"Pass or Fail?"
Back when I graduated from the West Virginia University College of Law in 19 - I can't believe that it has been 28 years since I went to the hooding ceremony with my classmates such as Judge John Frazier, Judge Kendrick King, Judge John Hrko, Public Service Commission Chairperson Charlotte Lane, Board of Governors member Dan Blizzard ....
But, I digress.
Back then, anyone who graduated from the WVU College of Law received the "diploma privilege". That meant that you did not have to take any Bar Examination in order to be admitted to practice law in our state. Only Wisconsin and West Virginia had such a deal.
I believe the theory was that since there was only one law school in West Virginia and since it concentrated the legal studies on West Virginia law, there was not a need for WVU graduates to have to take the Bar Examination. Whatever the theory, I always felt fortunate that after seven straight years of undergraduate and law school studies, my future did not depend on passing another difficult test.
Then, in the mid 1980's, there was interest among the state's legal profession to do away with the diploma privilege and require the bar examination like the other 48 states. After a great deal of debate and discussion, the necessary action was taken so that passage of the bar examination became a requirement before a lawyer was admitted to practice law in West Virginia.
The responsibility for administering the bar examination rests with the West Virginia Board of Law Examiners. This group of 7 lawyers, appointment by the Supreme Court, makes the decisions regarding the bar examination as well as all other criteria which must be met before a lawyer appears before the Supreme Court, raises their right hand and is admitted to practice law in our state. Many State Bar members believe that the State Bar is the organization that is responsible for giving and grading the bar examination. When the bar examination is given twice a year, we always get many contacts about when the bar exam will be given, when will the test scores be available, etc.
So, how does West Virginia do with the bar examination?
First of all, we do very well with the leadership of the National Conference of Bar Examiners. As you saw in last month's issue of The West Virginia Lawyer, Sarah Hall of Beckley is the current Chairperson of this national organization. It is a tribute to Sarah and to our state, to have one of our lawyers be the leader of the national group which has the responsibility for administering and overseeing bar examinations throughout our nation.
In the May, 2000 issue of The Bar Examiner, the monthly publication of the National Conference of Bar Examiners, the statistics for 1999 were displayed. For West Virginia they are as follows:
Persons taking February 1999 exam - 67
Persons passing February 1999 exam - 41
Percentage of persons passing February 1999 exam - 61%
Persons taking July 1999 exam - 210
Persons passing July 1999 exam - 170
Percentage of persons passing July 1999 exam - 81%
Total persons taking 1999 exams - 277
Total persons passing 1999 exams - 211
Percentage of persons passing 1999 exams - 76%
As a comparison, the national figures are as follows:
Persons taking February 1999 exam - 23,440
Persons passing February 1999 exam - 13,809
Percentage of persons passing February 1999 exam - 59%
Persons taking July 1999 exam - 50,530
Persons passing July 1999 exam - 34,747
Percentage of persons passing July 1999 exam - 69%
Total persons taking 1999 exams - 73,970
Total persons passing 1999 exams - 48,556
Percentage of persons passing 1999 exams - 66%
The report from the National Conference of Bar Examiners also includes information for the previous four years regarding admissions. The number of persons who were admitted to practice law in West Virginia after successfully passing the bar examination for those years are:
1995 - 227
1996 - 220
1997 - 204
1998 - 192
In addition, there were more lawyers who have been admitted to practice law in the state through other means such as reciprocity, special motion, etc. Those figures for the past five years are as follows:
1995 - 36
1996 - 38
1997 - 55
1998 - 35
1999 - 54
Finally, it is interesting to note the steady growth in the number of lawyers practicing in West Virginia for the past two decades. In 1980, there were approximately 2,000 active practicing members of the State Bar. Now, in 2000, there are just a little over 4,000 active practicing lawyers in the state.
For those past twenty years, the number of new lawyers admitted to practice in the state has averaged right around 250 persons. At the same time, there have been approximately 150 lawyers each year who have retired, moved out of state, passed away, etc. The growth per year has been a net gain of right around 100 additional attorneys practicing law in the state every year since 1980.
Incidentally, Wisconsin remains the only state in the nation which still utilizes the diploma privilege.