When the California bar released the results for the summer exam last month, there was good news: The 56 percent pass rate was a five-year high.
That meant a lot of champagne bottles were popped open by the 4,570 new attorneys who passed.
But it also meant about 3,600 people who failed will have to try again. Increasingly bar prep schools, many based in Los Angeles, are selling them deluxe instructional packages costing as much as $12,000. And, in a break from the past, the schools are also marketing these top-dollar packages to first-time test-takers.
It’s a growth sector because the stakes have gotten higher. Law school tuitions have soared and graduates are burdened by as much as $80,000 in debt. Some have jobs at elite law firms, where starting salaries have risen to $160,000 in Los Angeles and their continued employment is contingent on them passing the bar exam.
What’s more, the California bar exam is generally considered one of the toughest in the nation. As a result, there are more than two dozen companies and bar preparation consultants in the L.A. area offering courses.
Santa Monica-based bar review company Barwinners introduced a “platinum package” three years ago. Since then, the program, which includes a spot in the standard bar prep class plus one-on-one sessions with company founder Shari Karney, has grown into one of the company’s most successful services, even though it costs double the $6,000 price of the standard eight-week course.
“It always fills with both first-time takers and repeaters but increasingly more first-time takers want to do everything they can to make sure they have to take the exam only once,” said Karney, who limits enrollment in the program to 20 people a year.
Karney, an attorney, has included the services of a hypnotherapist in the platinum package because “law school can be a traumatic experience and a lot of people carry that into the bar.”
Companies have become more aggressive in packaging these premium services.
“Your exclusive one-on-one tutor will focus on you and guide you through a practice-intensive, custom-tailored bar review course,” state the ads for National Bar Review, a Beverly Hills-based company.
One of its programs is specifically targeted to those taking the bar for the first time. Company owners did not return calls seeking comment.
More expensive
Most of the prep companies, especially with regards to premium courses, cite pass rates of over 80 percent. It’s difficult to verify the claims, however.
Richard Sander, a professor at UCLA Law School who has researched the bar review industry, was doubtful of the correlation between bar passage and review courses.
“Bar preparation courses have a marginal impact on bar passage at best,” he said. “How students do in law school is much more important than a bar prep course. Every study has shown that law school grades are the preeminent predictors of whether someone will pass the bar.”
Still, there’s a demand, especially for the deluxe packages and even the market leader has recently been touting their own high-priced courses.
Bar/Bri Bar Review, a unit of Thomson Corp., is the most popular bar prep company in California, and many other states. The company declined to comment for this article. It has been leery about press attention in the wake of a $49 million settlement reached in July in a class action that alleged it conspired with Kaplan Inc., another test prep company, to monopolize the bar prep market.
But according to a California-based executive with Bar/Bri, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the press, the company has been actively promoting its premium offerings, which add thousands of dollars to the basic course’s $3,550 price tag, in response to the marketing and packaging efforts of smaller competitors.
The top Bar/Bri package, called the “platinum course,” has a price tag of $10,000. It includes 21 tutoring sessions in addition to several of the company’s more traditional course offerings.
According to Bar/Bri’s Web site, it is designed for “a student who may lack the substantive foundation and skill set necessary to pass the bar.”
The executive said Bar/Bri’s platinum course, along with the more individual-focused packages offered by competitors, is “not appropriate for a first-time taker.”
He added: “The overwhelming majority of first-time takers will have no problem passing the bar with a basic course.” The pass rate for first-time takers of the July bar exam, the most recent test, was 69 percent.
Smaller industry players argue they are responding to market demand for services that are more tailored to individual strengths and weaknesses.
“I started the platinum program because more and more students, including first-time takers, were saying they wanted to meet with me privately,” said Karney of Barwinners. “We are seeing students that had college planners. They got tutorial help for the SAT and they have come to expect individual attention. They want their bar preparation to be more than sitting in front of a television all day.”
While Bar/Bri offers live lectures, most of the customers for its standard bar review watch video lectures.
Bar tutors who do not offer traditional courses have also seen an increase in the percentage of first-time takers using their services.
“I have gotten more first-time takers than I ever have in the past,” said Anita Stuppler, a Los Angeles-based prep consultant, who individually tutors 30 people each year, about 10 of whom have never taken the bar.
She said that as recently as a few years ago, all of her customers were repeat takers. “Some people are going with the insurance idea that more is better.” Stuppler, whose rates are as high as $300 an hour, views her tutoring services for first-time takers as a supplement to a more structured course.
Each year about 13,000 people take the California bar, which is held in July and February, but it is not clear exactly how many sign up for a structured course, let alone premium services such as an individual tutor.
The state bar doesn’t regulate prep courses.
“We don’t get involved with bar review courses at all,” said Gail Murphy, senior executive for admissions of the State Bar of California. “We assume that many of the people that take the bar take a bar review course but I know of applicants who have passed the bar without taking any course.”
The bar exam takes place over three days, with six hours of testing each day, and includes both multiple-choice and essay questions on topics such as property law, contracts and torts. A portion of the exam also reflects the actual practice of law by having test-takers compose memos or complete some other simulated legal tasks.
The ranks of those who didn’t pass on their first try are illustrious. Former California Govs. Jerry Brown and Pete Wilson had to take the exam more than once. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa never passed it, despite four attempts.
The market for premium prep courses is comparatively small and represents less than 10 percent of total bar-takers each year, according to one industry expert.
Karney said that while her services are expensive, not passing the bar can be much more costly.
“Sometimes when a person doesn’t pass they lose their job. They also have to go through the whole ordeal of studying and taking the bar exam again.”
