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### Top Law Schools for Bar Exam Success in 2023

The bar exam administration for 2023 is now in the past, but intriguing data has emerged regarding the performance of various law schools in terms of their graduates’ pass rates.

Recently, the American Bar Association disclosed details about bar exam results for the nearly 200 law schools under its accreditation. The pass rate for first-time test takers saw a slight increase to 79.18% in 2023, surpassing the 78% rate from 2022. Among the law schools, a select few excelled in the bar exam performance. Notably, ten out of the top 15 law schools with the highest first-time bar pass rates in 2023 belong to the prestigious T-14 group, as per the rankings by U.S. News & World Report. Additionally, five schools outside the T-14 also secured a spot on the list.

Here is a breakdown of the top 15 law schools that demonstrated exceptional performance in their 2023 first-time bar exam pass rates:

  1. Michigan: 97.27%
  2. Chicago: 97.10%
  3. Vanderbilt: 96.97%
  4. Yale: 96.79%
  5. Stanford: 96.70%
  6. NYU: 96.58%
  7. UVA: 96.50%
  8. Penn: 96.25%
  9. Harvard: 96.10%
  10. BC: 95.88%
  11. BYU: 95.41%
  12. Duke: 94.44%
  13. Cornell: 94.29%
  14. Texas: 94.01%
  15. Utah: 93.98%

It’s worth noting that some of the T14 law schools like Columbia (93.72%), Northwestern (91.60%), UC Berkeley (88.24%), and UCLA (88.82%) did not secure a spot on this list.

Congratulations to all the law schools that achieved this commendable feat!

[Reuters]


Staci Zaretskyis a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on and or connect with her on .