California IN BRIEF : SAN FRANCISCO : Bar Exam Success Rate at 17-Year High

Slightly more than half of those who took the California Bar exam in February passed the test, the highest success rate in 17 years, the California State Bar said. The 50.5% who passed, up from 45.9% in February, 1990, are the largest percentage to pass the February exam since 51.1% in 1974, the Bar said. Another finding was that first-time applicants from law schools not accredited by the American Bar Assn. did almost as well as those from ABA-accredited schools, with a passing rate of 65.7% to 66.4% for graduates of accredited schools. For repeat test takers, however, the gap was much larger, 32% to 58.2%. The 1,869 applicants who passed the three-day test, out of 3,702 who took it, will bring the state’s total of lawyers to about 128,000.