A California law school was given a tentative order to release their pass rates on the bar examination by U.S. District Judge James Selna. The Southern California Institute of Law sued to withhold the information arguing that the regulation violated its free speech rights by linking quality of education to bar exam performance. (Metropolitan News-Enterprise, August 20, 2013, by a MetNews Staff Writer)
“According to Selna’s tentative order, the burden on free speech is de minimis and the requirement is reasonably related to the state bar’s interest in protecting prospective students. The required information is factual and noncontroversial, Selna says in the tentative order, and students may draw their own conclusions about its relevance. He also points out that the law school can supplement the disclosure or argue that bar passage rates should be irrelevant to students’ choices.” (ABA Journal, August 19, 2013, by Debra Cassens Weiss)
The Southern California Institute of Law with campuses in Santa Barbara and Ventura had 93 percent of its graduates fail the bar between 2007 and 2012 with about 25 percent ultimately passing. (The Wall Street Journal, August 8, 2013, by Jacob Gershman)