Of the 132 Florida Coastal School of Law graduates who in July took the Florida General Bar Examination for the first time, only 63 passed — that’s 47.7 percent, the lowest first-time pass percentage among the 11 law schools in the state.
The average first-time pass percentage for the July Bar exam was 68.4 percent, with Florida International University College of Law in the No. 1 spot at 87.8 percent.
In the past 10 Bar exams since February 2013, Florida Coastal students have bettered the state average just twice.
So, what’s behind the below-average performance?
Florida Coastal Dean Scott DeVito said how potential law students are tested and the law school’s niche are the main factors to consider when evaluating the statistics.
“We take students who don’t do well on standardized tests. The LSAT is a standardized test and the Bar exam is a standardized test,” said Florida Coastal Dean Scott DeVito, referring in the first case to the Legal Scholastic Aptitude Test.
A student’s LSAT score is viewed by many law school admissions officials as being more important than grade point average when evaluating whether to admit a student.
DeVito pointed out that the 75th percentile LSAT score at Florida Coastal – the minimum score that would mean admission for 3 out of 4 applicants – is lower than the 25th percentile score (minimum for admission for 1 out of 4 applicants) at the other law schools in the state.
Florida Coastal’s 75th percentile score for students admitted in 2016 was 149. Compare that to 25th percentile scores at Florida International (151), Stetson University (152), the University of Miami (155), the University of Florida (156) and Florida State University (157).
The virtually unattainable “perfect score” on the LSAT is 180.
DeVito said Florida Coastal “widens the opportunity for diversity” by offering a law school education for students who aren’t able to enroll at the other schools in the state, based on their LSAT scores and the level of competition for law school admission.
He pointed out that failing the Bar exam on the first try doesn’t prevent a graduate from having a career in the law.
“Our ultimate Bar pass rate is in the 90s,” DeVito said. “Eighty-seven percent are lawyers and 3 percent are in J.D.-advantage careers.”
He said most students who enroll at Florida Coastal aren’t looking for a job with a high-profile law firm. Many graduates have specialized in family law or public service law, such as public defenders, prosecutors or counsel at nonprofits.
And there’s a plan in place to elevate the school’s academic standards.
Since DeVito became dean of the law school two years ago, the minimum LSAT score required for admission has increased from 141 in 2016 to 145 this year and will increase to 147 in 2018.
“Raising the incoming credentials guarantees moving up. We’d like to settle at 149 in a couple of years. That could give us a first-time pass rate in the mid-70s — above the state average,” he said.
