Pandemic casts long shadow over February bar exam | List of bar passers

Three years ago, first-year law students who were just beginning to learn something about the law were plunged into a world of Zoom classes and isolation at home amid a deadly pandemic.

With that in mind, it’s no surprise that fewer than half of those who took the February bar exam in Missouri got a passing score. For Missouri legal educators, that leaves hope that scores will soon be on their way back up.

“I’m not expecting this trend to continue,” said Wanda Temm, clinical professor of law and director of bar services for the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law. “I think it’s a blip on the screen thanks to COVID.”

According to statistics released on April 12 by the Missouri Board of Law Examiners, 47.1 percent of test-takers passed the exam administered in February — a drop of 11 points from last February’s pass rate. The previous record low pass rate was in February 2020, with 49.8 percent.

According to a Missouri Lawyers Media analysis of February test statistics from 2013 to the present, pass-rate percentages have been in the mid-to-low 60s since 2017 and were in the mid-to-upper 70s prior to that.

The February exam is typically the smaller of the two Missouri bar exams held each year. This year, 223 students took the test, of whom 105 passed. Of those, 79 have completed all requirements for admission to the bar, according to the board. The enrollment ceremony for new lawyers will take place on April 28 at the Missouri Supreme Court building in Jefferson City.

Those taking the test for the first time fared better than those retaking it after a past failure. This year, the number of first-time takers — and the rate at which they passed — was unusually small, which partly explains the drop in the overall pass rate.

In prior years, there have been well over 100 first-time test-takers in February; this year there were just 97. Of those, 57 examinees, or 58.8 percent, passed the test. It’s the lowest first-time pass rate since at least 2013; 10 years ago, about 80 percent passed on their first try.

In addition, for the third year in a row there were no applicants who transferred an exam score from another jurisdiction, who once made up as much as a third of the February class and nearly all of whom passed. As a result, more than half of those who tested in February were taking the exam for the second time or more — a far larger proportion than in prior years. Just 42.3 percent of those passed it on their second try; for those taking it a third time or more, it was 31.3 percent.

Antonia Miceli, director of academic support and bar examination preparation at Saint Louis University School of Law, said those taking the test in February are often part-time law students who are studying while raising a family and working a job, leaving them less time to study.

For this particular class, those drawbacks were coupled with a shift to online classes during their first year of law school, when many of the basic subjects are taught. Miceli agreed that this year’s low scores are likely fallout from the pandemic.

“It’s very easy to disengage a bit when you’re on Zoom compared to if you’re sitting in a classroom where the professor can see you and you’re worried about getting called on,” she said.

Missouri is not the only state whose examinees struggled. The National Conference of Bar Examiners previewed February’s grim results on March 31, when it announced that the national mean scaled Multistate Bar Examination score was 131.1, a record low.

According to the NCBE, pass rates are below 50 percent in eight of the 14 states that have released their February results so far; in three other states, they were right at or slightly above 50 percent. The lowest pass rate was in Florida with 39 percent; the highest was Montana with 59 percent.

Given those trends, the effect of the pandemic on legal education could be even more pronounced at the main bar exam sitting in July, the results of which will come out in September.

“July is going be interesting,” Miceli said.

List of bar passers

A

Crystal Lynn Adams, Pearland TX

Freynaldo Aleixandre Adrian Ochoa, Tallahassee FL

Hiba Al-Ramahi, St. Louis MO

Ethan Julian Auten, Springfield MO

B

Owen Gregory Behrens, Tampa FL

Allyson Denise Benko, Warner Robins GA

Emma Bergin-Hosio, Overland Park KS

Alissa Lynn Biermaier, Kansas City MO

Joseph Paul Bjork, Holts Summit MO

Roela Boci, Wichita KS

Otto Bosch, Blue Springs MO

Henry T. Brown, Richmond Heights MO

Franklin Eugene Buchanan III, Duquesne MO

C

Timothy Blake Cauble-Johnson, Kansas City MO

Aiyana Lei’Alani Ceballos, St. Louis MO

Jack Douglas Compton, St. Louis MO

Tanner James Creech, St. Peters MO

Allyson Taylor Crowder, Overland Park KS

Baylee Curley, Milford NH

D

Emily Sue DeFoor, Overland Park KS

Nico Sikovne Sedivy DeLong, Alton IL

Kathryne Layne Dingler, Kansas City MO

Amy Elizabeth Fennell, St. Charles MO

Tiffany L Fish, Ewing MO

G

Gabriella Garbero, Florissant MO

Lauren Abigail Geisz, Maplewood MO

Sarah George, Kirksville MO

Jacob Reagan Goff, Farmington MO

Martha Grate, Kansas City MO

Kyle Guenther Grothoff, Hobart IN

Benjamin Alexander Gruber, Kansas City MO

H

Kaylee Jordan Haight, Kansas City MO

Jacob Hanson, Shawnee KS

Leah Hodges, Shawnee KS

Eric L. Honea, Kansas City MO

Orlando Hugo Huaman, Arlington TX

J

Cameron Ryan Jones, Mulkeytown IL

K

Cynthia Marie Keating, Kansas City MO

Kevin Timothy Keller, St. Charles MO

Muhammad Kenyatta, Sacramento CA

Max William Kinney, Clayton MO

Aren Nicole Kirkland, St. Louis MO

Nicholas Hamilton Kyle, St. Louis MO

L

Timothy A. Layton, St. Louis MO

John Caleb Ledgerwood, Springfield MO

M

Sarah Alexandria Mahoney, Lenexa KS

Anthony Augusto Marshall, Riverside MO

Brendan Robert McDonough, O’Fallon MO

Tiara Antaneea McKeithan, Saint Charles MO

Sara E Meier, Republic MO

Hallie Jane Meyer, St Louis MO

Rachel Maria Mosqueda, St. Louis MO

Yasmin Cheryl Musaddiq, Tulsa OK

N

Reena, Naik, Mechanicsville VA

Jamil M Naji, St.Charles MO

O

Erin Elizabeth O’Leary, St. Louis MO

James G Onder Jr. St. Louis MO

Sarah, Ong, Overland Park KS

Matthew Scott Overcast, Ava MO

P

Andrew Michael Podjenski, Blue Springs MO

James Curtis Poore, Phoenix AZ

Michael Scott Proctor II Columbia MO

R

Erica Nichole Radford, Collinsville IL

James Robert Ramger, Poplar Bluff MO

Julie Gail Roehrs, Columbia MO

Marisol, Rogel Pineda, Santa Ana CA

Abigail Nicole Rourke, Kirksville MO

S

Kierstan McKenzie Snider, Dora MO

David, Steele, St. Louis MO

Matthew Ross Strauser, St. Louis MO

T

Ambreen Taiyab, Homer Glen IL

Daniel Robert Thorson, Manchester MO

V

Caitlyn Ann Vanover, Desoto MO

Amy Volk, St. Louis MO

W

Shana Waldman, Chesterfield MO

Samantha Ann Weavers, Independence MO

Lucy Diane Weilbacher, St. Louis MO

Stephanie Leigh Weiss, Robertsville MO

Mark Winchester, St. Charles MO