Say what you will about our local lawyer factory, they certainly are putting up the numbers.
A very respectable 86% (91 of 106) of first-time takers from Boyd School of Law passed the July 2009 bar. The pass rate for all first-time takers was 74%, and the overall pass rate was 63%.
This is the highest passage rate for Boyd to date. The previous high was 83% (paired with a 69% overall pass rate).
Congratulations, Boyd! Now, if you could just limit your next entering class to approximately 15 students, we're sure many of our currently jobless Nevada attorneys would appreciate it.
Here are the numbers:
Overall Pass Rate:
NV overall pass rate (includes both attorneys and students): 63%. In comparison, in July '08, the NV overall pass rate was 69%, while in February '09, the NV overall pass rate was 56%.
Boyd overall pass rate (includes both first-timers and repeaters): 74% (101/136) In comparison, in July '08, Boyd's overall pass rate was 75%, while in February '09, the Boyd's overall pass rate was 58%.
First time Student Takers:
NV pass rate for first-time student takers: 74% In comparison, in July '08, the NV pass rate for first-time student takers was 70%, while in February '09 the NV pass rate for first-time student takers was 46%.
Boyd pass rate for first-time student takers: 86% (91/106) In comparison, in July '08, the Boyd's pass rate for first-time student takers was 83%, while in February '09 Boyd's pass rate for first-time student takers was 58%.
Repeat Takers:
NV pass rate for repeating student takers: 28%. In comparison, in July '08, the NV Pass rate for repeating student takers was 34% and in February '09, the NV pass rate for repeating student takers was 29%.
Boyd pass rate for repeating student takers: 33% (10/30). In comparison, in July '08, the Boyd pass rate for repeating student takers was 48% and in February '09, Boyd's pass rate for repeating student takers was 55%.
Overall for Students:
NV overall pass rate for students (includes both first-timers and repeaters but excludes attorneys licensed in other jurisdictions): 69% In comparison, in July '08, the NV overall pass rate for students was 70% and in February '09, the NV overall pass rate for students was 46%.
Boyd overall pass rate (includes both first-timers and repeaters): 74%. (101/136) In comparison, in July '08, Boyd's overall pass rate was 75% and in February '09, Boyd's overall pass rate was 58%.
Those numbers certainly look good, what do you guys think?
It demonstrates that Boyd is doing a nice job of teaching to the Nevada Bar. It also shows that Nevada practice will take on the personality of the Boyd graduation classes. Great news, if this is where you want to practice.
ReplyDeleteWhat is left out is the pass rate of the Boyd repeaters: 10/30. Ouch! You can look at that two ways: the Boyd repeaters have seen the bar exam at least once, possibly twice, and should know how to prepare by now. If they don't, perhaps its time to start exploring other options. On the other hand, the 2nd- and 3rd- time takers likely represent the dregs of Boyd, and like any law school, there are dregs and then there are dregs.. It isn't the quality of the education, it's the quality of the educated.
ReplyDelete8:29,
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like your law school did a nice job of teaching to the Douchebag Bar--you clearly passed the first time.
FTR, I went to the #3 school in California, not Boyd.
The comment section is never short on ad hominem arguments.
ReplyDelete9:07 went to Thomas Jefferson?
ReplyDeleteIt shows that Boyd is doing a good job of turning out graduates to practice law in Nevada since, according to the bar, if you pass the exam, you are competent to practice. I would say a good majority of the people who pass any bar, regardless of the composition of where they went to school, will be barely adequate at best. Now, if only Boyd had much smaller classes so it would turn out a number of new lawyers that more closely approximate the need . . . . I suppose that could be said about just about any law school.
ReplyDelete9:43, well, duh. You new here?
ReplyDeleteThomas Jefferson?
#3 in Cal. probably means Hastings, USC, or UCLA.
@ Legally Douchey & 9:07
ReplyDeleteDon't turn this into a law school elitism thread similar to ATL.
8:29. Wow #3 CA school and you are not on the US Supreme Court? Thank you for blessing NV with your legal mind. The best part about the Boyd bashers is the fact that they are in the same place as the Boyd graduates but paid 3 times more to get there.
ReplyDeleteI was attacking the snide basher of Boyd at 8:29 (if you missed that it was a shot at Boyd, that's too bad). I only mentioned going to Cal #3 to anticipate the expected accusation that I was a Boyd person.
ReplyDeleteI'm pro-Boyd--better the #1 school in NV than the #3 or 4 or 5 in Calif. If I were a school elitist, I probably would've said something more self-flattering than #3 in a state.
Skins are a bit too thin here, which unfortunately adds credibility to the assertion of the 8:29 person.
Okay, let's stay in Nevada for a minute. What is the percentage of Boyd grads in the top Nevada law firms (ie. Jones Vargas, Lionel Sawyer, McDonald Carano, et al.)? It is a small fraction of the percentage of Boyd grads in the Nevada Bar at large. Yes, a Boyd grad can go work at a good firm, but the odds are long.
ReplyDeleteWhat does that say? It says that when top law firms, even in Nevada, go looking for lawyers, Boyd is not the first place they look.
And it gets even worse for a Boyd grad when he or she goes and looks for work in a good firm outside Nevada.
That is a pretty big swing in 6 months for Boyd 1st time takers: 58% (Feb) to 86% (July)?? Do dumb people graduate in February or what?
