The Washington State Bar Association announced that 304 candidates passed the bar exam administered in February 2012.

Kirkland residents who passed the exam include Carlos, Flannery Anderson; Edwards, Zachary David; Laine, Melinda; Laliberte, Eric Ryan; Long, Kendra J.; and Rieken, Jessica.

Of the 470 candidates who took the exam, 64.7 percent passed.

By comparison, 324 candidates passed the bar exam administered in February 2011. Of the 479 candidates who took that exam, 67.6 percent passed. In 2011 overall, 909 candidates passed the bar exam, or 66.3 percent of the 1,371 candidates who took the exam.

Administered in two parts over a three-day period, the bar exam includes a substantive law exam and an exam on the Rules of Professional Conduct (ethics). Candidates must successfully pass both parts in order to qualify for admission to the WSBA.

If a candidate passes one part of the exam and fails the other, that candidate may sit for the next exam without having to retake the portion previously passed.