16 first-time takers passed, besting the 45 percent average for initial takers from the state’s ABA-accredited schools.

But far more of the school’s graduates were repeat takers and just five of 75 in that category passed, a 7 percent success rate.

Golden Gate Dean Anthony Niedwiecki, who started last August, pointed to the school’s first-time pass rate in February as a sign of progress. Just 33 percent of the school’s first-time takers had passed the February 2017 exam.

“Improving the bar pass rate and providing resources to our students to perform well on the bar exam has been a top priority since I got here,” Niedwiecki said. “It is nice we are starting to see some benefits.”

Derek T. Muller, a professor at Pepperdine University School of Law, said Golden Gate’s low repeat rate was likely a function of its below average first-time rate on last July’s test. The school saw 51 percent of first-timers pass that summer exam compared to a 70 percent average in that category for graduates of California’s ABA schools.

“For a lot of these schools with pretty low first-time pass rates, you are not likely to see a lot of improvement in the repeat scores,” Muller said.

Law School Transparency’s McEntee said Golden Gate’s results, including its improved first-time rate, were not ones the school should be thrilled about.

“That may be progress, but it is still a far cry from where the school should be and a far cry from where they were a few years ago before the school changed its admissions policies,” he said.

Niedwiecki highlighted that Golden Gate is instituting a comprehensive bar preparation and academic development program through a partnership with Themis Bar Review.

He said the school has also boosted the credentials of its incoming class as more strong applicants have accepted offers of admission, a trend he believes will help the school allay the ABA’s concerns.

“Everything we said we are going to do, we have done,” Niedwiecki said.

Meanwhile, Whittier Law School in Costa Mesa posted the type of bar exam results that helped prompt the ABA-accredited school to announce its planned closure last year.

None of Whittier’s 17 first-time takers passed February’s test. Just 20 of its 123 repeat takers, or 16 percent, were successful.

This July’s bar exam was administered Tuesday and Wednesday. Individual results for that exam are typically provided to test-takers in late November, while school-by-school statistics are not normally disclosed by the State Bar until several weeks later.