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Los Angeles, California

Southwestern Law School

Accreditation
ABA approved since 1970
Institution type
Private
J.D. formats
Full-time and Part-time and Distance education J.D.
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Median LSAT
157
Fall 2025 entering class
Median GPA
3.51
Fall 2025 entering class
Resident tuition
$63,160
Full-time, 2025-2026
First-year class
459
Enrolled fall 2025
Bar-required jobs
78.6%
Class of 2025, full-time long-term
First-time bar passage
72.1%
2025 graduates

Latest verified values from ABA required disclosures. Each dataset describes a different class, as labelled. The job share is PreLaw Advisor’s arithmetic (full-time, long-term bar-passage-required positions ÷ total graduates), not an ABA-published figure.

First-time bar passage — 2019 graduates

Source
Organization
American Bar Association, Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar
Document
ABA Bar Passage compilation — first-time takers (2020 report)
Covers
Report year 2020
Retrieved
Sep 23, 2026
Status
Verified · Sep 23, 2026
Open official source (opens in a new tab)
School pass rate
65.4%
Weighted jurisdiction rate
69.4%
Difference
-3.98 pts
First-time takers
191
125 passed

The weighted jurisdiction rate is the average first-time pass rate in the jurisdictions where this school’s graduates tested, weighted by the number of takers. It gives context for the school’s own rate.

First-time results by jurisdiction
JurisdictionTakersPassersSchool %Jurisdiction %Difference
California18712265.2%69.1%-3.87
1 Remaining Jurisdictions4375%84.1%-9.12

Ultimate bar passage — 2017 graduates

Source
Organization
American Bar Association, Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar
Document
ABA Bar Passage compilation — two-year ultimate (2020 report)
Covers
Report year 2020
Retrieved
Sep 23, 2026
Status
Verified · Sep 23, 2026
Open official source (opens in a new tab)
Ultimate pass rate
80.4%
Within two years of graduation
Graduates
292
Takers
286
Passers
230

Ultimate passage counts graduates who passed any bar exam within two years of graduating. It is a different measure from first-time passage and covers an earlier graduating class.

First-time passage history

First-time pass rate by graduating class
Graduating classSchoolJurisdictions
202572.1%82.7%
202464.9%77.8%
202364%72.3%
202260.1%72.2%
202176.1%77%
202082.6%77.8%
201965.4%69.4%
201859.6%60.6%
201753.3%66.3%