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STATE BAR ANNOUNCES RESULTS FOR FEBRUARY 2008 CALIFORNIA BAR EXAMINATION

MEDIA CONTACT: Diane Curtis 415-538-2283

San Francisco, May 16, 2008 — May 16, 2008, 6:00 p.m. – The State Bar
of California’s Committee of Bar Examiners reported today that 39.6
percent of the applicants passed the February 2008 General Bar
Examination (GBX). If the 1,797 people who passed the February 2008
exam satisfy other requirements for admission, they will become
members of the State Bar.

Preliminary statistical analyses show that of the 4,533 applicants who
took the GBX, 33.1 percent were first-time takers. The passing rate
for 1,499 first-time applicants was 53.0 percent overall.

The passing rate for the 3,034 applicants repeating the examination
was 33.0 percent overall.

Preliminary statistical analyses show the first-time and repeater
percent passing the GBX (rounded to whole numbers) by law school type
as follows:

School Type First-Timers Repeaters
California ABA 62% 43%
Out-of-State ABA 54% 40%
CA (but not ABA) Accredited 29% 15%
Correspondence 31% 12%
Unaccredited 0% 6%
All Others 59% 27%
All Applicants 53% 33%

The applicants not included in the above totals either were attorneys
admitted in other states who either chose or were required to take the
GBX, attorneys admitted in foreign jurisdictions, law students in the
Law Office/Judge’s Chambers Study Program or law students who
qualified to take the GBX through four years of law study.

More detailed statistics, including passing rates by individual law
schools, will be made available in approximately four to six weeks and
published on the State Bar’s Web site at www.calbar.ca.gov/admissions.

The three-day General Bar Examination is given twice a year, in
February and July. The exam consists of three sections: a
multiple-choice Multistate Bar Examination (MBE), six essay questions,
and two performance tests that are designed to assess an applicant’s
ability to apply general legal knowledge to practical tasks. The mean
scaled MBE score in California was 1405 compared with the national
average of 1377.

In addition, the Committee announced that 150 (39.7 percent) of the
378 lawyers who took the Attorneys’ Examination passed.

The Attorneys’ Examination, which consists of the essay and
performance test sections of the GBX, is open to lawyers who have been
admitted to the active practice of law in good standing for at least
four years in another United States jurisdiction.

Successful applicants who have satisfied other requirements for
admission – those who have not been reported by local district
attorneys for being in arrears with family or child support payments,
who have received a positive moral character determination and who
have passed the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination –
may either take the Attorney’s Oath individually or participate in
admissions ceremonies held throughout the state during June 2008.

NOTE TO EDITORS: The pass list for the February 2008 California Bar
Examination can be found on, and downloaded from, the State Bar’s home
page: www.calbar.ca.gov on Sunday, May 18, 2008 at 6 a.m., P.D.T. The
list will be organized both alphabetically and by zip code.

Founded in 1927 by the state legislature, The State Bar of California
is an administrative arm of the California Supreme Court, serving the
public and seeking to improve the justice system for more than 80
years. All lawyers practicing law in California must be members of the
State Bar. By May 2008, membership reached more than 216,000.