School of Law

Passing the Bar Exam

Bar Passage

The School of Law is committed to a 100% bar exam pass rate for all its graduates. This starts with helping you be a successful law student. At St. Thomas, you will be part of a supportive community with faculty and staff who are your biggest advocates and available to meet with you if you need assistance. Specifically, the Office of Academic Achievement and Bar Success provides one-on-one academic support and exam preparation for students. The office holds a third-year seminar for students who need help as they prepare for the bar exam.

Following graduation, the Office of Career and Professional Development (CPD) and the Director of Academic Achievement and Bar Success will match you with a personal J.D. Compass Strategist who will support your transition into the legal profession and assist you as you study for the bar for a period of one year. All alumni are invited to contact the CPD office at any time during their professional career for career support. The Academic Achievement and Bar Success office is available for assistance on a bar examination in the United States.

Third-Year Seminar

St. Thomas Law provides a seminar class that works with third-year students who have concerns about their academic performance, particularly as it relates to taking and passing a bar exam.

J.D. Compass Program

J.D. Compass is an innovative program that pairs each recent graduate with a strategist who, for one year after graduation, will individually support your unique employment journey and assist you as you study for the bar.

Your individual J.D. Compass Strategist will:

Recognize and evaluate diverse professional opportunities suited to your interests
Help you develop resumes, cover letters and writing samples
Identify job openings
Provide feedback on job strategy
Support you through networking, and professional outreach and development
Utilize social media for networking, job openings and personal brand development
Review your electronic identity
Perform mock interviews and interview strategies

J.D. Compass Strategists work closely with the Career and Professional Development team to help every School of Law graduate find employment as quickly as possible following graduation.

The Uniform Bar Examination

Minnesota is a Uniform Bar Examination (UBE) jurisdiction. The primary advantage of the UBE is an examinee’s score is “portable” and can be reported to other UBE jurisdictions so the examinee can be licensed to practice law in that jurisdiction.

States differ on passing scores. Specific state information can be found in the Comprehensive Guide to Bar Admission Requirements produced by the ABA and NCBE.

A receiving state may place limitations on the length of time an applicant may transfer a score to that jurisdiction. For example, Minnesota requires the score be transferred within three years of the original test date.

In addition to a bar examination, there are character, fitness, and other qualifications for admission to the bar in every U.S. jurisdiction. Applicants are encouraged to determine the requirements for any jurisdiction in which they intend to seek admission by contacting the jurisdiction. Addresses for all relevant agencies are available through the National Conference of Bar Examiners.

The Uniform Bar Examination consists of three components, all of which are drafted and distributed by the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE):

The Multistate Performance Test (MPT). This test is three hours on the morning of the first day of the exam. It is comprised of two 90-minute MPTs. An MPT is a closed-universe legal task consisting of an assignment, some factual information, and some legal authority (usually consisting of a statute or some rules and a couple of cases from a fictional jurisdiction). The two MPT questions count for 20% of the overall exam score.

The Multistate Essay Examination (MEE). This test is three hours in the afternoon of first day of the exam. It is comprised of six 30-minute essay questions. The MEE involves traditional bar examination essay questions. These six questions count for 30% of the overall exam score.

The Multistate Bar Examination (MBE). This test is two, three-hour blocks during the morning and afternoon of the second day of the exam. The MBE consists of 100 multiple choice question per three-hour segment (200 multiple choice questions total). The MBE counts for 50% of the overall score on the exam.