California Western School of Law

History

California Western was originally chartered in 1924 by Leland Ghent Stanford as a private graduate institution called Balboa Law College, the first law school in San Diego. His brother, Dwight Stanford, served as one of the first deans. (Leland Ghent Stanford is not related to the founder of Stanford University, Leland Stanford, although he did attend Stanford, where he earned undergraduate and law degrees, and also M.A. and Ph.D degrees in Government Administration.) Balboa Law College expanded to include undergraduate and other graduate studies and changed its name to Balboa University. The law school at Balboa University was closed in 1946.

In 1952, Balboa University became affiliated with the Southern California Methodist Conference, changed its name to California Western University, and relocated to Point Loma. The law school was reopened in downtown. In 1960, the law school had six full-time faculty and 23 students. In that year, it relocated to Rohr Hall at Point Loma. It received approval from the American Bar Association in 1962.

In 1968, California Western University changed its name to United States International University (USIU). The law school retained the name California Western, while USIU moved to Scripps Ranch. Point Loma Nazarene University currently occupies the Point Loma site. In 2001, USIU merged with California School of Professional Psychology to become Alliant International University.

In 1973, the law school relocated from its Point Loma location to the current downtown campus at 350 Cedar Street. In 1975, California Western ended its affiliation with USIU and became an independent secular law school. In 1980, the new trimester system was announced, allowing two entering classes per academic year, reducing individual class size and allowing students the opportunity to graduate in two years rather than the standard three.

In 1993, the law school opened a new administrative and campus center at 225 Cedar Street, housing faculty and administration offices, including: student services, admissions, and financial aid.

In January 2000, California Western opened a new law library building at 290 Cedar Street, which was dedicated by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy. The current Dean, Niels B. Schaumann, joined the law school in 2012.

In December 2012, National Jurist magazine ranked California Western among the top 40 law schools in the nation for diversity. At number 35, California Western was the highest-ranking law school in San Diego for student and faculty diversity; 58 percent of entering students were women.

Academics

The law school teaches the J.D. curriculum plus dual-degree programs, specifically:

California Western also offers the Master of Laws (LL.M.) degree in Trial Advocacy with a Specialization in Federal Criminal Law as well as an M.C.L./LL.M. for foreign law students.

Programs and research centers

Research centers include:

In 2004, California Western established the STEPPS (Skills Training for Ethical and Preventive Practice and career Satisfaction) Program, one of the first skills training and professionalism courses in the nation that provides students with a simulated lawyering experience supervised by working attorneys.

Its Clinical Internship Program routinely places students in the U.S. Court of Appeals, U.S. District Court, and U.S. Attorney's Offices, as well as numerous law firms in various sizes.

Faculty

The law school has 25 tenured faculty members, three faculty members on the tenure track and six legal skills professors. From 2010 to 2014, 28 tenured and tenure-track faculty members published 18 books, 15 book chapters, 55 law review articles and 75 other scholarly publications. Tenure-track or tenured faculty who were members of the faculty in the last seven years wrote 70 additional publications.

In 2013, the law school joined with Bepress to create its Scholarly Commons, an institutional repository for faculty scholarship. (Bepress was created to provide open access to faculty scholarship. Its Digital Commons claims to be the leading hosted institutional repository software for educational institutions across the U.S.) The repository was created to make faculty scholarship more widely available, especially on the internet, and to preserve the faculty’s scholarship, publications, documents, and records in a systematic way.

The law school created six endowed professorships to support faculty members in their research and scholarship and to recognize their leadership in legal education and the legal profession, nationally and internationally. California Western has also been named to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for the past five years, demonstrating an institutional commitment to the values and responsibilities of the legal profession.

In addition to individual contributions, faculty members have created programs such as the Pro Bono Honors Society, Community Law Project, and Access to Law Initiative that organize and support students and recent graduates in providing legal services to underserved segments of the San Diego community.

Bar passage rates

The California Western bar passage rate for February 2016 was 70 percent, versus 48 percent for the California statewide average. California Western met or surpassed the statewide bar pass rate on 14 of the last 17 state bar examinations.

Costs

The total cost of attendance (indicating the cost of tuition, fees, and living expenses) at California Western School of Law for the 2016-17 academic year is $72,692.

Employment

According to California Western's official 2015 ABA-required disclosures, 37.1 percent of the graduating class of 2015 obtained full-time, long-term, J.D.-required employment nine months after graduation, excluding solo practitioners.

Student debt

According to U.S. News & World Report, the average indebtedness of 2013 graduates who incurred law school debt was $157,748 (not including undergraduate debt), and 90% of 2013 graduates took on debt.

Areas of concentration

California Western's areas of concentration provide education in the following areas:

Publications

California Western has two major publications, the California Western Law Review and the California Western International Law Journal.

Notable alumni