The results of the July 2017 administration of the New York bar exam were released on October 24. It was the state’s third time using the UBE, and the third time was, in fact, the charm. Sixty-eight percent of all test-takers passed the exam, and the overall pass rate for first-time takers was 78 percent.

When the results were released, we also learned that 86 percent of first-time takers from ABA-accredited law schools in New York passed the exam. Today, we’ve finally got a list of the passage rates for the July 2017 administration of the New York bar exam by law school. Which law schools’ pass rates climbed, and by how much? And which schools sank like stones?

First, we’ll provide you with some background information. Last summer, administrators at more than half of the state’s 15 law schools cringed as their passage rates dropped. This summer, administrators at New York law schools breathed sighs of relief, as graduates at more than half of the state’s schools were able to improve their passage rates. In fact, some law schools were able to dramatically improve.

For the second year in a row, graduates of the following law schools passed the bar exam with spectacular flair: NYU (97.9 percent), Columbia (97.6 percent), and Cornell (95.7 percent). Nice work from the T14, as usual. Which law school gets this year’s award for the most improvement? That would be St. John’s, where graduates were able to raise their passage rate from 76.5 percent in July 2016 to 89.2 percent in July 2017, for a 12.7 percentage point increase. What caused such an incredible increase? According to Dean Michael Simons, it was student support in the form of “lots of pizza, bagels and coffee,” which is apparently a magical combination in the Empire State. Not far behind St. John’s was CUNY, which saw an 11.8 percentage point increase in its graduates’ passage rate. Congratulations to both law schools!

Check out this table to see the passage rates for all New York law schools:

Three law schools saw their passage rates decline — Albany, Brooklyn, and New York Law School — but only one saw a double-digit decline. Albany Law went from an 82.7 percent passage rate in July 2016 to a 71.3 percent passage rate in July 2017, for an 11.4 percentage point decrease. Ouch! Brooklyn’s passage rate dropped from 82.7 percent to 78.6 percent (a 4.1 percentage point drop), while New York Law School’s passage rate dropped from 70.3 percent to 64.7 percent (a 5.6 percentage point drop). When contacted about the results, NYLS’s dean was “understandably concerned,” Brooklyn’s dean was “obviously disappointed and surprised that our pass rate is not higher,” and Albany’s dean seemed to have no comment on her graduates’ decline.

What are your thoughts on the bar passage rates for New York’s law schools? Feel free to get in touch with us via email or text message (646-820-8477) to brag about your law school or alma mater, talk trash, or offer dispassionate analysis.

Vast Majority of NY Law Schools Improve Bar Exam Passing Rates [New York Law Journal]

Staci Zaretsky has been an editor at Above the Law since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.