Liberty Law ranks No. 17 in America for two-year-out bar passage rates

Since its founding in 2004, Liberty University School of Law has showcased excellence each year, recently ranking at No. 17 in the nation for its 2018 graduates’ two-year-out bar passage rate, according to the American Bar Association (ABA).

The bar exam is the required test that law school graduates must pass if they are to practice law in a specific state. The ABA reviews each graduating class three different times — after the class takes the exam following graduation, one year later, and two years after — for the ultimate bar-passage numbers. The No. 17 ranking (out of 197 schools) is Liberty Law’s highest ever for that category.

This year is only the third year that the ABA has been ranking the one-year-out and two-year-out marks.

In 2019, Liberty Law came in at No. 7 in the nation for the Class of 2018’s first time passage rate.

“This continues our trajectory upward as far as how high these pass rates are going,” said School of Law professor Rena Lindevaldsen. “We are now consistently displaying a pass rate above 90 percent, which is phenomenal.”

In just 17 years since its beginning, the School of Law has shown the academic world how Liberty is equipping its students to pursue excellence in their field while also training them to be Champions for Christ.

“I’ve been here long enough to remember Jerry Falwell Sr. (Liberty’s founder) saying that, ‘If it is Christian, then it ought to be better,’” Lindevaldsen said. “And I think you see that exemplified in what is going on here at the law school. In respect to bar passage in particular, we hold these students to a very high standard and they work incredibly hard throughout law school and after law school preparing for this exam. We see the results of that and God has blessed us with some wonderful bar results.”

She said that the high passage rates are due in part to the School of Law’s commitment to educational excellence from the time students arrive on campus through the day of their graduation. “It’s incredibly important to us to exemplify high academic ability,” Lindevaldsen said. “It gives us credibility with the academic community that we’re not just here studying the Bible, which is something that all of us as Christians should be doing. But we are intelligent individuals who can compete in the marketplace and I believe that gives us the opportunity to show people a perspective of Christianity they may not get to see every day.”

Degree presentation ceremonies are set for Saturday, May 15, on the Academic Lawn, with Juris Doctor graduates honored at 1 p.m. and online graduates recognized at 5 p.m.