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GREENSBORO — The first class at Elon University’s School of Law passed the N.C. Bar Exam at a rate of 82.7 percent, besting this year’s overall pass rate of 73 percent.

Passing the test, administered by the Board of Law Examiners, is mandatory to practice law.

“We obviously are very pleased with the results for our charter class of graduates,” Elon Law Dean George R. Johnson Jr. said in a statement. “This achievement is the product of their study and hard work. Their performance bodes well for their professional futures and for the future of Elon University School of Law.”

The law school enrolled its first students in the fall of 2006 and won provisional approval by the American Bar Association in June 2008, the earliest possible accreditation date. The 107 students who graduated from that charter class in May are eligible to take the bar exam in any U.S. jurisdiction and can practice law with full rights when they pass.

Some students in the school’s charter class have chosen to take the exam in other states, but most opted to take the N.C. exam.

At N.C. Central’s School of Law, 76.9 percent of students passed the 2009 exam. At UNC-Chapel Hill’s law school, it was 87 percent; at Wake Forest, 90.7 percent. Campbell University and Duke University law students passed at a rate of 90.7 and 85.3 percent, respectively.

Elon students who passed the exam credited the school’s curriculum and emphasis on hands-on experience. The school is famously one of only a handful in the U.S. to have an operational court, the North Carolina Business Court, use its facilities.

“Elon offered us a great balance between the core study of the law and practical, hands-on experience,” said Michelle Cybulski, a charter class member who passed the exam. “We developed the knowledge and skills needed to apply legal concepts in practice. That’s part of what the bar exam measures I think, and it’s also a strength we have heading into the profession.”

Contact Joe Killian at 373-7023 or joe.killian@news-record.com

UPDATE: The law school pass rates in this story have been updated to reflect 2009 data.