It's Not Where You Start, It's How You Finish: Predicting Law School and Bar Success

• In Event: Predictors of Success and Academic Trajectories

Abstract

The first multi-institution analysis of the relationship between student engagement and first-time bar passage, this study uses law school administrative data and LSSSE survey data from twenty schools to examine, within the context of Austin’s (1991) Input-Environment-Outcome framework, whether academic and student engagement factors better predict law school grades and first-time bar exam passage, relative to LSAT score and undergraduate GPA. We apply mixed effects modeling (both linear and logit), finding that law school GPA (including a measure of GPA growth) and several engagement factors better explain first-time bar passage compared to LSAT and UGPA. Most notably, we find that student growth in both GPA and in the development of hard skills are stronger predictors of bar passage.

Authors

• Jason Scott, AccessLex institute

• Joshua Jackson, AccessLex Institute

• Tiffane Cochran, AccessLex Institute

• Meera E. Deo, University of California - Los Angeles

• Chad Christensen, Indiana University - Bloomington

• Aaron N. Taylor, Center for Legal Education Excellence