MSU College of Law News

Law Scores Exceed Average
January 15, 2008
The State News
By Pete Nichols

For the third year in a row, the percentage of MSU law students who passed the Michigan bar exam the first time matched or surpassed the state average for July 2007.

Ninety-three percent of MSU law students passed the exam on their first try, surpassing the 89 percent average in Michigan.

The bar exam is a two-day licensing test for lawyers, administered twice a year in February and July. Passage of the exam allows the test taker to practice law.

The key to success was the College of Law’s rigorous admissions process, said Connell Alsup, associate dean for student affairs and registrar for the college.

“The last thing we want to do is take students’ money,” Alsup said. “We want to make sure the students we recruit and attract really are capable of passing the bar.”

Another key factor was revising educational programming in the law college, Alsup said.

“We’ve done some revamping of our curriculum over the past few years, and now we are starting to see the fruits of our labors,” he said.

Changes in curriculum, however, were not designed specifically to affect the exam’s passage numbers, said Frank Ravitch, a constitutional law professor who teaches first-year law students.

“Our retooling of the curriculum was not geared toward bar passage,” Ravitch said. “In general, we are mindful of teaching that could be relevant for the bar. We’re preparing them for their careers beyond the bar. It might seem odd for faculty to defer the credit, but I’ll give it to the students.”

For Scott Lachman, a first-year law student, hearing that 93 percent of first-time bar exam takers passed is reassuring.

“Any high rate of bar passage from MSU law students will show that I can pass the bar at a high rate as well,” Lachman said.

“It’s great news for the law school and Michigan State as a whole.”

The state and MSU passage rates were 80 percent in February 2007.

Ninety-six percent of MSU students passed in July 2006, when the state’s average was 93 percent.

Alsup said although the passage rate is encouraging, the law college is not resting on its laurels.

“We’re hoping that now it won’t be ‘those numbers are so high,’ but that will be the new trend,” he said.