by David Ball
Staff Writer
Florida Coastal School of Law students who took the July 2007 Florida Bar Examination earned the highest passing rate in school history at 84.4 percent, making it the sixth highest among Florida’s 10 Law Schools.
So how would the next class follow up in the February 2008 exam? With a record 85.2 percent passing rate that was third highest in Florida behind perennial top law schools at Florida State and University of Florida.
“We believe in continuous improvement, and this group has really embodied that,” said Florida Coastal Dean Peter Goplerud after speaking to a couple dozen of his graduates at Friday’s bar swearing in ceremony at the U.S. Courthouse.
“Not only is it this group of students, but they have a great support team at the school,” he added.
Bethany Reich, assistant director of academic success at Florida Coastal, said many students studied through their Christmas break and a large number took advantage of the school’s advanced Florida Bar studies class, which focuses on essay writing and studying for the Bar exam.
“Over half of the graduating class took advanced Florida Bar studies,” said Reich. “And of the 61 taking the exam, I think about 45 or 50 were enrolled in that class. I think that made a difference.”
Reich said even with this preparation, the students polled after the exam still had no way to judge how well they did.
“The students pretty much say the same thing,” she said. “They’re not really sure how they did, but they feel like they were prepared in every way they can be.”
But Florida Coastal grads couldn’t outpace test-takers from Florida State, which earned an impressive passing rate of 93.6 percent. FSU has ranked first in the state in four of the last five exams.
UF finished in the second spot (88.3 percent), followed by Florida Coastal (85.3 percent), Nova Southeastern and Barry University (80 percent), Florida International and University of Miami (78.9 percent), Stetson (76.1 percent), St. Thomas (73.3 percent) and Florida A&M (59.3).
Test takers from non-Florida schools passed at 69 percent, and the state average was 76.4.
The July exam usually sees more first-timers and less repeat test-takers than the February exam. Last July, FSU had the highest rate at 89 percent, followed by Stetson at 87.6, UF at 86.8, FIU at 85.9 and UM at 85.8.
Florida Coastal’s passing rate started near the bottom of the pack during the first years from 1999 to 2001. Since then, the school’s rate has ranked right around the middle of pack — many points above schools like Barry, Florida A&M, St. Thomas and Nova Southeastern, but only a few points below the historical leaders.
In the July 2005 exam, Florida Coastal graduates had the top passing rate at 81.9 percent and were more than 11 percentage points above the state average.
“We really do care about those scores,” said Reich. “We take everything we’ve learned over years, and we’re going to try and change things and make it better.”
Goplerud said there’s no reason why the upcoming July exam can’t be another record-breaker.
“Our goal is to always get better,” he said.
Photos by David Ball