Whittier Law School has been the law school of Whittier College since 1975. Located on a satellite campus in Costa Mesa, California, Whittier Law School received accreditation from the American Bar Association (ABA) in 1978, and has been a member of the American Association of Law Schools since 1987. The law school has been consistently ranked as one of the most diverse law schools in the United States. ^[2] Year 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the 1966 Gregorian calendar. ... For the film of this title, see Private School (film). ... Costa Mesa is a city located in Orange County, California. ... This article is about the U.S. state. ... // A law school is an institution where future lawyers obtain legal degrees. ... Southwest Quadrant Whittier College in 1912 Hoover Hall and Library Whittier College is a private liberal arts college in Whittier, California. ... Year 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Official website: http://ci. ... American Bar Associations Washington, DC office The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. ... Year 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1978 Gregorian calendar). ... This article is about the year 1987. ...

The current dean of Whittier Law School is Neil H. Cogan, formerly the dean of Quinnipiac College. Quinnipiac University is a private four-year university in Hamden, Connecticut, just north of New Haven. ...

Academics

Whittier Law School offers both full and part-time day and evening J.D. programs. The full-time program takes three years to complete, while the part-time program takes four years to complete. Students in both programs must complete 87 units for graduation. The law school also offers an LL.M. program.

Like most American law schools, all first-year students must take courses in civil procedure, contracts, criminal law, real property, and torts. All first-year students must also take a year-long legal writing course. Second and third-year students must also take courses in corporations, criminal procedure, and evidence. Although optional at many American law schools, Whittier Law School requires that all students take courses in California community property, corporations, remedies, the Uniform Commercial Code, and wills and trusts. Moreover, all students must take two graded, semester-long courses designed to prepare them for the essay and performance test portions of the California Bar Examination.

Unlike many other American law schools, Whittier Law School does not utilize a 4.0 grading system. Rather, the law school utilizes a 100-point grading system. For example, rather than earning a 3.5 out of 4.0 cumulative grade point average, a student would earn 85.7 out of 100 points. All students must maintain a minimum cumulative grade point average of 77 to graduate.

Whittier Law School utilizes a rather strict grading scale and distribution curve. To earn a grade of "A," a student must earn between 95 and 100 points. However, the distribution curve mandates that no more than 10% of students in any given course receive a grade of "A," and even permits a professor to award no "As" whatsoever in any first-year or upper-level course. Moreover, the curve mandates that between 20% and 35% of first-year students receive grades of "D" or "F."^[3] The grading scale and distribution curve are partly responsible for the law school's rather high first-year attrition rate, which stood at 51.5% in 2006.^[4]

Programs

Whittier Law School has centers in Children’s Rights, Intellectual Property Law, and International and Comparative Law. These centers host fellows, offer externships, and sponsor symposia and workshops. The law school also offers concentrations in Criminal Law and Business Law for students who wish to take additional, specialized courses in those areas.

As with many American law schools, Whittier Law School offers students the opportunity to study abroad. The law school currently offers summer programs in China, France, Israel, Spain, and the Netherlands.

Post-Graduate Employment

Whittier Law School's Career Services Center assists students in obtaining post-graduate employment. According to a National Association for Law Placement survey, 91.5% of students who graduated in May 2006 managed to secure employment by February 2007. Of those students, about 49% were employed by private law firms, about 30% were employed in "business and industry," about 9% were employed by government agencies, about 8% were employed by public interest agencies, and less than 1% were employed as judicial clerks. Median salaries ranged from $59,000 per year for public sector jobs to $80,000 per year for "business and industry" jobs.^[5]

Law firms that have hired graduates of Whittier Law School include Greenberg Traurig, Holland & Hart, Holland & Knight, Latham & Watkins, and Quinn, Emanuel, Urquhart, Oliver & Hedges.^[6]

Accreditation

On August 9, 2005 the ABA, concerned about the Whittier Law School's low bar passage rates, placed the law school's accreditation on a probationary status for 2 years. On August 10, 2007, the American Bar Association extended the probation until February 15, 2009. Under the ABA's rules, the Law School remains fully accredited, and all students who enter and/or graduate during this period are considered to have graduated from an ABA accredited law school.^[7]

During probation, the law school's accreditation remains in place, but the ABA will be overseeing the school's efforts to come into compliance with unpublished standards regarding bar passage. According to The National Jurist, Vol. 15, No.5, in imposing Whittier's probation, the ABA cited substantial and persistent noncompliance with two sections of its standards. The ABA said the first-time passage rate for Whittier graduates on the California bar has been below 50 percent on each exam since July 2000. The ABA also said there are limited academic support programs for students with low entering credentials and there is no rigorous upper-class writing requirement. Whittier has countered that there are other California law schools who have been below 50 percent bar pass rates since July 2000 as well as other ABA law schools in other states. Whittier states that its mission is to serve the underrepresented community by enabling access to a legal education and its goal to provide ethical quality lawyers across the nation.

According to Sharon Herzberger, President of Whittier College, "Whittier Law School feels that this decision is unwarranted and unnecessary and has so responded to the ABA. First-time bar passage rates at WLS have gone up 10.5 points between July 2003 and 2004, and 9 points between February 2004 and 2005." In addition, Whittier states that the ABA lacked diligence in its initial report when citing that the Law School lacked academic support and legal writing requirements since the Law School has an extensive voluntary academic support program and above average number of required legal writing graduation requirement. The Law School further states that the school is aggressively working with the ABA to reach full compliance and remove its probationary status as soon as possible.

Fact Sheet

Enrollment: 273
Average LSAT: 153
Average Undergraduate GPA: 3.12

Student Faculty Ratio: 17:1
Bar Passage Rate, July 2007: 54%
Average Starting Salary : $65,000

Tuition: $29,190 [1]

Bar Passage Statistics

Sitting, Whittier, All-CA-Bar-Schools

2003-07 31 70 tied with Golden Gate Law School

2004-02 24 49 performed better than 2 CA ABA schools

2004-07 41 69 performed better than 2 CA ABA schools

2005-02 33 58 performed better than 2 CA ABA schools

2005-07 40 70 performed better than 2 CA ABA schools

2006-02 38 60 performed better than 3 CA ABA schools

2006-07 59 74

2007-02 35 61

2007-07 54 76

Source: California State Bar

External links

• Whittier Law School

References