The bar exam is a rite of passage for law students across the country. At Arizona Law, students routinely post passage rates well above the state average. And thanks to our innovative February Bar Exam option and our standing as a Uniform Bar Exam state, you have more career opportunities after you pass.
Uniform Bar Exam States
Arizona is a Uniform Bar Exam (UBE) state, meaning that when you take the bar here, you earn a portable score that can be transferred to seek admission in more than 25 other UBE jurisdictions, including Colorado, District of Columbia, Idaho, New Mexico, New York, Utah, and Washington.
Get more information on the Uniform Bar Exam, including a current list of UBE jurisdictions.
Get more information on how to apply for the Arizona Bar Exam.
February Bar
Under Arizona Law leadership, the Arizona Supreme Court approved a project allowing law students meeting certain criteria to sit for the Arizona bar exam in February of the 3L year.
Eligibility is contingent on satisfying all of the requirements for graduation with a JD, except for no more than eight semester hours at the time of early administration. Students must be certified as academically prepared to take the exam, based on diagnostic testing after the second year, academic performance and participation in the Professional Skills & Knowledge Curriculum.
Students who elect this option will participate in an intensive “post-bar curriculum” after the bar exam and before graduation in May.
The February bar and the associated theory-to-practice residency are part of Arizona Law’s continuing effort to respond to fundamental changes in the practice of law and to respond creatively to national debates about legal education.
Advantages to Passing the February Bar
- Enter the workforce immediately after graduation
- Reduce the costs associated with post-graduation bar study
- Take the summer bar exam in another jurisdiction
Under the early bar plan, the first semester of your third year does not change. After finals in December, you prepare for the bar in January and February and take a specially created writing class to assist with essay practice. After the exam, you spend eight to 10 weeks in an intensive “theory-to-practice” residency, a capstone program that explores practice-oriented topics, including: serving the needs of clients, applied ethics and professionalism, cutting-edge issues in law and policy, the economics of modern legal practice, and issues at the intersection of doctrine and practice.
For those not wishing to take the bar exam in February, the traditional third-year curriculum remains unchanged, with the typical array of courses and experiential opportunities.
University of Arizona Law First-Time Bar Pass Rates
For the State of Arizona
| FEBRUARY | JULY | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 60% (State average: 58.2%) | 77.3% (State average: 73.5%) | |
| 2021 | 80.6% (State average: 72.8%) | 78.0% (State average: 78.3%) | |
| 2020 | 76.9% (State average: 65.5%) | 84.1% (State average: 86.5%) | |
| 2019 | 66.6% (State average: 60.8%) | 67.7% (State average: 78.3%) | |
| 2018 | 64.2% (State average: 58.5%) | 73.1% (State average: 74.5%) | |
| 2017 | 74% (State average: 53.6%) | 76.1% (State average: 69.4%) | |
| 2016 | 71.1% (State average: 61.1%) | 74% (State average: 64.3%) | |
| 2015 | 78.6% (State average: 65.9%) | 83.6% (State average: 65.7%) | |
| 2014 | 78.6% (State average: 71.4%) | 88.6% (State average: 74.6%) |
*October 2020 (Non-UBE) 46.2% (State Average 58.9%)