Bar candidates without ABA-accredited degree more likely to flunk, new study finds

"Aspiring lawyers who head to the bar exam without earning a law degree from an ABA-approved law school are more likely to flunk the bar exam, are less likely to find jobs at a law firm and are more likely to face professional discipline later, according to a new study."

"Taking a different route to the bar exam, such as supervised learning or nonaccredited schools, results in "drastically lower rates than graduates of ABA-approved law schools," and lawyers who "have meaningfully worse careers and pose a greater risk to the public than other lawyers," according to the study, titled Alternative Educational Pathways into the Legal Profession."

""Although usage of alternative pathways is arguably meaningful, ultimate success in using them to enter the profession is substantially lower than through the conventional pathway," according to the study."

""Bar passage rates are systematically lower for graduates of non-ABA-approved law schools than for graduates of ABA-approved law schools in every state that allowed for this pathway," according to the paper, showing that "states have not demonstrated an ability to regulate them effectively.""

Aspiring lawyers who take the bar exam without graduating from an ABA-accredited law school are more likely to fail. Alternative routes such as supervised learning or attending nonaccredited schools produce drastically lower success rates than graduating from ABA-approved law schools. Candidates using these pathways are less likely to secure jobs at law firms and are more likely to face professional discipline later. Most jurisdictions require bar applicants to be graduates of ABA-accredited law schools. Data from 1984 to 2019 shows bar passage rates are systematically lower for non-ABA-approved law school graduates in every state that allowed the alternative pathway. The findings indicate states have not regulated these pathways effectively.

Read at ABA Journal