RALEIGH — Campbell Law School is ranked 16th among the Top 50 law schools for the two-year ultimate bar passage rate, according to new data released by the American Bar Association (ABA) this week. Of the state’s six law schools, only one other — Duke Law — made the Top 50 list for two-year ultimate bar passage rate.
The Managing Director’s Office of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar released on April 26, 2020, a comprehensive set of data on bar passage outcomes for ABA-approved law schools. Spreadsheets are available on the section’s webpage under Legal Education Statistics, which report these outcomes under ABA Required Disclosures on a school-by-school basis and in more detail.
The new data shows that in the aggregate, 91.17% of 2019 law graduates who sat for a bar exam passed it within two years of graduation (91.27% with Diploma Privilege), according to the TaxProf blog. The two-year “ultimate” aggregate success rate is slightly better than the 90.10% comparable figure for 2018 graduates.
Here are the Top 50 law schools in two-year ultimate bar passage rates:
| Rank Law School | % Passers |
| 1. BELMONT | 100.00% |
| 1. MARQUETTE | 100.00% |
| 3. UC-BERKELEY | 99.69% |
| 4. DUKE | 99.54% |
| 5. CHICAGO | 99.49% |
| 6. GEORGE MASON | 99.36% |
| 7. VIRGINIA | 99.30% |
| 8. BAYLOR | 99.29% |
| 9. HARVARD | 99.29% |
| 10. ALABAMA | 99.21% |
| 11. YALE | 99.04% |
| 12. STANFORD | 98.88% |
| 13. MINNESOTA | 98.69% |
| 14. NORTHWESTERN | 98.69% |
| 15. MICHIGAN | 98.34% |
| 16. CAMPBELL | 98.13% |
| 17. NYU | 98.11% |
| 18. UCLA | 98.08% |
| 19. LIBERTY | 98.04% |
| 20. PENNSYLVANIA | 97.97% |
| 21. CORNELL | 97.93% |
| 22. OHIO STATE | 97.87% |
| 23. UC-IRVINE | 97.86% |
| 24. GEORGIA STATE | 97.85% |
| 25. FLORIDA | 97.83% |
| 26. BOSTON UNIVERSITY | 97.61% |
| 27. NOTRE DAME | 97.37% |
| 28. WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY | 97.30% |
| 29. TEXAS | 97.29% |
| 30. BOSTON COLLEGE | 97.20% |
| 31. WASHINGTON & LEE | 97.20% |
| 32. FLORIDA INT’L | 97.16% |
| 33. OKLAHOMA | 97.09% |
| 34. VANDERBILT | 97.06% |
| 35. ILLINOIS | 96.72% |
| 36. FORDHAM | 96.71% |
| 37. TEXAS A&M | 96.69% |
| 38. GEORGIA | 96.67% |
| 39. GEORGETOWN | 96.43% |
| 40. NEW MEXICO | 96.30% |
| 41. UTAH | 96.20% |
| 42. CARDOZO | 96.04% |
| 43. COLORADO | 95.95% |
| 44. FLORIDA STATE | 95.88% |
| 45. WILLIAM & MARY | 95.81% |
| 46. KANSAS | 95.74% |
| 47. MONTANA | 95.65% |
| 48. SAMFORD | 95.59% |
| 49. COLUMBIA | 95.58% |
| 50. GEORGE WASHINGTON | 95.46% |
First-time takers in 2021 achieved an aggregate 79.86% pass rate (80.28% with Diploma Privilege), which is approximately a 3-percentage point decrease over the comparable 83.66% pass rate (with Diploma Privilege) for 2020. Consistent with last year, those admitted to the practice of law solely based on their graduation status are considered bar passers. Ten law schools fell short of the 75% accreditation threshold.
“As with past years, this information was reported to the ABA by law schools and is being made public as a matter of consumer information under the authority of ABA Standard 509,” said Bill Adams, managing director of ABA accreditation and legal education. “These public reports provide important consumer information for students considering whether and where to attend law school and for others with an interest in legal education. But this report is not a compliance report for ABA Standard 316, which establishes bar exam outcomes that a law school must achieve under the accreditation standards. That is a separate and distinct matter.”
Law schools devote a considerable investment of time and resources to collect this data. Adams said the bar passage scores represent one of the best measures to determine if a particular law school is offering a rigorous program of legal education to students whom the school has determined through its admissions process are likely capable of completing the J.D. program and being admitted to the bar.
ABOUT CAMPBELL LAW
Since its founding in 1976, Campbell Law School 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 4,500 alumni, who make their home in nearly all 50 states and beyond. In 2021, Campbell Law celebrated 45 years of graduating legal leaders and 12 years of being located in a state-of-the-art facility in the heart of North Carolina’s Capital City.
ABOUT THE ABA
The ABA is the largest voluntary association of lawyers in the world. As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law.