The School of Law began a formal bar exam support program in fall 2002, the Road to Bar Passage Program. Students and graduates describe this road as rather long and challenging, full of some dimly lit tunnels, wobbly bridges and unexpected twists and turns. Thus, the Program’s goal is to provide guidance and support at every step of the bar exam preparation process, from first year Orientation through the February or July bar exam that School of Law graduates take each year in states across the country.
The Program offers information and advice during each semester of law school. During law school, students prepare for the bar exam by their course selection, their bar application process, and their decisions about where and when to sit for a bar exam. The Program provides group informational meetings as well as individual bar exam counseling. A TWEN website further distributes information and addresses questions and concerns as they arise.
In the final semester of law school, the School of Law offers a bar preparation course for credit. In February 2005, the American Bar Association first permitted law schools to teach bar preparation courses for law school credit. The School of Law responded by offering students in their last semester a new one-credit course, LAW 895: Bar Exam Preparation and Procedure. Over 85% of the class of 2006 enrolled and enthusiastically endorsed the course’s help in their bar exam preparation. Because half or more of a state’s bar exam is uniform across the country, the course prepares students to sit for a bar exam in any state.
After graduation, the Program continues in Keller Hall to support those graduates who sit for the Ohio bar exam. Practice sessions and support as needed continue in the two months that stretch from graduation day to the Ohio bar exam.
The Program is staffed by Professor Rebecca Cochran, and alumni and adjunct professors Gerry Greene '02 and Wil Baker '04. Professors Cochran and Greene staff the Bar Passage Office, Room 8, during the academic year. Wil Baker joins them during the intense practice sessions that run in Keller Hall for the eight weeks before the February and July bar exams.