The Howard Law/HBCU Law Schools Thread

[A.J]

You said that already and I made the assumption based on his prior seemingly random deleting of my post.  That said, I would prefer it if it were simply moved to the hateboard rather than being deleted altogther.  I didnt initiate the attack.

[TruOne]

LOL @ Reign. I feel ya but sometimes people just don't get "it".

But all the BS aside, what do you guys really feel about allowing white cats to join predominantly black organizations? The founder of NBLSA was speaking at the conference about one of the only things he in his life regrets is allowing white law students to join (but he felt pressure from law schools and other financial backers) cause the truth of the matter was, the only time we saw white students there was in Moot Court and Mock Trial competitions. And he felt that white students have enough resources, why did they also have to be involved and use Ours? I understood where he was coming from.

Nothing is sacred anymore...

As extreme as it sounds, I really wish we had something to call our own...

somebody must recognize that this sounds pretty racist.  Reminds me exactly of something a white racist would say. 

**Crickets**

[kloud9nupe]

Texas School's Bar Exam Pass Rate Improves

Jeanne Graham
Texas Lawyer
05-20-2005


McKen V. Carrington, dean of Texas Southern University Thurgood Marshall School of Law in Houston, recently had two reasons to celebrate. On May 6, after serving as interim dean for three years, the TSU Board of Regents named him dean, and he learned that the percentage of the school's graduates passing the February Texas bar exam improved by 18 points compared with the results of the previous year.

Carrington joined the faculty at Thurgood Marshall after graduating from Albany Law School in 1982. He was a tenured professor, teaching courses on wills and estate planning, when the TSU Board of Regents appointed him interim dean in May 2002. TSU provost Bobby Wilson says that, during Carrington's tenure as interim dean, the student performance on the Texas bar exam and the job placement rate of graduates have improved. Prior to Carrington accepting the interim dean post, the American Bar Association raised concerns, during a routine accreditation review, about the bar exam pass rate of the school's graduates. Wilson notes that Carrington resolved those concerns while interim dean.

Carrington says his priority is, and has been, developing stronger graduates. "We're going to continue to emphasize [job] placement and bar rates," Carrington says. Nine months after graduating, more than 80 percent of the school's graduates have employment, he says. He says that the number of applicants to the law school has almost doubled from 1,100 in 2002 to 2,100 for the class starting in August of 2005.

Although not content with a 60 percent pass rate on the February bar exam, Carrington notes the improvement compared with the 41.67 percent and 37.5 percent pass rates on the 2004 and 2003 February exams, respectively. "The students are confident about their ability on the bar," he says. "I expect it [the bar passage rate] to keep going up."

More than 300 graduates of Texas law schools passed the February Texas bar exam, according to the Texas Board of Law Examiners (BLE) in Austin. The pass rate among the 414 first-time test takers -- 78.26 percent -- was almost 8 percentage points higher than the 70.33 percent success rate of February 2004.

Overall, 754 first-time and repeat exam-takers passed the February 2005 bar exam. Those passing totaled 64.01 percent of the 1,178 test-takers. The overall pass rate for the February 2004 exam was 57.04 percent. Of the total first-time takers, 477, or 75.59 percent, of 631 passed, besting the 69.33 percent rate of February 2004. Of the repeat-takers, 277, or 50.64 percent, of 547 passed, also besting the 40.09 percent repeat-takers successful on the exam the previous year.

The success rate for first-time takers from Texas' nine American Bar Association-accredited law schools ranged from 60 percent at Thurgood Marshall to a high of 90.63 percent at Texas Tech University School of Law in Lubbock.

Unlike the results from the July bar exam, when most graduates take the test, the February results are not necessarily trend indicators, says Julia Vaughan, the BLE's executive director. "The number of people taking the exams is so small it is difficult to say if there are meaningful trends when one looks at it school by school, especially when the numbers are so small for given schools," Vaughan says.

First-time test takers from Texas law schools numbered 1,693 on the July 2004 exam, slightly more than four times the 414 who sat for the February 2005 exam.

Nonetheless, Texas Tech law Dean Walter Huffman has bragging rights for the February results. "It's always nice to be No. 1 and recognized once again because of the talent and dedication of our students," Huffman says. "We're not in uncharted territory here; historically, we've had strong bar passage," Huffman says.

Pass rates for first-time takers at other Texas schools, that exceeded the rates attained in February 2004, were 90.38 percent at Baylor University School of Law in Waco (just 0.25 points behind Texas Tech); 84.62 percent at Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law in Dallas; 73.33 percent at Texas Wesleyan University School of Law in Fort Worth; 72.73 percent at St. Mary's University School of Law in San Antonio; and 70.83 percent at South Texas College of Law in Houston. Graduates of the University of Texas School of Law in Austin and the University of Houston Law Center attained pass rates slightly below the February 2004 levels -- with 87.8 percent of first-time takers passing at UT Austin compared with 89.13 percent in 2004 and 81.67 passing at the UH Law Center compared with 81.82 percent the previous February.

A list of the individuals who passed the February exam can be found at BLE's Web site.

[Lawprofessor]

I visted the school recently met with the dean and students faculty and got good and bad.

Bad...As you know TSU has a low bar passage rate for first time exam takers...with about 78% eventually passing the Bar after the THIRD TRY!  

A word on the bar passage rate.  One reason that the bar passage rate is low is because TSU like Southern accepts quite a few students that otherwise wouldnt be able to attend law school.  Because those are some of the people who are graduating and taking the bar exam, the bar passage rate is going to be somewhat lower than other schools.  But the benefit is that they serve a purpose, which is giving as many people of color an opportunity to go to law school as possible, which is a noble calling for an institution of higher learning.

[blk_reign]

now..only if they'd hire me

[LaneSwerver]

now..only if they'd hire me

Best of luck. All of us employed by Texas universities received an e-mail yesterday informing us of a hiring freeze on positions that are not fully grant-funded. Hopefully it will lift soon.

[Lawprofessor]

now..only if they'd hire me

uhhhh, have you talked to them yet???  Did you even call the Dean?

[Bluenine]

I've been talking to Blk about this for a while, and I would like to get the opinions of a few others, especially current law students.

Which would you choose:
GW=$150,000 in debt or Howard=no debt?

All opinions are appreciated.

Thanks

[lex19]

GW, hands down, but i'm all about the label/name whore.......unless you want to stay in the DC area, but who knows what will happen in 3 years right?

[One Step Ahead]

well what do you want to do in life?  why no debt--big scholarship or you have some money saved away?  need more info.