Considering law school? Want to be a lawyer? Consider this: Which schools charge the most and the least

Columbia University’s law school had the highest annual tuition among 99 private law schools ranked by U.S. News & World Report.

The law school charged $62,700, according to U.S. News & World Report. The lowest-cost of the 99 private law schools, on the other hand, was Brigham Young University’s Clark Law School, which charged only $23,940. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints got an even bigger break; they were charged only $11,970.

Article here (via ABA Journal). 

Also consider: Before law school.  To enter law school, one has to take the LSAT, a test that's given a few times a year, and get a score that's considered acceptable. You will also have to finish undergrad studies with a fairly decent GPA (although some schools accept "provisional students" who do not have an undergrad degree. Those schools put provisional students on probation until their GPAs show that they can cut the mustard in law school).

Some schools also offer partial tuition scholarships based on the score from your LSAT, and your undergrad GPA.

Graduating from law school. Next, you will have to get through the school's required courses, usually consisting of subjects like Torts, Contracts, Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Taxation, Research and Writing, Advanced Writing, etc. etc. (My school required Taxation, and Secured Transactions, often these are not required at other schools). There is usually some level of performance-type classes, like Trial Skills, or Pre-Trial, too. There are other "exciting" elective courses as well, like Moot Court, Family Law, No-Fault Law (have I scared you yet?), Insurance law, and so on. Your school will have a minimum number of required classes, and after that you are free to gambol on the fruited plains to choose your electives. Beware: electives tend to influence you one way or another toward what fields of law you end up practicing.

Applying for the Bar Exam At some point while you are getting your last few semesters finished, you will need to decide where you'd like to practice, and begin applying to those state bars. Several states (Florida, New York, California, for example) have quite strict admissions requirements, and need longer times to begin the process of applying, so don't wait too long.

Applying means telling that state bar  two things: 1. "I want to take your bar exam on ___ date," and 2. "I haven't done anything to disqualify myself from practicing in your state." The second one is also referred to as Character and Fitness (C &F).

Getting through C&F is no joke: It's like the longest and most detailed job application you have ever done. You have to disclose to that state bar any criminal activity on your record, what happened in undergrad and law school for discipline (if anything). It may also include disclosing your job history, your addresses since you were 16, and any number of things. My advice is to always disclose - with explanations. I know people who are now practicing who had criminal convictions before law school, but they disclosed, and explained how things happened, and why this didn't disqualify them from practicing.

Bar Prep. Then you prepare for the exam, and hope that the C&F application is approved. Some takers will use a bar prep course, others will not. I know people who have passed on the first try without a bar prep class (though they are rare). Bar prep is offered by companies like BarBri, Themis, at a cost to each student (scholarships may exist). I used BarBri, and thought it was overpriced, and offered very little "hand-holding" as I prepared. But I did pass my first time.

The exam will consist of every subject you ever took in law school, or almost.  There's a multiple choice portion, the Multistate Bar Exam (MBE), and an essay portion (except in Wisconsin). Michigan's exam, for example, tests the MBE (which used to be 6 subjects but is now increased to 8), and the essays (which can be on 23 possible subjects, but only tests 15 subjects). Depending on your state's bar, there may also be a portion of "performance" on the exam (MPT). Most states have a 2 day exam, others have 3 days.

Then you wait to see if you have passed, once you pass you can be sworn in, and get your license! Congrats you have made it!!

Michigan bar exam results - February 2015

The Michigan Board of Law Examiners has released the list of passers (by name) for its February 2015 Bar Exam.

List here.

February 2015 Michigan Bar Exam results - published by seat number

This list is the exam takers who have passed, as identified by the seat number assigned when they took the exam. Results by name will be forthcoming in the next few days.

List here.

Update! May 11, 2015: List by name has now been published: link here.  

Michigan Bar exam - Results before appeals

This is the breakdown the BLE (Board of Law Examiners) has for the folks who took the July 2014 Michigan Bar Exam, as broken down by school.

Why did so many people fail the bar exam this time?

This article (via taxprof blog) suggests that lower LSAT scores for entering classes is the reason why the bar exam is tougher to pass:

From the article:

Are America’s law graduates really getting dumber? The people who put together the bar exam seem to think so.

The National Conference of Bar Examiners, a nonprofit that prepares one of the state-specific multiple-choice sections in which scores dropped dramatically, sent a curt message to law school deans in October. “The results are correct,” wrote Erica Moeser, the group’s president, in an Oct. 23 memo. “The group that sat in July 2014 was less able than the group that sat in July 2013.”

This is sort of a egg-then-chicken analysis, for what it's worth. Or it could be that state-level Law Examiners are making their scoring system tougher?  As a side note, Michigan has yet to release it analysis of passers by school, etc., which they call the "results before appeals." I will post them once the BLE releases them, or go here for updates.

Also, the LSAT is supposed to indicate how a test taker will perform in their first year of law school, not whether that taker will the pass the bar. Law school is designed to weed out students, a job which it does very well (my entering class had more than double the number of people I graduated with).

(Sorry! I know that image has very little to do with the bar exam. I just love Mr. Darcy, and I needed a laugh. Thanks for reading!)

Michigan July Bar exam results - list of certified passers

The Board of Law Examiners has posted the list of certified passers for the July 2014 Michigan Bar Exam.

List here.

This is results before appeals.

Michigan July 2014 Bar Exam results posted

Results for the Michigan July 2014 Bar Exam have been posted - by seat number.
Takers will be notified later of scores, and names of passers will be posted
at this link.

Best of luck to all takers!

Michigan Bar Exam Results - February 2014

List of certified passers from the State Board of Law Examiners website.

Michigan Bar Exam Results - released for February 2014

Exam takers of the February 2014 Michigan Bar Exam were notified by mail on May 7, 2014. Results can also be seen here (Michigan Board of Law Examiners) and here (list of passers by seat number). More detailed results to be released on May 13, 2014.

Sending good vibes to all takers! If not a passer this time, then try try again!

Michigan Bar Exam results - statistics before appeals

The Michigan Board of Law Examiners has released the statistics of the July 2013 bar takers.

Click here.
 or click here.
Overall, the passage rate is slightly up (60 percent). The link has the breakdown by school.

What to do after you passed the Michigan Bar Exam

1. Celebrate! Tell friends & family loudly! (But don't drunk & drive!)

2. Follow the steps in this article to get your P number.

Bar Exam Results: How do you think they should be publicized?

How do you think Bar Exam results should be publicized?

The State Bar of Michigan blog had an article on this. Michigan's method is to notify takers by mail, then publicize online a few days later. So the takers get the chance to get the good news (or bad) first, tell family, and then the general public will be able to see online who passed. Of course, this is all different if you're a taker who wasn't cleared by Character & Fitness before taking the exam.

I wasn't caring how Michigan publicized, but I sure wished they had a definite date on which they would notify taker. It seemed like I knew the mailman better than ever, as well as what was the normal time for him to be headed down my street.