Florida Bar Passage Rate Falls 7 Percent

Bad news for those hoping to practice law in the Sunshine State -- the most recent Florida bar passage rate sunk seven points. That puts the state's bar passage rate at its lowest point in 15 years.

In all, according to the results announced by the Florida Bar yesterday, 54.7% of first-time test takers passed the exam in February. February exam results tend to be lower than the July administration of the test, but in 2022 the February first time passage rate was 61.6%.

Not an encouraging trend, but Board of Bar Examiners Executive Director Michele A. Gavagni told Law360 there wasn't anything substantively different about this exam.

"Would we like to see it higher? Of course, we'd like to see it higher, but I don't know what was different. The only thing I can tell you is if there was anything that had been changed about the bar examination, and the answer to that is no," Gavagni told Law360 Pulse on Tuesday.

She said the examination subjects and format of the test were not changed from recent years and neither was the passing score of 136.

There's at least one bright spot, however. Florida International University College of Law had the top pass rate -- 72.2% -- in the February administration of the bar exam.

Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on