Why A Large Number of Women May Be Leaving Law

California Bar Pass Rate Sees Significant Increase

California’s Bar Pass Rate saw more than a 10% increase since lowering its cut score requirement.

With 1,151 new attorneys this week, the state saw a 37.2% pass rate—roughly 10% higher than February 2020, when the pass rate was 26.8%, Bloomberg Law reports.

“We heartily congratulate the 1,151 applicants who passed the General Bar Exam and the 247 candidates who passed the Attorneys’ Exam, particularly after facing and overcoming the many challenges of 2020,” interim executive director of the California State Bar Donna Hershkowitz says in a prepared statement.

STATES PUSH TO LOWER THEIR CUT SCORES

California’s Supreme Court officially lowered its bar exam cut score from 1439 to 1390 in July 2020.

Rhode Island followed in California’s lead by also lowering its cut score from 276 to 270. Soon after, states including Washington, Oregon, North Carolina and Hawaii also followed suit in lowering their bar exam cut scores, according to Bloomberg Law.

WHAT BOTH SIDES SAY

Critics of lowering the cut score argue that it may negatively affect the quality of attorneys.

“Having an appropriate standard for who can become an attorney is important because it means we have the broadest number of people practicing law as possible,” Assemblyman Mark Stone, D-Monterey Bay, who chairs the Assembly Judiciary Committee, tells the SF Chronicle. “The standard we set has to be thought through so it ensures we have the highest caliber of practitioners who can then afford to be public-interest attorneys and go help people who really need access to justice. That’s the balance.”

On the other hand, supporters of a lower cut score, say having a high cut score disproportionately impacts underserved students and middle-class communities. As highlighted by the Impact Fund, a 2017 bar commissioned study found that lowering the cut score to 1390 would increase bar passage rates overall by 20.3%. For minorities, the increase would be even greater with passage rates jumping by 40.4% Black test-takers, 26.1% Hispanic test-takers, and 23.5% Asian test-takers.

Sources: Bloomberg Law, Bloomberg Law, SF Chronicle, Impact Fund

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