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Friday, March 29, 2024
NEWS  |  CAMPUS

UF’s bar exam passing rates continue to sink

<p>Laura Ann Rosenbury, dean of UF’s Levin College of Law, speaks. She began her role as dean on Wednesday.</p>

Laura Ann Rosenbury, dean of UF’s Levin College of Law, speaks. She began her role as dean on Wednesday.

The latest Florida bar exam results show a continuing downward trend for UF’s Levin College of Law. 

The Florida Supreme Court released the July 2018 bar exam results Monday, and UF’s pass rate came in at 70.9 percent, which is about 6 percent lower than the pass rate in July 2017. Of UF’s 258 first-time bar takers this July, 183 passed. Law students must pass the bar exam to practice as attorneys in Florida.

UF’s pass rate ranked fourth-highest out of 11 schools in the state, but the numbers still fall short of other top law programs. On top was Florida International University with an 88.1 percent pass rate, followed by Florida State University at 84.8 percent and the University of Miami with 83.2 percent, according to the Supreme Court of Florida’s press release. FIU and FSU both saw improvements in their pass rates compared to July 2017.

In a message written to Levin College of Law alumni, the college’s dean, Laura Rosenbury, expressed her displeasure with the results and hope for improvement.

“As the best law school in Florida, UF Law should also have the highest first-time bar passage rate in the state,” Rosenbury wrote in the letter.

The college plans to reach out to those who did not pass and analyze the effectiveness of the support it provided during the summer, Rosenbury said.

The support included an optional bar review course for third-year students in the spring; one-on-one bar exam tutoring from professionals; a multi-day bar exam workshop; licenses for graduating students to access AdaptiBar, a database with over 1,700 licensed questions from past exams; and a young alumni support network, Rosenbury said.

This is not the first time Rosenbury has been dissatisfied with UF’s performance on the bar. After UF law students scored the lowest in the state on the February bar exam, Rosenbury released a statement expressing her outrage.

“The results are utterly unacceptable given the caliber of our students and the quality of their education,” she wrote.

The pass rate then prompted the college to reevaluate how they prepare students for the bar exam. Now, the college is focusing on earlier intervention by offering optional courses for second- and third-year students, Rosenbury said. There will also be a diagnostic assessment of all first-year students to better understand the individual students’ needs.

“We will never teach to the bar,” Rosenbury said. “But we will provide better advising and support to our students.”

Andrea Faverio, a UF Law first-year, said UF gives its law students more freedom to choose their courses, which can be helpful for students taking other states’ bar exams. Many schools often tailor their courses specifically to the Florida bar exam, she said.

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Though she’s nervous to take the bar exam, Faverio thinks the administration is committed to fixing the low pass rates. She has a lot of confidence in the faculty and the dean, she said.

“I think (Rosenbury) is really dedicated to showing the rest of the country that UF Law is not a law school that should be underrated,” Faverio said.

Laura Ann Rosenbury, dean of UF’s Levin College of Law, speaks. She began her role as dean on Wednesday.

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