Legal Education

Multistate Bar Examination score drops full point for February exam

The national mean scale score for the February Multistate Bar Examination has decreased a full point, from 131.8 in February 2024 to 130.8 in February 2025, according to the National Conference of Bar Examiners.

Mar 28, 2025 11:17 AM CDT

New Hampshire law school found noncompliant with ABA accreditation standard

The council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar has found the University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law not compliant with an ABA accreditation standard focused on financial resources.

Mar 25, 2025 2:56 PM CDT

From Courtroom to Courtside: Gonzaga Law prof also serves as chaplain for basketball team

Gonzaga University School of Law professor Father Bryan Pham will have a great seat on Thursday as the Gonzaga Bulldogs face off against the University of Georgia Bulldogs. Pham has been the men’s basketball team’s chaplain since 2019.

Mar 19, 2025 5:30 PM CDT

St. Thomas College of Law falls out of compliance with ABA accreditation standard

Updated: The council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar has found the St. Thomas University Benjamin L. Crump College of Law out of compliance with an ABA accreditation standard focused on sufficiency of financial resources and also denied its application to create a part-time hybrid-distance JD program.

Mar 19, 2025 2:53 PM CDT

State Bar of California considers provisional licenses for February bar exam takers

Updated: The State Bar of California’s Committee of Bar Examiners has placed the option of provisional licenses for candidates who fail or withdrew from the February California bar exam on the table.

Mar 17, 2025 2:32 PM CDT

Plans for California bar retake change yet again

Updated: The State Bar of California has rejected a request from the under-fire company that administered last month’s test for the retake exam dates to be pushed back further.

Mar 14, 2025 1:34 PM CDT

DEI standard prompts Florida to reconsider ABA accreditation

Citing the ongoing controversy over diversity and inclusion in law school admissions, the Florida Supreme Court has created a workgroup to both reconsider its requirement that law students graduate from an ABA-accredited school to sit for the Florida bar exam and develop options for alternatives.

Mar 13, 2025 3:55 PM CDT

Law prof suspended over exam question, class discussion can sue for First Amendment retaliation, 7th Circuit says

A federal appeals court has revived a First Amendment retaliation claim by a professor at the University of Illinois Chicago School of Law who used an “expurgated racial slur” on an exam question, leading to an investigation, required diversity training, a suspension and denial of a pay raise.

Mar 13, 2025 2:14 PM CDT

On-campus recruiting for summer associates falls in popularity as law firms ‘jockey for positions’

On-campus interviewing by law firms has “firmly tumbled from its place of prominence” in the recruiting of summer associates, according to a report released Tuesday by the National Association for Law Placement.

Mar 13, 2025 12:44 PM CDT

Former George Mason University law prof says he’s ‘fully vindicated’ after ‘relatively modest’ defamation suit settlement

A former professor at the George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School has reached a settlement in his defamation lawsuit against two former students who alleged that he abused his power to initiate sexual relationships with them when they were law students.

Mar 12, 2025 2:59 PM CDT

More first-time bar candidates passed exam in 2024, new ABA data shows

The percentage of successful first-time bar exam takers in 2024 increased more than 3 percentage points from a year earlier, according to data released Wednesday by the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar.

Mar 12, 2025 2:25 PM CDT

Texas commits to NextGen bar exam starting in 2028, NCBE says

Texas will begin administering the NextGen bar exam starting in July 2028, joining 36 of the 56 jurisdictions that test bar candidates, according to a March 11 press release from the National Conference of Bar Examiners.

Mar 11, 2025 2:29 PM CDT

Trump order blocks public service loan forgiveness for employees of ‘activist organizations’

Employees of “activist organizations” that support activities with a “substantial illegal purpose” should no longer be eligible for a student loan forgiveness program for borrowers in public service jobs, according to an executive order signed by President Donald Trump on Friday.

Mar 10, 2025 11:18 AM CDT

Furious bar candidates square off with State Bar of California in wake of flubbed exam

Testimonies from examinees detailed delayed start times, rude proctors, technical glitches, grammatical and factual errors in the questions, rampant cheating, and a host of distractions—including proctors arguing and fellow test-takers screaming out of frustration.

Mar 6, 2025 3:36 PM CST

ABA Legal Ed council suspended diversity standard; AG Bondi wants it scrapped

A move last month by the council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar to suspend the accreditation standard originally titled “Diversity and Inclusion” doesn’t go far enough, according to a Feb. 28 letter from U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, who wants the council to abolish it “immediately” or risk the right to accredit law schools.

Mar 6, 2025 1:32 PM CST