Pepperdine Caruso Law Featured in "Bar Exam Standouts" -- The National Jurist

Pepperdine Caruso Law is featured in the article, "Bar Exam Standouts: A New Study Identifies Law Schools Whose Graduates Overperform on that Crucial Test," in the National Jurist. The article considers the results of a recent study by Jeffry Kinsler, founding dean of Belmont University College of Law, that confirms the important role schools play in their students' ability to pass the bar.

Excerpt from "Bar Exam Standouts"

When Paul Caron became dean of Pepperdine Caruso School of Law in Malibu, Calif., in 2017, improving the school's bar passage rate was a top priority.

"Historically our students had done much better on the California bar exam than their incoming LSAT scores and undergraduate GPAs would have predicted," Caron said. "But around 2015, we had begun to see a slump."

In an effort to turn things around, Caron hired a new director of academic excellence to expand the school's bar prep efforts and provide additional support and mentorship to students.

And it worked. The school's bar passage rate went from 87.2% within two years of graduation in 2015 to 91.4% within one year of graduation in 2018.

"While it helps to have entering 1Ls with top LSAT scores and undergraduate GPAs, there is also a definite correlation between how well a school prepares its students and the school's bar passage rate," Caron said.

The complete article may be found here