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Law Schools, Bar Passage, And Under And Over-Performing Expectations, Jeffrey S. Kinsler, Jeffrey Omar Usman Jan 2018

Law Schools, Bar Passage, And Under And Over-Performing Expectations, Jeffrey S. Kinsler, Jeffrey Omar Usman

Law Faculty Scholarship

The focus of this article is to build a foundation for exploring whether there is a meaningful solution to help address the bar passage problem that can be found looking to the legal education programs of law schools that are particularly successful in preparing students to pass the bar exam. To accomplish this aim, a critical and essential step is to begin to identify the law schools that are adding the most in terms of assisting their students to pass the bar exam. That first critical step is the step taken by this article. A common-sense assumption, which finds support …


The Secret To 85% First-Time Bar Passage Rates, Jeffrey S. Kinsler, David L. Hudson Jr. Jan 2017

The Secret To 85% First-Time Bar Passage Rates, Jeffrey S. Kinsler, David L. Hudson Jr.

Law Faculty Scholarship

Many law schools have implemented bar preparation courses either as free-standing courses or as an integral part of their academic support program. On April 1, 2016, the ABA Journal published an article on the subject of law school bar preparation courses. Three law schools were featured in that article: Belmont University College of Law ("Belmont"), Florida International University College of Law ("FIU"), and the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law ("UMKC"). According to the ABA Journal, these law schools are out-performing their peers on bar exams due in part to in-house bar preparation courses. The story in the ABA …


Is Bar Exam Failure A Harbinger Of Professional Discipline?, Jeffrey S. Kinsler Jan 2017

Is Bar Exam Failure A Harbinger Of Professional Discipline?, Jeffrey S. Kinsler

Law Faculty Scholarship

Two of the reasons students fail the bar exam are lack of diligence and incompetence; these are also the primary reasons attorneys are disciplined. Using bar exam and disciplinary data from Tennessee, this Article substantiates the following theses: (1) The more times it takes a lawyer to pass the bar exam the more likely that lawyer will be disciplined for ethical violations, particularly early in the lawyer’s career; and (2) The more times it takes a lawyer to pass the bar exam the more likely that lawyer will be disciplined for lack of diligence—including non-communication—and/or incompetence.