Just over 79% of U.S. law school graduates who took the bar exam for the first time in 2023 passed, according to new data released by the American Bar Association (ABA).

The 79.18% pass rate was up slightly from the 78% pass rate earned by first-time bar examinees in 2022, but lower than the 80% pass rate among 2021 takers and the 84% pass rate earned by 2020 examinees.

The “ultimate bar pass rate,” which reflects the percentage of law graduates who passed the bar exam within two years of law school graduation, declined for the class of 2021. Its ultimate pass rate was 90%, down from more than 91% for 2020 law graduates.

The ABA releases data on first-time and ultimate bar passage rates each spring as a resource for the public and potential law school applicants. The figures aggregate national pass rates and provide data on how graduates of each law school performed on the test.

The data also included a breakdown of pass rates by race, showing that longstanding disparities continued in 2023. White bar exam takers had the highest first-time pass rate at 84%. Asian test takers had the next-highest first-time pass rate at 74% followed by Hispanic examinees at 71%. Black examinees had the lowest pass rate at 58% — an ongoing trend that has fueled criticism of the bar exam as biased.

But the new figures do show modest progress among certain groups. The first-time pass rate for Black examinees in 2023 was one percentage point higher than the previous year, while the rate for Hispanic test takers was two percentage points higher. However, the first-time pass rate for Asian examinees declined in 2023 by one percentage point.

 You can read more about this report here.

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