Growing job market greets newest bar exam graduates
By DOUG SHERWIN, The Daily Transcript
Monday, November 20, 2006
For the first time in four years, more than half of the applicants taking the California bar exam last July passed, the state bar announced Friday.
The State Bar of California's Committee of Bar Examiners reported that 51.8 percent passed the July 2006 General Bar Examination, marking a 3-percent increase from July 2005. It's also the highest rate since 56.8 percent passed in July 2001.
"We're excited by the results," said Cara Mitnick, assistant dean for career services at the University of San Diego School of Law. "It's a testament to the increased quality of students and to the high level of the instruction and education that they're receiving."
The three-day General Bar Examination is given twice a year, in February and July. The exam consists of three sections: a multiple-choice Multistate Bar Examination, six essay questions and two performance tests that are designed to assess an applicant's ability to apply general legal knowledge to practical tasks.
The mean scaled MBE score in California was 1451 compared with the national average of 1433.
"I think, psychologically, it's significant that more than half of the total takers passed," said Steve Semeraro, associate dean of academic affairs at Thomas Jefferson School of Law. "But the various rates fluctuate by more than 3 percent on a fairly regular basis, so I don't think it's a dramatic thing."
With more than 4,600 applicants poised to become members of the state bar, the market for attorneys would appear to be flooded. But the need for lawyers in Southern California is still strong, according to local scholars, especially in communities like Chula Vista and Riverside.
"As San Diego continues to grow and attract new residents and companies, the job market will continue to grow," said Laura A. Weseley, Thomas Jefferson's assistant dean for career services.
"Likewise, several communities close to San Diego are growing very rapidly. It is all a matter of determining and tapping into these pockets of opportunities."
USD's Mitnick said the job market is very strong right now.
"We're getting quite few (inquiries)," she said. "We've had a lot of employers on campus and a lot of call backs.
"This year I think employers will feel really confident in posting that they'll find the right candidate and will have the right fit."
Janet Bowermaster, California Western School of Law's associate dean for academic affairs, said the state's bar exam is among the toughest in the country. The pass rate for other states is usually in the high 70 percentile or 80 percentile.
This forces California law schools to place more of an emphasis on bar awareness.
"One, you owe it to your students," she said. "They can't get in the profession until they pass the bar exam, and it's very expensive to be delayed by failure.
"And it's part of what the (American Bar Association) accreditation team looks at for renewing a school's accreditation."
Thomas Jefferson's Semeraro said examiners have changed the way they grade essays during the last several years, making the test more difficult.
"People who have been involved in preparing students to take (the bar exam) and who look very carefully at the questions have noted an increase in difficulty over the last three years," he said.
Semeraro said it's only likely to become more challenging.
In July 2007, bar examiners are expanding the scope of the exam to cover three additional subjects, including all forms of business associations and California specific rules on civil procedure and evidence.