bar pass rate is the percentage of graduates who pass the bar exam within two years. For the class of 2023, the current ultimate bar pass rate( with one more exam possible) is 86 %, a number we hope will rise with the next bar examination. Bar Exam Results
DATE
UND PASS RATE
FIRST TIME PASS RATE
REPEATER PASS RATE
February 2023 61 %( 17 / 28) 75 %( 9 / 12) 50 %( 8 / 16) July 2023 67 %( 18 / 27) 77 %( 17 / 22) 20 %( 1 / 5) February 2024 63 %( 12 / 19) 64 %( 7 / 11) 63 %( 5 / 8) July 2024 67 %( 37 / 55) 58 %( 32 / 45) 50 %( 5 / 10) February 2025 39 %( 7 / 18) 50 %( 1 / 2) 38 %( 6 / 16) Total UND 62 %( 91 / 147) 72 %( 66 / 92) 45 %( 25 / 55)
Total non-UND 55 %( 29 / 53) 59 %( 26 / 44) 38 %( 5 / 13)
Difference + 7 % + 13 % + 7 %
Ultimate Bar Pass Rate( Two-Year Passage Rate) 2023 * 2022 2021
86 % 81.01 % 91.23 % * Not final until after the July 2025 exam results.
Career Services
Thanks to the work of Career Services Director Mary Feller, UND Law’ s career services has experienced a dramatic change. More than 50 employers visited UND Law this year, each with their own day to recruit and meet with interested students. We expect more than 70 employers to visit next year, and it is creating a great problem- how to find adequate rooms and times to accommodate employer meetings and all our student group activities. The salary information below only includes graduates with full-time positions as attorneys or judicial clerks. UND Law Graduate Statistics CLASS 2024 * 2023 2022
# of Students in Graduating Class 81 61 80 # of survey respondents 80 53 75 # of unknowns( non-responders) 1 8 5 North Dakota Avg. Salary $ 80,068 $ 75,080 $ 70,914 Grand Forks Avg. Salary $ 73,588 $ 74,666 $ 63,916 Fargo Avg. Salary $ 80,683 $ 71,333 $ 69,083 Bismarck Avg. Salary $ 80,683 $ 76,623 $ 69,714 Minnesota Avg. Salary $ 74,619 $ 78,026 $ 72,312 % Living / Working in ND 57 % 50 % 53 % % employed 10 months post grad 90 % 83 % 88 %
Fundraising and Budget
Thanks to the efforts of Development Officer Greg Breitbach( building on the success of Tom Dosch), our fundraising efforts have been very successful. In 2024, we received the highest one-time gift in the law school’ s history, and we have already set an all-time fundraising record for FY2025. Below are our totals by amount and number of gifts. Regarding our budget, we began using a threeyear analysis period to more easily identify trends and emerging challenges. Budget Director Julie Simon has been instrumental to our success as we ensure we remain financial proactive and responsible. Fundraising
YEAR TOTAL RAISED
TOTAL GIFTS
2022-2023 $ 738,923 289 2023-2024 $ 1,348,475 152 2024-2025 $ 2,965,485 126 Total $ 5,052,883 567
Clinical Opportunities and Partnerships
Over the past three years, we dramatically increased our clinical opportunities for students. In addition to our Family Law Clinic, we now also have a Business & Non-Profit Law Clinic. Led by Professor Paul Traynor and operating in partnership with the UND Center for Innovation, the clinic offers legal assistance for small businesses, entrepreneurs, and non-profits. Through the Great North Innocence Project, UND Law students can also work on cases of people wrongfully convicted of crimes in North Dakota. Our Housing Discrimination and Social Justice Lawyering courses also involve practical opportunities to work with community organizations. We are working on two potential opportunities to expand experiential offerings. First, we are working with Judicial Referee Daniel Gast to offer students the opportunity to make appearances in juvenile law cases. Second, we partnered with the North Dakota Department of Commerce, the governor’ s office, and the legislature to explore the creation of an Immigration Clinic to assist businesses in hiring workers and to train lawyers to provide much needed immigration law services.
We are also actively pursuing opportunities to collaborate. We are meeting with the University of Manitoba School of Law to explore ways in which we might collaborate. On campus, we are working with the Criminal Justice Department on a potential criminal law concentration, with the School of Engineering & Mines and the John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences to collaborate on our Energy, Environment, and Natural Resources certificate, and with the Department of Social Work to collaborate on clinical opportunities for both social work and law students. I expect these efforts to bear fruit and new opportunities to arise as we continue to collaborate for everyone’ s mutual benefit.
Events, Shared Governance, and Recognition
Over the past three years, we have held some terrific events at the law school. Honoring Justice VandeWalle in 2023 with the reopening of the renovated VandeWalle Courtroom was a special event. Honoring Judge Ralph Erickson as our Webb Distinguished Jurist-in-Residence in 2024 was another terrific experience.
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