The pass rate for first-time takers who sat for the bar exam rose by more than 3 percentage points in 2024 over 2023, according to new data from the Managing Director’s Office of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar.
March 17, 2025 Legal Education
First-time bar exam takers’ passage rate increased in 2024
The new data shows that in the aggregate, 90.41% of 2022 law graduates who sat for a bar exam passed it within two years of graduation (90.52% with alternative pathways). The two-year “ultimate” aggregate success rate is almost the same as the 90.53% comparable figure for 2021 graduates. The 2022 ultimate bar pass data also reveals that 95.85% of all graduates sat for a bar exam or were admitted by alternative pathways within two years of graduation and that schools were able to obtain bar passage information for 98.75% of 2021 graduates.
First-time takers in 2024 achieved an aggregate 82.79% pass rate (83.02% with alternative pathways), which is more than a 3-percentage point increase over the comparable 79.44% pass rate (with alternative pathways) for 2023.
The annual comprehensive report on bar admission outcomes relies on information reported to the ABA by law schools and is made public as a matter of important consumer information under ABA Standard 509, said Jenn Rosato Perea, managing director of ABA accreditation and legal education. Data for ABA-approved law schools is available at Legal Education Statistics. Individual school reports for consumers are available at ABA Required Disclosures.
The Council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar is the independent arm of the ABA that accredits law schools.
“Prospective students, current students and others interested in the quality of legal education need reliable information on bar admissions, in the aggregate and by individual law schools, and we appreciate the law schools’ efforts to provide a comprehensive national picture,” Perea said. “Admission to the bar, as defined by the state supreme courts, is one measure that reflects how well law schools prepare their students for the legal profession — and this measure will continue to be shaped by changes in the bar exam, diverse pathways to licensure and other assessments of competency.”
For comparative purposes, the new data includes aggregate information on the demographics of bar exam passers from 2025 bar admission reports and reprints last year’s demographic information from the 2024 reports. In addition, because alternative pathways are being recognized more frequently by the state courts, the ABA has updated the name of the bar admission questionnaire, as well as the ABA Required Disclosure page (starting with 2025 statistics), to refer to “admission” rather than “passage.”