The State Bar Association of North Dakota Fall 2014 Gavel Magazine | Page 14

BAR PASSAGE
& ACADEMIC
SUCCESS AT
UND SCHOOL
OF LAW
Professor Kirsten Dauphinais is the
new Director of Bar Passage and
Academic Success at UND School
of Law. Her appointment to this
new role is part of a number of new
academic support initiatives at the
law school designed to help students
succeed in law school, on the bar exam,
and in practice.
“We began taking a serious look at the connection between
academic success and professional success in 2009,” said Dean
Kathryn Rand. “Students who do well in law school are more
likely to pass the bar exam. That’s true both at UND and
across the nation.”
First steps included the formation of a task force of faculty
and staff, now part of a standing Bar Passage and Academic
Success Committee, led by Professor Dauphinais and
Director of Career Services Trish Hodny. The committee
helped to inform both students and faculty about the
Uniform Bar Exam and best practices from other law
schools. With the help of the committee, the law school
successfully sought a change to the Supreme Court rules,
which now allow the law school to receive data on graduates’
performance on the North Dakota bar exam. Associate
Dean Brad Myers, with his background in statistical analysis,
helps the law school to use the bar passage data to make
improvements to student support.
“We look to a number of places to help us make the best
decisions for our students ‒ national best practices among
law schools, graduates’ feedback, input from the bench and
bar, and the bar passage data we receive from North Dakota
and the other states in which our graduates sit for the exam,”
explained Dean Rand.
Recent initiatives range from small steps, such as the law
school providing lunch for all test takers during the bar exam,
to big changes, such as the new bar preparation course that
will be added to the law school’s curriculum this spring.
In September 2013, the School of Law invited Professor
14

THE GAVEL

Professor Kirsten Dauphinais lectures law students.

Wanda Temm to UND as a scholar in residence. Professor Temm
is nationally recognized for founding the Bar Pass Program at the
University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law. During her visit to
the law school, Professor Temm presented sessions to both students and
faculty covering topics from creating a culture of excellence within the
school to preparing for and passing the bar exam. Students were provided
an opportunity to take practice questions which were then graded and
critiqued by Professor Temm. Her visit inspired the faculty to add the
new bar preparation course to the law school’s curriculum.
Professor Dauphinais worked closely with Professor Temm during
her visit, and became an advocate within the law school for enhancing
academic support. As the long-time Director of Lawyering Skills at the
law school, Professor Dauphinais knew firsthand the importance of legal
writing and analysis to success during and after law school, including
passing the bar exam. Through an internal reallocation of resources, the
law school was able to shift Professor Dauphinais’ workload to focus on
academic support. In August 2014, Professor Dauphinais was formally
named the new Director of Bar Passage and Academic Success.
In her new role, Professor Dauphinais is undertaking a number of new
initiatives:
• Designing and implementing a new, for-credit bar preparation course to
be offered in Spring 2015
• Conducting outreach to UND graduates who did not pass the July
2014 bar exam
• Developing bar preparation programming for the February 2015 exam
• Conducting the mandatory academic advising for under-performing
students as required by a new School of Law policy
• Revising the law school’s Academic Success program to incorporate
national best practices