In the 1990s, the Supreme Court of Ohio increased the score required to pass the Ohio bar exam, reaching the current pass score in 1997. Since 1997, Akron has experienced outstanding bar exam pass rates. The Ohio law schools’ first-time taker pass rate has been as high as 93% during that time. Akron’s first-time taker pass rate has never fallen below 72%, has peaked at 93%, and exceeded 80% more than eleven times, including the February 2007 bar exam when Akron was #1 in the state with a 92% pass rate for first-time takers. Since the Supreme Court increased the score required to pass, Akron’s graduates have routinely exceeded the state pass rate, including, for example, the February 2004 bar exam when Akron’s graduates passed at a rate 26 percentage points higher than the state average, and the February 2007 bar exam when Akron graduates passed at a rate of 14 percentage points higher than the state average. Akron graduates experience similar success outside Ohio as they have passed bar exams in California, Colorado, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, and many other states.
"The business of a law school is not sufficiently described when you merely say that it is to teach law, or to make lawyers. It is to teach law in the grand manner, and to make great lawyers."
Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
