TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Kate Prince on May 2, 2022

The ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar on Monday released new data on the bar exam results of various racial and ethnic groups and genders. According to the report, white candidates who took a bar exam for the first time in 2021 had the highest pass rate, 85%. For people of other races or ethnicities, the first-time pass rate ranged from 47% to 84%. The data also examines what is known as an “ultimate pass rate.” It is based on graduating classes from two years ago, which for this year is 2019. Deborah Merritt, a recently retired professor who taught at the Ohio State University’s Moritz College of Law, said there are “stark differences” in pass rates by race and ethnicity from 2019 and 2021. Merritt says the current bar exam requires expensive prep classes and ability to put off everything except bar study, essentially making the exam “a test of financial resources—and graduates of color have fewer financial resources, on average, than white graduates.” The ABA Journal has more on the story.