CEO Today USA Awards

www.ceotodaymagazine.com 110 CEO Today USAAwards 2018 TEXAS content developed and taught by some of the brightest legal minds in the United States, more law students have passed the bar exam using BARBRI than all other courses combined, and we have the longest history of pass rate success, going back 80-plus bar exams. It’s my belief that we’ve achieved this leadership position based on our commitment and willingness to challenge ourselves to be better every day and to be the clear industry leader. It’s also worth noting that even before students start to prepare for the bar, they have unique educational needs. We offer a wide variety of study aids relevant for the first, second and third year of law school. One of the BARBRI tenets is around preparing students for law school before they get there. Can you elaborate on that? We know that law school education is different from prior school experiences. Effectiveness and success for students will come from a practical approach and understanding how to thrive within the Socratic Method of learning. That was the thinking behind our early acquisition of the BARBRI Law Preview program, a boot camp for those preparing to go to law school, so they are better prepared for law school. It’s a great program that generates a huge advantage for our students. Law Preview is available via live classroom courses in locations throughout the United States, or online sessions. This approach works well for students, with independent surveys showing that nearly 40 percent of our students who use Law Preview finish in the top 10 percent of their 1L class. This gives them the best chance to land one of the big law firm jobs if that is in fact a goal. Talk about the “global” part of BARBRI. Back in 2013, we took what was considered a bold step, launching a purposeful strategy of providing bar review programs to help non- U.S. attorneys study for and pass a U.S. Bar. With more international commerce and global business relationships, a lawyer who is licensed in multiple jurisdictions is in a better position to represent clients with international interests. Specifically, non-U.S.- trained attorneys holding a U.S. license in states like New York and California hold a distinct career advantage. Since our first international foray, we’ve established partnerships with some of the leading universities in the U.K. and Europe to offer a unique combination of online Home Study and Classroom lectures designed specifically for non-U.S. law graduates and qualified lawyers. More recently, we’ve also begun to more fully leverage our technology platform and the expertise of our U.K. team to introduce an education program on U.K. law to help professionals prepare for the Qualified Lawyers Transfer Scheme exam (QLTS). The training prepares attorneys around the world, providing an understanding of U.K. law, so they can sit for the QLTS and qualify as a solicitor in England and Wales. It’s a formula that can be replicated in other jurisdictions, and again in the U.K. as a new qualifying exam, the SQE (Solicitor Qualification Exam), is introduced in the next few years. Can you talk about BARBRI’s partnerships with law schools? Clearly BARBRI’s heritage has been built on educating individual students, but to truly enhance the legal education landscape, we knew that partnerships with law schools were of increasing importance, and consequently that has become an important part of our strategy. Law schools face three key challenges: • Helping more students pass the bar • Expanding JD and non-JD course offerings to grow tuition revenue • Leveraging data to identify gaps in education and opportunities to help faculty better understand and educate today’s law students. Q Q Q