At the Bar Admission Ceremony at Chapman University on December 4, alumni, faculty and families celebrated Chapman’s newly admitted lawyers and also acknowledged their powerful Bar pass results.
For the first time in the history of the law school, Bar passers made up 82 percent of the graduated class.
This high pass rate exceeds the California ABA Law School pass rate of 77 percent. And for the second consecutive year, Chapman Law School has exceeded the California ABA school average in both the February and July exams. “Our 2012 graduates make us all proud, and reconfirm that Chapman Law is on the rise,” said
Dean Tom Campbell
.

Before asking Bar passers to raise their right hand and swear to defend the Constitution of the United States,
Judge James Rogan
, an Orange County Superior Court Judge and Chapman Law adjunct professor, announced that he holds Chapman Law students to a higher standard. “There is no greater privilege than watching my former students appear before me in court,” said Judge Rogan. He was seated next to Judge Cormac Carney who also said a few words to the new admittees. “You’ve worked very hard the last three years,” mentioned Judge Carney, “and you’ve worked even harder to pass the toughest Bar exam in the country.”

In addition to Judge Rogan and Judge Carney, James Aguirre of the California State Bar Committee of Bar Examiners and Wayne Gross, the 2013 Orange County Bar Association President, gave advice to the newly licensed lawyers. Some of the speakers, including the Chair of the Alumni Advisory Board Scott Levitt, spoke about the significance of the accomplishment of Chapman’s 82 percent pass rate. Mr. Levitt also encouraged the recent Bar passers to get involved with the
Chapman Law Alumni Association
.

Dean Campbell ended the ceremony by thanking
Professor Mario Mainero
. Under Professor Mainero’s leadership, law students are given timely and helpful
Bar exam tips
and in depth feedback on their practice essays. It’s fair to say that Professor Mainero “lives and breathes” the Bar exam and his individualized approach to teaching students has helped us break a record.

UPDATE:


Law Schools in Orange County had especially high bar passage rates this year. The OC Weekly reported the following on January 1, 2013:

“Irvine does not have the only Orange County law school that can brag about the July passage rates. Only a larger percentage of Stanford, UCI, UCLA, USC, Pepperdine and UC Berkeley first-timers passed the bar exam than did grads from Orange’s private Chapman University, which boasted an 82 percent success rate. That put Chapman in Cali’s upper echelon, ahead of such schools as Loyola (79 percent), UC Davis (79 percent) and San Diego (78 percent).”

Read more about Chapman’s historic Bar pass rate on the OC METRO.



(Photos)

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Dean Tom Campbell at the start of the Bar Admissions Ceremony at Chapman University



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Chapman Law alumni check in to the Bar Admissions Ceremony