December 5, 2006
Best on Bar
School of Law grad earns top score.
Written by Michael Castellon
Most students are thrilled to make it out of the bar exam alive. Texas Tech graduate Rick Haan made it out with best score in the state.
Haan, a graduate of the Texas Tech School of Law, didn’t quite expect to nearly ace the exam. He was more or less just trying to pass it – a mission and desire shared by the more than 2,800 others who took the July exam alongside him.
Instead, he not only passed one of the most dreaded exams known to humankind, but did so with such zeal and gusto he turned a few heads in the process.
“Rick’s ambition and dedication not only to the bar exam but also to his academic and professional accomplishments speak volumes about him,” says School of Law Dean Walter Huffman. “He’s a great reflection of the quality of students we prepare here at the School of Law.”
The two and a half day exam is considered by many students as the last hurdle one must accomplish after completing an already difficult three-year academic program that weaves them in and out of the delicate points of the constitution, water law and a myriad of arguments related to every aspect of the legal system one could imagine.
“The School of Law definitely played an integral part in preparing me for the bar exam,” says Haan, who now serves as an associate practicing real estate law at Thompson & Knight in Dallas. “Many other law schools allow students to enroll in more electives, but Tech’s requirements provided a great base knowledge with which to better approach preparing for the exam. The quality of students that our law school is accepting and graduating is improving each year, and that is due to the standards the school is expecting and striving to attain.”