1 week early to start the weekend. The VBBE has posted the results of the February 2015 Virginia bar exam. The overall pass rate was 59% with 67% of first time takers passing. My friends down in Lexington at Washington and Lee scored the highest out of any Virginia school with an excellent 89% pass rate and 100% of first time takers passing. Well done. Check out the full pass list of names here.
Category: Bar Exam
The DC and Virginia bar exam are now officially finished. In DC we had a solid exam with an objective memo and a persuasive letter to start the AM. The afternoon essays were as expected with Agency, torts, con law, civ pro, wills/trusts, and property and UCC 9. Trusts was a little tough, but otherwise manageable. The MBE was straightforward, with the civ pro questions being easier than expected and the rest of the exam being as expected with the usual focus areas.
As for Virginia, we’re back to business as usual with a bunch of Fed and VA procedure questions, sales, partnership, agency, some equity and personal property, wills and everyone’s favorite creditors rights :-) Overall a very fair exam and nice to see the VA and federal jurisdiction back on the exam as those are critical subjects for any attorney to be tested on. Little bit surprised not to see the usual long Corporations, local govt, real property and criminal as I feel those are core subjects they should always test but overall, as usual, it was a very fair exam.
Time to celebrate and enjoy the extra time that comes with not having to prepare for a bar exam! Results to be posted in late April for Virginia and late May for DC.
UPDATE: Waivers are permitted, you may use your old MBE score for the February 2015 bar exam.
The DC Court of Appeals has posted the formal order and notice proposing to amend Rule 46(b) to allow MBE waivers on the upcoming February 2015 bar exam even though Civil Procedure is being added as a 7th subject. Comments are being allowed until December 22, 2014, which means we should expect a formal yay or nay by the first week of January as originally anticipated. Remember, there is no guarantee they will accept previous MBE scores, but as of now that is the plan as the committee is trying to save everyone time and money to not have to deal with dozens and dozens of individual waiver requests but instead handle it through a single amendment change. But, until it’s a done deal, no promises.
As the title says I am not accepting any more students for the February 2015 bar exam. This has been the case for nearly a couple of months now as I filled up around the end of August. I know it may seem unfair to July test takers as results just came out, but I only take on a handful of students each exam and prioritize multiple repeat takers, and they tend to decide which bar they are taking further in advance. If you have an exceptional set of circumstances feel free to email me but please keep in mind I am taking students for July 2015 at this time. My roster for July is about 1/2 full at this point but I still have open spaces. I will always post in the right side of my blog when I am full for the current exam and which exam I am currently accepting students for.
UPDATE: Waivers are permitted, you may use your old MBE score for the February 2015 bar exam.
There is a considerable amount of concern around the DC Bar Exam for this February as Federal Civil Procedure is being added to the MBE for the first time as a 7th subject. The primary area of concern is around test takers who have previously (within 2 years) taken a bar exam and scored a 133 or higher on the MBE. Normally, DC allows these folks to waive in their score and not take the MBE, allowing them to take only the essay day. However, the Committee on Admissions Rules state that if the subjects on the MBE change then this does not have to be permitted. The DC Committee on Admissions has previously stated that they are only observing the 2 year rule and waivers would be permitted for this February. However, after speaking in detail with the office
New York has posted their results for the July 2014 bar exam! Out of 11,195 students who took the exam, 65% passed. For first time test takers, the pass rate was 74%.
Private lookup is available here.
The full public list will be available tomorrow on the NYS BOLE website. Congrats to everyone who passed!
UPDATE: Public lookup is available here.