The law school once boasted bar-passage rates of more than 90 percent but has seen its percentages drop to about 25 percent among first-time test takers. A for-profit law school in downtown Phoenix that is struggling with falling bar-passage rates is moving to affiliate with one of the country’s historically black colleges and universities. Arizona Summit Law School has signed an affiliation agreement with the private, nonprofit Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, Florida. The law school, founded in 2004, once boasted bar passage rates of 97 percent but has seen its percentages drop to 25 percent among first-time School officials said they have made several changes aimed at improving bar passage, and that the affiliation with Bethune-Cookman will enable them to benefit from the university's academic support services and marketing. A university official also will serve on Arizona Summit's board of trustees. The deal would allow both schools to pursue their objectives of diversifying the legal profession, officials said. "This enables us to take it to a much higher level sooner, swifter and with greater impact," Arizona Summit President Donald Lively said. Bethune-Cookman President Edison Jackson said in a statement, “Together, we aim to be a leading force in disrupting a legacy of exclusion that has persisted into the 21st century.” The affiliation needs the approval of several accrediting bodies, including the American Bar Association and the Arizona Board of Private Postsecondary Education. The agreement doesn't make Arizona Summit a nonprofit school. However, Lively said the school is working toward nonprofit status. Summit’s owner, InfiLaw Corp., also owns law schools in North Carolina and Florida, and the parent company has been controversial in legal circles. A sister school, the Charlotte School of Law, was put on probation by the American Bar Association last year for two years because of concerns over its bar-passage rates, and the U.S. Department of Education in December yanked the C