US Online Law School posts top-notch bar exam pass rate

Concord Law School, a Los Angeles-based institution that bills itself as the country’s “first fully online law school,” boasted the highest pass rate among first-time test-takers who sat for the February 2023 bar exam, according to figures released by the state bar.

Of 13 Concord students who took the exam for the first time, eight passed. The relative numbers of test-takers are small. And direct comparisons with other schools is difficult as the state bar only releases pass-fail numbers for campuses with 11 or more test-takers in a particular category.

But Concord, a California-accredited school affiliated within the Purdue University “Global” system, had a pass rate that bested those for first-time applicants at American Bar Association-approved institutions such as Loyola Law School and the University of Pacific McGeorge School of Law.

Concord Law School Dean Martin Pritikin said in an email that the school has taken a number of steps to improve students’ performance, including the hiring of a full-time director of “bar support.”

Professor Quentin Huff has students “begin their intensive bar prep period early, which is critical for non-traditional students,” Pritikin said. “Our typical student is in their 40s and spends 40 to 50 hours per week on work and dependent care commitments on top of their studies. Unlike traditional students who prepare for the bar full-time for two months between graduation and the exam, our graduates’ jobs and families don’t stop during bar prep.”

Pritikin said that while the COVID-19 pandemic was blamed for recent dips in exam pass rates, Concord students’ recent success shows that “students can do just fine when a program is online by design from the beginning.”

Of all 1,225 applicants who took California’s February bar exam, just 32.5% passed. Students from California-based, ABA-approved law schools taking the test for the first time posted the best overall pass rate: 44.5%.

Statistics released late June 9 by the state bar showed that the pass rate among all first-time test-takers declined from the February 2022 exam across all racial ethnic groups. The pass-rate drop among Asian applicants was particularly sharp, falling from 52.7% in February 2022 to 38% this year.

Conversely, the pass rate among repeat test-takers increased among all racial and ethnic groups. The overall pass rate for all repeat applicants rose from 23.8% in February 2022 to 27.6% in February 2023.