RALEIGH — When it comes to ultimate bar passage rates, Campbell Law School graduates are tops in “overperforming,” according to a new paper.
The “Ultimate Bar Passage Rates: Which Law Schools Are Overperforming and Underperforming Expectations” reveals there are quite a few law schools that are doing better than expected when it comes to their graduates passing the bar, but none better than Campbell Law.
The paper’s author, Professor Jeffrey S. Kinsler of Belmont University College of Law and the school’s founding dean, used Law School Admission Test (LSAT) scores and undergraduate grade point average (UGPA) to calculate a predicted bar passage rate, identifying which law schools are overperforming or underperforming in terms of preparing their students to pass the bar exam.
Kinsler used linear regression models to assess the performance of 186 law schools using median LSAT and Ultimate Bar Pass Rate and median UGPA and Ultimate Bar Pass Rate.
He proceeded to calculate an annual rank for each law school based on its overperformance (or underperformance) of predicted expectations for bar passage, and then he calculated an average annual rank based on each law school’s performance over the three-year period of 2017–2019.
- Campbell University Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law
- Liberty University School of Law
- Lincoln Memorial University Duncan School of Law
- Belmont University College of Law
- Samford University Cumberland School of Law
- Georgia State University College of Law
- Saint Louis University School of Law
- Syracuse University College of Law
- South Texas College of Law Houston
- University of Oklahoma College of Law
- Florida International University College of Law
- Seton Hall University School of Law
- Northern Illinois University College of Law
- Texas A&M University School of Law
- City University of New York School of Law
- Willamette University College of Law
- University of South Carolina School of Law
- Thomas R. Kline School of Law of Duquesne University
- University of Kansas School of Law
- Yeshiva University Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
According to the American Bar Association, bar passage rates are “the single best outcome measure . . . in assessing whether a law school is maintaining a ‘rigorous program of legal education.’” Bar passage rates are better measures of the quality of legal education than graduation rates or employment results, for these outcomes “are not as directly relevant . . . to determining whether a law school is offering an educational program that is comprehensive and sufficiently rigorous. . ..” A law school’s bar passage rate is a metric of the quality of its graduates and its educational program.
ABOUT CAMPBELL LAW SCHOOL
Since its founding in 1976, Campbell Law has developed lawyers who possess moral conviction, social compassion, and professional competence, and who view the law as a calling to serve others. Among its accolades, the school has been recognized by the American Bar Association (ABA) as having the nation’s top Professionalism Program and by the American Academy of Trial Lawyers for having the nation’s best Trial Advocacy Program. Campbell Law boasts more than 4,800 alumni, who make their home in nearly all 50 states and beyond. In 2023, Campbell Law is celebrating 45 years of graduating legal leaders and 14 years of being located in a state-of-the-art facility in the heart of North Carolina’s Capital City.