California Western Law School

The campus is located in downtown San Diego, which is only .6 miles from the Superior Court of California, County of San Diego (state courthouse), .7 miles from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California (federal courthouse), .8 miles from the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of California, and .6 miles from the Court of Appeal, for the Fourth Appellate District for the State of California (state appeals court). Because the school is within walking distance to all the courhouses in San Diego it makes for great opportunity to give their students real world experience, which they take full advantage of; such as the schools LLM program in Trial Advocacy wherein the school has a great relationship with the Federal Public Defenders office in the busiest federal courthouse in the nation.

San Diego is the 8th most populous city in the United States and has a good size legal community. San Diego has about 20 large law firms (250+ attorneys) and about 28 medium sized (50-249 attorneys) law firms. The law school has over 850 alumni practicing in San Diego; some who work in the country's largest law firms as well as corporate counsel for large and successful corporations. As mentioned above the downtown has a U.S. Bankruptcy Court, the busiest federal district courthouse, and a state court of appeals. The city has a vibrant downtown area that is constantly being improved and renovated and some of the most beautiful beaches, perfect for relieving stress from law school. Overall the school is in a great location.

	California Western
Public or Private	Private
Tuition	$36,240
Acceptance Rate	54.9%
State Bar Pass Rate	California, July 2008 85% (Avg. CA bar pass rate for all CA ABA law schools, 83%.) (Avg. Bar Pass rate for all first time takers, 75%)
Employment Rate after 9 mos. from Graduation	84.2%
Employment Rate at Graduation	Not Available
Average Salary for Graduates in the Private Sector	$65,000
Student Body Population	907
LSAT score bottom 25th percentile of incoming class	150
LSAT score top 25th percentile of incoming class	156
Median LSAT of incoming class	153
Bottom 25th percentile of incoming class undergraduate GPA (UGPA)	2.99
Top 25th percentile of incoming class UGPA	3.54
Median UGPA	3.27

California Western law school is a fourth tier law school located in downtown San Diego, California. The law school was founded in 1924, but was not ABA approved until 1962. The school one of a small number of non-profit independent (meaning the school is not connected to a larger university) law schools. The law school has eight legal centers and institutions: Center for Creative Problem Solving, Institute for Criminal Defense, Institute of Health Law Studies, California Innocence Project, Proyecto ACCESO (promoting legal education in latin america), Trial Skills Academy, National Center for Preventive Law, Telecommunications and Intellectual Property Law Center.

Professor Justin Brooks was selected by the Los Angeles Daily Journal for the prestigious honor of being named one of California's Top 100 Attorneys. This is Professor Brooks second consecutive selection and is one of only five San Diego attorneys to be so honored. Professor Brooks chairs the school's Trial Advocacy LLM program.

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The grading system uses a numerical grading scale with scores from 50-95; 50 representing a failing grade and a 95 representing an excellent grade. For the first trimester the grading curve requires that: 5-10% of students receive a 90-95 grade; 5-15% receive a 85-89 grade; 10-20% receive a 80-84 grade; 30-60% receive a 74-79 grade; 15-20% receive a
69-73 grade; and 10-15% receive a 50-68 grade.

In the second trimester (there is no required third trimester as it seems the third trimester is the optional summer school) the forced curve is the same as the first trimester but with a lower required percentage of students that will receive a 50-68; as only 5-10% of students will receive a 50-68 grade. After the second trimester any student with less than a cumulative grade point of average of 74 will be academically dismissed. Therefore, at least 10% of the students will be dismissed for poor grades.

As most students will receive a 79 or below the school has about a C+ to C curve. It will most likely appear to prospective employers that any graduate with a 79 to a 74 will have a C average. It may prove difficult to earn an associate position with a C average from California Western. This is not a typical grading system as most law schools use a 4.0 grading scale and it seems a bit difficult as most students receive a 79 or below (which will appear to be a C to most).

The law school understood the difficult many recent graduates have with the actual practice of law and in the Fall of 2008 began a program properly named the Transition to Practice Program. The program is an intense 4 day program held in October (two months before bar results are posted) specifically geared for recent graduates waiting for bar results who need some real world assistrance such as: client interactions, earning a job, setting up a law firm, attracting clients etc. The progam's teachers include judges and alumni from some of the largest U.S. firms. This seems like a great program that will be invaluable to recent graduates.