ReplyDelete9:56 said: "if you pass the exam, you are competent to practice".
ReplyDeleteThat statement is sooooooo wrong.
No, let's continue to analyze how big of a douche "9:07 AM/12:42 PM" really is.
ReplyDeleteSlam on Boyd, blah, blah, blah, I am smarter, blah, blah, blah, no one knows what I'm saying because I'm so smart, blah, blah, blah, its just my typing, not my illogical misinferentiations.
I'm Ashton Kutcher and I'm Awesome!!
12:52
ReplyDeleteAccording the the Bar and the Supreme Court, if you are admitted to practice you are deemed competent to practice. The reality is quite different.
12:46: There was a discussion about this awhile back. When Vegas is increasingly becoming a viable market for grads of top schools I think it makes for a relatively easy decision to only offer the top 10 or so folks at Boyd and then also pick up some solid grads from top schools. It's not anti-Boyd sentiment, but let's just be honest with ourselves that it's looks a lot better when you can advertise that your new associates came from Michigan, Hastings, Washington U, and BYU (where the last associates at LSC came from).
ReplyDeleteInteresting how many people completely missed the point of 8:29. People really do see what they want to see, I guess.
ReplyDeleteOops, I meant 9:07 ^^^
ReplyDelete@Legally Unbound - It isn't that the Feb grads are stupider, it is that Boyd tries to identify those who are not quite prepared and unlikely to pass (i.e., the bottom quartile) and then encourages them to wait until Feb. I think they provide extra prep for those students, too.
ReplyDelete2:31
ReplyDeleteDon't they already drop the bottom 20% of the class after 1L? If so, and they have all these Feburary folks that would supplement the argument to make the class smaller.
8:29 says / implies that the only reason Boyd has a high Nevada pass rate is because they tailor their educational programs to the Nevada Bar. THAT is a slam on BOYD.
ReplyDelete9:07 calls 8:29 a douchebag because of the slam against Boyd (what other reason could it be, they don't even live next to each other on the dial).
But 9:07 is the one slamming Boyd?
LU, you are daft at best:
"blah, blah, blah, I am smarter, blah, blah, blah, no one knows what I'm saying because I'm so smart, blah, blah, blah, its just my typing"
Very persuasive of you. On a good day, you could probably talk a starving man into eating a slice of bread.
Oh yeah -- I thought one reason that Feb. has lower pass rates is because the people who fail Jul. then take Feb., and a good % of the first-time fail people keep failing, while the biggest % of first-time pass people pass in July.
ReplyDeleteI'm so 'daft'.
ReplyDelete@ 12:46: Many of the Boyd grads I know went out on their own and now make three times what the attorneys do at those "top Nevada law firms." They have the ability to do that because they've spent three years (if not more) networking and gaining connections. Let's face it, not everyone wants to go work at a "top Nevada law firm" and serve as a someone's billing whore their first years out of law school. I was magna at Boyd and didn't go that route and I couldn't be happier.
ReplyDelete@3:03: Boyd doesn't drop out the bottom 20%. It's much more well respected than those JD mills like Cal Western, Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Cooley that are forced to do so.
ReplyDelete3:31,
ReplyDeleteI didn't goto BSL but was reviewing their handbook for another project and saw "In order to advance to the second year a student must obtain a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.30 after the completion of 32 hours (30 hours for students admitted before Fall 2005)."
On a forced curve, how many students are affected? Or are you saying that they don't regularly apply this rule?
3:55 -
ReplyDeleteYou are right that there is a forced curve, but I believe the curve requires something like 20% to get a C or lower. There is no mandatory fail rate. So, it is possible that no student would fall below minimum GPA requirement. Plus, if you do fall below, you are put on probation before you are thrown out.
@ 3:30
ReplyDeleteGlad you and the "many" other Boyd grads out there making the big bucks on their own are happy.
@ 4:52 on the flip side there are some classes that have failed NUMEROUS students. I've been classes where a C wwas a gift to the top of that class. Furthermore, many students that are placed on probation eventually end up dropping out or never passing the NV bar.
ReplyDeleteOh and @ 8:41 you are the "dreg" @ Boyd who will end up taking the bar 6 times.....someone had to tell you (PS put your hand down you damn gunner)
Regarding the curve...
ReplyDeleteThree people in my class were put on probation, but only one dropped.
One other student also dropped, but not because of grades.
Boyd is indisputedly the worst law school in the entire state of Nevada.
ReplyDelete@3:30---It is not "making three times what the attorneys do at those 'top Nevada law firms'" when the State Bar is going to make you put the money back into your Trust Account where it started.
ReplyDelete1:26
ReplyDeleteSome people really feel it's the best law school in Nevada. Those people are the optimists.
3:31 - You're an idiot.
ReplyDeleteHow did Boyd go from 58 to 86 per cent for first time takers? This is incredible. Answer: The tutoring or remedial program. Who ever heard of law school offering such a program free of charge and it is not associated with a bar review course. Amazing. Plus there has to be something fishy going on. Have the Examiners told Boyd some little "pointers" and "secrets" that others don't know. Has to be. The students at Boyd are better (harder to get in). However, a "B" grading curve is really something else. The students at Boyd don't justify a "B" curve.
ReplyDelete