UNC Ranks No. 1 with 96% July N.C. Bar Exam Passage Rate

For the second time in a row, Carolina Law held the top spot for overall bar passage rate among North Carolina law schools.

For the July 2020 North Carolina bar exam, UNC School of Law had the highest-ranking overall bar passage rate among the state’s six law schools. This is the second time in a row that UNC ranked No. 1 among North Carolina law schools for total test takers of the North Carolina bar exam.

Ninety-six percent (96%) of the 111 Carolina Law graduates who took the bar exam in July passed, according to results released by the state’s Board of Law Examiners. The school’s passage rate for total test takers exceeded the overall state passage rate for total test takers by 13%.

First time test takers also performed extremely well with a 97% passage rate for the 110 Carolina Law graduates who took the North Carolina bar exam for the first time. The school’s passage rate for first time test takers exceeded the overall state passage rate of 88% by 9%.

Carolina Law’s Academic Excellence Program (AEP)  provides all students with resources to aid their legal study, including for-credit bar preparation courses and individual and group bar preparation for 3L students. “This year was particularly difficult for our students and faculty due to the disruption of COVID-19, but we continued to support our students throughout the summer not knowing if the July bar exam would take place or not or if the format for the exam would change,” says O.J. Salinas, AEP director and clinical professor of law. “In addition to one-on-one bar counseling, we provided various substantive and bar support Zoom presentations to our 2020 graduates throughout the summer bar preparation months. I’m so proud of our 2020 graduates. They prepared for and took the North Carolina bar exam under some immensely challenging circumstances. They persevered, and they rocked the exam.”

“The ultimate goal at Carolina Law is to instill into students the knowledge and writing skills they need to pass the bar exam. These high bar passage numbers are the result of dedicated faculty and hard-working, committed graduates who had a trying final semester, no commencement and an uncertain summer to prepare for the test that would determine the next steps of their professional lives,” says Martin H. Brinkley ’92, dean and Arch T. Allen Distinguished Professor of Law. “Achieving these results was no small feat, and I want to commend O.J. Salinas and our graduates for overcoming personal and professional obstacles to reach this pinnacle of success.”