RACIAL DISPARITIES IN BAR EXAMINATION PERFORMANCE: AN HYPOTHESIS

Tables and Footnotes


Copyright © 1993, Louisiana State Bar Association



TABLES


TABLE 1

Cumulative Three-year Bar Passage Rates, Mean Percentages for the July
1989, 1990 and 1991 Louisiana Bar Examinations, by Law School

Law School

Percentage of
students passing1

Louisiana State Univ.

81.95

Loyola University

66.19

Southern University

-

Black students

19.91

White students

51.54

Tulane University

66.64

1The figures reported by the Louisiana State Bar Association's Bar Examination Committee do not break out first-time examinees from repeat examinees, nor do they indicate race. The breakdown of Southern students by race is for first-time takers.




TABLE 2

Unconditional Passage Rates for Southern Law Graduate First-attempt Takers
on the July 1989 Louisiana Bar Examination, by GPA and Race

Cumulative Grade Point Average

Percentage of Black Applicants Passing

Percentage of White Applicants Passing

3.50 - 4.00 B+

100.00

100.00

3.00 - 3.49 B

50.00

92.31

2.50 - 2.99 C+

29.41

38.89

2.00 - 2.49 C

0.00

21.43




TABLE 3

Unconditional Passage Rates for Southern Law Graduate First-attempt Takers
on the July 1990 Louisiana Bar Examination, by GPA and Race

Cumulative Grade Point Average

Percentage of Black Applicants Passing

Percentage of White Applicants Passing

3.50 - 4.00 B+

N/A

100.00

3.00 - 3.49 B

75.00

62.50

2.50 - 2.99 C+

24.00

27.78

2.00 - 2.49 C

0.00

0.00




TABLE 4

Unconditional Passage Rates for Southern Law Graduate First-attempt Takers
on the July 1991 Louisiana Bar Examination, by Law School

Cumulative Grade Point Average

Percentage of Black Applicants Passing

Percentage of White Applicants Passing

3.50 - 4.00 B+

N/A

100.00

3.00 - 3.49 B

33.33

82.61

2.50 - 2.99 C+

10.00

40.00

2.00 - 2.49 C

0.00

25.00




TABLE 5

Cumulative Three-year Bar Passage Rates, Mean Percentages for the July
1989, 1990 and 1991 Louisiana Bar Examinations, by Law School

Cumulative Grade Point Average

Percentage of Black Applicants Passing

Percentage of White Applicants Passing

3.50 - 4.00 B+

100.00

100.00

3.00 - 3.49 B

51.78

79.14

2.50 - 2.99 C+

21.14

35.56

2.00 - 2.49 C

0.00

15.48





EXCERPT FROM JULY 1988 BAR EXAMINATION


II.

Bengal Tiger Manufacturing Co., Inc., manufactures an exotic but lethal chemical known as methyl isocyanate. Bengal Tiger is an evil company whose lust for profit overpowers any concern for safety. Bengal Tiger's manufacturing plant is located in Sabine Parish. A major leak occurs there, and the deadly methyl isocyanate gas is dispersed into the atmosphere, resulting in the deaths of seven people and the injuries of countless others. Attorneys Joe Green and his partner, Fred Wave, are retained by the innocent victims and the families of those who died. Green and Wave are of impeccable moral character and are able trial lawyers. In the following instances, describe what action Green and Wave should take on behalf of their clients:

4% a. Green and Wave discover that the principal place of business of Bengal Tiger is located in another state. Sabine Parish is considered by them to be a conservative forum. Many of their clients lives in Avoyelles Parish, which they consider to be a more liberal forum.

4% b. Green and Wave wish to join several plaintiffs together in the same suit. All but one of the plaintiffs in question resides in Avoyelles Parish, the remaining plaintiff resides in Rapides Parish. May Green and Wave join all plaintiffs in the same suit.

4% c. In b., above, in what parish or parishes may such a suit be filed?

4% d. Green and Wave propound interrogatories to Bengal Tiger after filing suit. Their request for answers to the interrogatories are ignored. What action, if any, can they take to obtain answers?

2% e. For extra points, what law school did the preparer of this question attend? (Note: This is a lob.)


Editor's Note: Here is a copy of the bar examination question noted in the text.




___________________________________________________________________________

FOOTNOTES

1U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Statistical Abstract of the United States 1991, p. 22.

2In a state that is 30.8 percent black, Souther University's law student body is 46.4 percent white and 53.6 percent black. Tulane University's law school is 18 percent minority. Loyola University's law school is six percent minority. When queried by the authors about minority enrollment on July 20, 1992, Judy Short of the records office at Louisiana State University Law Center told the authors, "We're not allowed to give that information out." According to the reported decision of United States v. State of Louisiana, 718 F.Supp. 499, 513 (E.D. La. 1989), minority enrollment at LSU Law Center when last reported was three percent.

3Report of the Southern University Law Center on Self-Study to the American Bar Association (Nov. 1991): 153.

4Some law schools do not provide an environment in which black law students thrive. At such schools, the overwhelming majority of black students are weeded out. Only the very best black law student can "make it" to graduation in such a discriminatory environment, so it is not surprising that black graduates of such institutions fare as well as, or even better than, whites on the bar examination.

5Maurice Emsellem "Racial and Ethnic Barriers to the Legal Profession: The Case Against the Bar Examination" New York State Bar Journal 61 (April 1989): 42, 43.

6Daniel O. Bernstine "Minority Law Students and the Bar Examination: Are Law Schools Doing Enough? Bar Examiner 58 (August 1989): 10.

7United States v. State of Louisiana, 718 F.Supp. 499, 513 (E.D. La. 1969)(Wisdom, Circuit J.).

8Henry Ramsey, Jr. "Law Graduates, Law Schools and Bar Passage Rates" Bar Examiner 60 (February 1991): 21, 22-23.

9Marshall Ingwerson, "For Blacks at Georgetown, Subtle Indignities" Christian Science Monitor (May 8, 1991): 8.

10Daniel O. Bernstine, supra note 5, at 11.

11Only Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana and Washington do not use the MBE. Henry Ramsey, Jr., supra note 7, at 27 n. 14.

12David Streitfield, "What's In a Name?" Washington Post 8 Jan 1988: C5.

13Ronald Kessler, "FBI Behavioral Science Unit Paints Psychological Profile of Killers" Washington Post 20 Feb. 1984: A1.

14Black law students at Georgetown believe their race can be divined by reading their writings based on syntax or style. See Marshall Ingwerson, supra note 8.

15Louisiana Bar Examination, Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure, question II (e) (July 15, 1988).



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