Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe Now
Indiana recorded its highest bar exam pass rate in four years during the fiscal year that ended June 30, the Indiana Supreme Court announced Thursday as it released its annual report.
About 66% of test takers passed the bar during the 2024-2025 fiscal year, up from 61% in the 2023-2024 year.
Other findings from the annual report showed that more than 25,000 continuing legal education courses for attorneys were accredited for the year, up from 23,456 the previous year.
In addition, more than 1,100 hours of training were offered to judicial officers and other justice system stakeholders.
Training topics included artificial intelligence, technology, data, privacy and security; behavioral health, including the “Question, Persuade, Refer” suicide prevention practice; new guardian ad litem guidelines; problem-solving treatment courts; family law issues, family engagement and family-engaged case planning; and understanding neurodivergence to support clients and their families.
The high court’s justices disposed of 692 cases, heard 48 oral arguments, and handed down 50 majority opinions.
More than 8,000 attorneys contributed time and/or money to pro bono legal services, including 379,493 hours of legal work at no charge and $1.33 million in monetary contributions.
Also during the year, the court’s Office of Innovation established a strategic data modernization program to develop a comprehensive data warehouse and create policies for data sharing.
The office developed a two-sided approach to establish best practices for data governance and data management in addition to centralizing and standardizing data into a data warehouse.
The standing committee for data governance will establish policies and procedures for data management staff to follow. The committee met several times during the year to make recommendations on storing, documenting, sharing, cleaning, and backing up data.
Last August, the Commission on Indiana’s Legal Future published its interim report and solicited public comment on the 27 recommendations presented to address the ongoing attorney shortage in the state. The commission followed up on its work this July by delivering its final report to the high court.
And in May, Indiana Supreme Court Justice Christopher Goff graduated from Duke University with a Master of Laws in a program designed for judicial officers. His thesis focused on the alignment of the justice system with the behavioral health system.
Other notable statistics from this year include:
- 77% of all court opinions were unanimous
- Courts made 10,300 calls to Language Line for telephone interpreter services
- The high court handed down 90 total opinions (50 majority and 40 non-majority)
- $21.8 million in grants were distributed to counties across Indiana
- 19,602 children received CASA advocacy
- Users accessed the MyCase courts case search website 81 million times, up from 54 million times last year
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.