The State Bar Association of North Dakota Fall 2014 Gavel Magazine | Page 15

Long-term goals for the position
include designing a new secondyear legal writing course; aligning
academic support, student services,
and bar passage efforts with national
best practices as well as the School of
Law’s curricular mission and goals;
maintaining a strong relationship with
the state law examiners, state courts,
and SBAND in areas related to student
success; and assisting the law school
in assessing the impact of the school’s
graduation requirements, curriculum,
student services, and policies and
procedures on student success in law
school and on the bar exam.
The new bar preparation course will
have an initial focus on students who
have lower grades in law school. “The
most reliable predictor of whether a
graduate will pass or fail the bar exam
is that graduate’s law school GPA,”

explained Professor Dauphinais. “We
want to start with the students who,
based on the data, are most in need of
help in preparing for the bar exam.”
The bar preparation course will not
replicate a commercial bar review
course; in fact, students will be
encouraged to invest both time and
money in effectively completing
a commercial course during the
weeks leading up to the exam. As
most practicing attorneys will attest,
commercial courses can provide useful
refreshers on substantive topics tailored
to the subjects tested on the bar exam.
Nor will the bar preparation course
focus solely on test-taking skills that
won’t serve students beyond the bar
exam. Instead, it will be an intensive
legal writing and analysis course that
helps students apply practical skills to
the bar exam.

As an example, students might focus
on efficient and thorough reading
comprehension—a skill that not only
helps them identify the “call of the
question” on the essay portion of the bar
exam, but also will serve them well in
practice.
“The School of Law would be taking
these steps regardless of our most recent
pass rate. It’s the right thing to do for
our students, and it’s the right thing
to do for our profession,” said Dean
Rand. “I’m delighted that Professor
Dauphinais is bringing her talents and
skills to this new role. We’re excited
to make these meaningful changes in
our curriculum and in the support we
provide to our students.”

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