1/26/2026

Delaware Law School has a proven history of preparing practice‑ready lawyers, but in recent years, its bar pass programs have evolved into one of the institution’s most distinctive engines of student success. What began as a set of supplemental workshops has grown into a comprehensive, community‑driven system that supports students from their first semester through the final hours before the bar exam.

Michael Lofts, Director of Bar Pass Programs

Director of Bar Pass Programs Michael Lofts describes the mission plainly: “Law school teaches students to think like lawyers, but the bar exam is its own challenge. Our job is to bridge that gap—translating three years of learning into the skills and confidence students need to pass what is often the hardest test they’ll ever take.”

That bridge now spans multiple touchpoints across a student’s academic journey. Delaware Law’s offerings include a long‑running 3L Bar Exam Success course, a rapidly expanding Writing Effectively for the Bar class, a new asynchronous 2L early‑start course, and the increasingly popular Bar Boot Camp—an intensive, community‑building series that brings faculty, administrators, and students together in the months leading up to the exam.

The school’s one‑on‑one bar mentoring program remains essential to student success. Every graduating student is automatically matched with a faculty or alumni mentor who guides them through the final stretch of preparation. The program is resource‑intensive, deeply personal, and, according to Lofts, transformational. 

“Students tell us all the time that they don’t know how they would have made it through without their mentor,” he said. “It’s the kind of individualized support most law schools simply can’t offer.”

Associate Director of Bar Pass Programs Brett Bendistis, a Delaware Law alumnus, brings a complementary perspective rooted in writing expertise and lived experience. 

Brett Bendistis, Associate Director of Bar Pass Programs

“The bar exam isn’t just a test—it’s a two‑month lifestyle,” he said. “Students need to know what that commitment looks like, and they need people who’ve been through it to show them how to approach it with confidence.”
Bendistis added the importance of acknowledging the emotional toll of bar prep. 

“It can feel lonely and isolating,” he said. “You’re working constantly while the rest of the world keeps moving.” 
That reality led Delaware Law to invest heavily in community‑building—creating spaces where students can prepare together rather than struggle alone.

One of the most beloved examples is JeopBARdy, an annual tradition that blends bar‑exam content with humor, camaraderie, and school spirit. Throughout the spring semester, students receive weekly multiple‑choice questions with prize drawings, all leading up to JeopBARdy Live—a high‑energy event featuring competing teams of seniors, audience participation, food, the “Celebrity Dog,” the world‑famous JeopBARdy band, and, of course, bar exam questions. It’s part pep rally, part study session, and entirely designed to remind students that they’re not alone.

For Gregory White, Jr., a recent graduate preparing to sit for the Pennsylvania bar exam, that sense of structure and community has made a meaningful difference. 

“The Bar Prep and Bar Writing courses gave me a preliminary dry run,” he said. “There’s no shock in how Themis presents material. I’m familiar with the format and the testing style, and that helps steady the nerves.”
Each class is designed to provide personalized guidance from faculty, such as Lofts, to help students with their individual preparation.  

“He told me to organize the paper so the grader can read it with the greatest ease,” White said. “That one statement changed how I write. Now I always ask: why did the tester give me these facts, and what do they want from me?”
 
For Laura Giardina ’25, the Bar Pass Programs offered both structure and strategy at exactly the right moments. 
“The single‑topic bar exam classes made a big difference in my studying,” she said. “Dean Clark’s one‑week intensive Contracts course gave me a framework to attack questions on the Delaware bar exam, and it grounded me when everything felt overwhelming.” 

Giardina credits Delaware Law’s supportive culture, especially the peer‑driven mock testing sessions organized through the Delaware Journal of Corporate Law, with helping her stay focused and connected. 

“It’s easy to become isolated during bar study, but working through multiple mock exams under testing conditions alongside my colleagues reminded me that I wasn’t doing this alone,” she said.

Now an associate at Maven Law, LLC, a newly launched, multi‑partner minority and women‑owned firm founded by Delaware Law alumni, Giardina says the school’s bar prep approach continues to shape her transition into practice. 
“My externships and the practical training Delaware Law emphasized made the jump from classroom to practice so much smoother,” she said.

Collectively, the programs reinforce a defining principle of Delaware Law’s approach to bar preparation: no one moves through this process alone. The school has built a coordinated, community‑driven system. Faculty, staff, alumni, and administrators work in concert to ensure every graduate has the structure, guidance, and support needed to meet the bar exam with confidence.

This cultural shift has been championed by Dean Todd Clark, who made bar success a top institutional priority. His mantra, “We Will… Pass the First Time,” has become a rallying point across campus, signaling a shared expectation and belief in students’ ability to meet the challenge. 

A look at the school’s July 2025 bar exam results, which reported among the strongest posted in nearly a decade, suggest the strategy is working. With additional initiatives already underway, Delaware Law is positioning its graduates to enter the profession with a stronger foundation and a more reliable route to licensure.

“As I always tell students, bar success isn’t competitive—it’s collective,” Lofts says. “When our students pass, the whole community wins.”

For more information about the Bar Pass Programs: https://delawarelaw.widener.edu/current-students/jd-academics/office-of-student-affairs/

If you are interested in serving as a bar pass mentor, please email Brett Bendistis at [email protected].