Almost 90 percent of Syracuse University College of Law students passed the New York state bar exam, a number that has boosted SU’s law school ranking in the state.

“I was ecstatic and just really happy for our students. It’s an amazing hurdle for every graduate of our law school,” said Courtney Abbott Hill, the associate director for student life-academic and bar support programs.

Abbott Hill said she was cautiously optimistic while waiting for the result, but she was not surprised. She has been in this role for only one full academic year, but she spent this past summer monitoring each of more than 150 students, making sure to stay in touch with them and helping them prepare for the exam.

Abbott Hill also noted the faculty played an important role in this achievement, saying that it was “a testament to the faculty as a whole.”

SU students have consistently done well in the bar exam, Abbott Hill said. Last year, the College of Law’s ranking was fifth in the state. The New York bar passing rate did increase slightly this year to 83 percent, but bar passage has been dropping across the rest of the country, which signifies the extent of the students’ achievement.

“As you can imagine, passing a bar examination is a major milestone in a new attorney’s career,” Assistant Dean Kim Wolf Price said in an email. “If one hopes to practice law in the traditional sense, it is an absolute necessity.”

At the College of Law, there is an extremely structured curriculum that students follow, Abbott Hill said. Students with lower GPAs are given the opportunity to take more bar classes, which allows them to become more familiar with the exam and gives them extra methods of preparation, she said.

But she added that there are some improvements that can be made about bar support, saying that more outreach can be done in the summer before the exam. Abbott Hill said her ultimate goal is to bring the passing rate of SU students to 100 percent.

“This is a tremendous achievement and I join our faculty and staff in recognizing our graduates’ knowledge, focus and determination in preparing for the Bar,” Dean Craig Boise said in an email. “While members of the graduating class are beginning their legal careers, the College of Law is hard at work evaluating and refining our bar preparation program to ensure the continued success of our graduates.”

Published on November 30, 2016 at 10:10 pm

Contact Sandhya: ssiyer@syr.edu