<p>Yes, I think they are clearly listing the bar passage rate for the jurisdiction in which the school had the most test-takers. This is the same data reported in the ABA's official guide to law schools available on LSAC's website. </p>
<p>And this is only the data for the past year. If you look at the average for the five years they have data for (2005 seems to be missing for some reason), Harvard has the highest passing rate in NY, at 95.64%, with Yale second at 95.54%. I don't see why it was all that interesting in the first place that two schools that happened to be public had the highest passing rates in NY by an insignificant margin. Though something to consider is that it's usually tougher to get a job outside of the market your school is in, so in general the people from out-of-state schools are likely to come disproportionately from the top of their class.</p>
<p>I read the US News data the way A-ski does. Yale's reference point is NY State. Harvard's is NY State. UMichigan's is NOT NY State. Neither is UVa's. </p>
<p>But, on top of this, remember that different numbers are involved. I doubt a whole heck of a lot of Yalies take the California bar exam. There are only about 180 folks in a class. If only 10 people were to take the Cali bar--I don't know the actual number--and two failed, it would be an 80% pass rate. (OOPS--I see Greybeard gave real numbers.)</p>
<p>You know if you go to Fordham Law School--a good, top 30 law school, but not top 14--you can take a year long course in New York Civil Procedure. Taking that course ups your chances of passing the bar a great deal, since when it comes bar exam time, you won't have to cram the CPLR (procedure for NY state courts) into your head while folks who went to out of state schools do. I am sure that if you compared the pass rate on the NY State bar for Fordham with that of schools out of state that are at roughly the same level, you'd make Fordham look "better" that the out of state schools. IMO, that doesn't prove a darn thing except that Fordham has a great course on the CPLR that you won't find offered at UIowa or UMinnesota.</p>
<p>Plus, does anyone know how LLMs are counted? I know that a lot of foreigners take the NY bar because NY is pretty liberal on requirements for foreign attorneys to practice here. Simplifying a great deal, the most common way to do this is to get a one-year LLM. If foreign students who get LLMs and take bar exams are counted towards a law school's pass rate, then schools with lots of foreign students in LLM programs will do a lot worse. The pass rate for foreigners who take the NY State bar exam is less than 50%--and that's including Brits, Aussies, Kiwis, etc. So, if these foreign LLM students are counted in the totals for the schools in figuring bar passage rates, schools with lot of foreign LLMs will look worse.</p>
<p>The column header for US News reads "bar passage rate in jursdiction," which I assumed, wrongly, meant the jurisdiction where the school is located.</p>
<p>It also looks like Yale graduates passed the California bar at a 95% rate (38 out of 40) in July of 2005, which was the best percentage of any law school in the country:</p>
<p>…viewers please don’t fully believe the data portrayed in the link…it is hard for me to respect the “raw data” when some information for the law schools themselves are mistaken… </p>
<p>For example…the data states that Yale and Harvard are in NY, I was not aware that Yale and Harvard moved to New York… must’ve been a strenuous move to relocate such prestigious university grounds.</p>
<p>If the site cannot even get such mundane data such as the <em>location</em> of the schools correct…why am I to believe the “raw data” on acceptance rates for the schools?</p>
<p>You are reading incorrectly. The “location” you cite is NOT the physical location of the law school. It is the state in which the largest number of graduates take the bar exam. The bar passage rate given in US News is for that state. </p>
<p>So, even though Yale is located in Connecticut, more Yale grads take the NY bar than the Connecticut bar. Although Harvard is located in Massachusetts, more grads take the NY than the Mass bar.</p>
<p>For those who may not get Hanna’s reference, Kathleen Sullivan is the former dean of Stanford Law. After resigining as dean, she went into private practice. To be able to practice, she took the California bar–and failed it. The woman is absolutely brilliant.</p>