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So in researching if Drake was a viable option to practice in Des Moines, I came across some interesting numbers. It had a very good bar passage rate in the mid 2000s. In 2013, 94% of graduates passed. Then, it fell off a cliff to 84% in 2014 and has never recovered. It would appear the 75th percentile LSAT scores used to be a couple of points higher back then too.

Older things I've found from back then insist Drake has a great reputation within the city of Des Moines (obviously not much outside of that). With these developments, is that still the case?

What caused this quick drop in quality from the school?

Best guess: reality happened.

All schools took a hit to their LSAT/GPA numbers after the recession. People started to hear challenges to the narrative that a JD was a guaranteed meal ticket, so applications dropped. The ABA accredited too many schools, so the ones that weren't at the top started having to find "creative" ways to get more students enrolled. The primary method of doing that was to lower their standards. The bar passage drop is explained by the admissions drop. LSAT has a meh correlation with law school performance. It actually has a fairly well demonstrated correlation with bar passage.

It's not that the school actually got worse. The reality of an oversaturated legal market just took time to set in.