THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, November 17, 1994 TAG: 9411170438
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B01 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines
Almost two of every five Regent University law graduates who took the Virginia bar exam over the summer failed it.
Regent had a pass rate of 61.3 percent. The rate was the lowest among the state's six law schools and was 10 points lower than the average for all people - Virginians and out-of-staters - who took the test.
George Mason University had the next-lowest pass rate - 68.7 percent. The schools whose graduates scored highest overall were the University of Virginia and the College of William and Mary, with rates of 91.7 percent and 88.8 percent, respectively.
For every Virginia law school, the rate has fallen since last year. But Regent suffered the biggest decline, dropping 15.4 percentage points from its 1993 level.
Passing the exam is a prerequisite for practicing law in Virginia.
Regent's law dean, J. Nelson Happy, blamed the dip partly on the turmoil from the ouster of his predecessor, Herbert W. Titus, last year.
``You had a number of students very distracted by the Titus affair,'' Happy said. ``It may be that they didn't study hard for the bar because of that distraction. I saw a compassionate concern'' for Titus.
Critics said Titus was authoritarian and his views - that, for instance, affirmative action is against biblical principles - were too extreme.
But supporters, including several students, said Titus was the engine that had driven the law school since its creation in 1986. And, they said, the university was turning away from its Christian roots in an effort to win accreditation for the law school.
Happy noted that only about 30 Regent graduates take the Virginia exam each year, compared with more than 100 at each of the other state schools. ``When you have a small school, you're going to have a big swing in percentages,'' he said. ``In numbers of people (passing), it's only four different from last year.''
About 90 students graduate each year from Regent's law school, he said, but 80 percent come from outside Virginia.
Happy also said that Regent used to accept ``a small number of people who we felt were called to that profession'' despite low scores on the standardized law-school admissions test and college averages sometimes below a B. But the university last year tightened its standards, he said. The American Bar Association does not consider pass rates when deciding accreditation, Happy said. The law school won provisional accreditation in 1989 and expects the final decision early next year. James White, an Indiana professor who oversees the ABA's accreditation process, could not be reached Wednesday.
Schools should not be judged by pass rates, said Mark Grunewald, an associate dean of the law school at Washington and Lee University, which ranks in the top half of Virginia schools in terms of pass rates.
``It evaluates some aspects of what a person needs to succeed in the profession,'' he said, but is not the sure-fire measure of a lawyer's prowess.
``Would a school that better prepares its students for the bar exam be a better school?'' Grunewald asked. ``Not necessarily. There are other things that a law school should do.''
Happy said: ``Regent's only been in existence for eight years, so it hasn't generated the same tradition of excellence of students and faculty'' as schools like U.Va.
``In a few more years, Regent will be equal to the best law schools in Virginia. But it's a building process, and it takes time.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
J. Nelson Happy, dean, Regent University Law School
Staff color graphic
Pass Rates in virginia
Source: Individual law schools, State Board of Bar Examiners
For copy of chart, see microfilm
by CNB