Despite the ailing legal job market, a record number of people took the July New York Bar exam, New York Lawyer reports. The overall pass rate of the 11,532 test takers, including first time, repeat, and U.S. and foreign-educated candidates, was 72 percent, a 2.7 decrease from last year. However, 88.2 percent of first-time test takers and graduates of American Bar Association-approved law schools passed the test, which is “believed to be the second-highest passing rate ever recorded for that group,” according to the New York State Board of Law Examiners. All first-time test takers had a pass rate of 80 percent.
