Only Half of Law School Grads Pass Bar Exam

Only half of those who took the bar exam to become licensed lawyers passed, the results of the national attorney test given last week showed. The test is a key step in the acquisition of a license to practice law.

Only 54 percent of the 2,819 people who took the test passed. Of those, 2,076 were taking the test for the first time. About half of the other nearly 800 candidates were taking the test a second time because they failed the first time and will now need to take it a third time, if they intend to continue to pursue a legal career.

The results also indicate that an education at one of Israel’s seven universities is far superior to that of the many colleges which have sprung up in recent years; the pass rate for all university graduates was significantly higher than for those who attended a college. The best performing group came from Tel Aviv University, where 95 percent of candidates passed, followed by graduates of Hebrew University, with a 91 percent passing rate.