Nashville School of Law Bar Passage Rate

Nashville School of Law is very proud of its Bar Passage Rates. Nashville Law’s statewide MBE passage rate is 96%. Most law schools are required to report their bar passage rates by county, rather than by state. For this reason, it is possible at some law schools to have a significantly low passage rate.

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Overview of Nashville School Of Law Bar Passage Rate

Of the 54 Nashville School of Law graduates who took the Tennessee bar exam for the first time in July 2019, 37 (68.5%) passed, vs. an 80.0% pass rate for the state as a whole.^[1]

2018 Bar Exam Results

Congratulations to the following Nashville School of Law alumni for their success on the July 2018 Tennessee bar exam. 

Julie Margaret Alley

Kayla Ann Barrier

Andrew James Bellm

Laura Schumacher Blum

Summer Star Brashears

Kristy Marie Burney

Kayla Stanfill Bynum

Anthony James Cain

Katherine Nicole Cherry

Mary Ruth Clark

James Nicholas Clemmons

Derrick Ryan Davis

Jamie Lynn Davis

Shauna Dixon

Ryan Keith Easterbrook

Kyle Richard Evans

Jonathon Daniel Fagan

Zachary Scott Gainous

Robert Elliott Graves

Annamaria Grissim

William Parker Hardy

Jamison Blake Harper

Ryan Adam Haynes

George Wesley Holder

Lindsey Waller Johnson

Shira Margaret Kingrey

Jason Scott Light

Dana Ranae Looper

Alexander Burkett Lovelace

Ross Mallegni Matuszak

William Michael McGee

Sharon McMullan Milling

Keller Miley Mizell

Linda Quijano Morrison

Willard Landon Mullins

Timothy Douglas Nanney

David Michael Oldham, II

Loyce Jeffery Payne

Matthew Beck Ramsey

Katie Allison Slager

Mary Elizabeth Stoner

James Kasey Talbott

Kevin Lee Terrett

Zachary Kyle Tidwell

The School’s first-time taker pass rate was 61.54% and the overall pass rate was 42.72%.

Nashville School of Law’s pass rates on the Tennessee bar exam have cratered in recent years, with the school posting the lowest rates in the state for every round since July 2015.

The rates hit a new low in February, when only 12 of the 87 NSL students who took the exam passed. Pass rates at several schools were lower than usual in February, but NSL’s 14 percent rate still fell well below the statewide rate of 36 percent.

But NSL administrators think new curriculum changes rolled out in the 2017-18 year could reverse the trend.

“We expect to see some of the results of those changes soon, likely in the bar administered this July,” Michele Wojciechowski, director of communications and engagement at NSL, said Thursday in an email. “In addition to the curriculum changes, we have paired our students with alumni mentors to assist individually with bar preparation, which our recent graduates are in the midst of right now.”

NSL caters to adults with full-time jobs who can earn law degrees after four years of night classes. It is not accredited by the American Bar Association. 

Documents provided by Wojciechowski do not mention the school’s low pass rates, but it seems clear that administrators are looking for ways to boost students’ performance on the exam aspiring lawyers must take before they can practice in Tennessee.

A fact sheet explaining “curriculum improvements” includes the new requirement of practice bar exams for first- and second-year students and a required “bar exam workshop” for fourth-year students.

“These improvements will better enable you to strengthen skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, and effective communicating,” Dean William C. Koch Jr. said in a 2017 message announcing the changes. “Proficiency in these areas will help you succeed not only in law school, but also on the bar exam and in your career.”