# California Western School of Law

California Western School of Law is a private law school in San Diego, California. It is one of two successor organizations to California Western University, the other being Alliant International University. The school was founded in 1924, approved by the American Bar Association (ABA) in 1962, and became a member of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) in 1967.

## History

California Western is San Diego's oldest law school and was originally chartered in 1924 by Leland Ghent Stanford as a private graduate institution called Balboa Law College. Balboa Law College expanded to include undergraduate and other graduate studies and changed its name to Balboa University.
In 1952, Balboa University became affiliated with the Southern California Methodist Conference and changed its name to California Western University, and the law school was relocated to downtown San Diego. In 1960 California Western received approval from the American Bar Association. In 1973, the law school relocated within downtown San Diego to its current downtown campus at 350 Cedar Street. In 1975, the school ended its affiliation with Cal Western's successor school, US International University, 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 January 2000, California Western opened a new law library building at 290 Cedar Street, dedicated by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy.
Sean M. Scott was named the school's new president and dean in August 2020.
In 2022, California Western joined several other law schools in withdrawing from participation in the rankings of U.S. law school compiled by U.S. News & World Report.

## Academics

The law school teaches the J.D. curriculum plus a dual-degree option, a J.D./Master of Business Administration with San Diego State University (SDSU). 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.
For 2022, California Western accepted 49.3% of applicants, and with Median LSAT score for all program entrants of 153 and a median undergraduate GPA for all program entrants of 3.36.
California Western is ranked number 68th for legal writing by USNWR.
In 2008, California Western ranked first among the three ABA-approved law schools in the San Diego metropolitan area for both the February and July California bar examinations. Seventy-seven percent of California Western graduates taking the February 2008 California Bar Examination for the first time passed, placing the law school second among the 20 ABA-approved law schools in California. Eighty-five percent of California Western graduates taking the bar exam for the first time in July 2008 passed, placing the law school eighth in the state.

### Programs and research centers

Research centers include:
* The California Innocence Project, part of the national network of innocence projects, is a nonprofit clinical program based at California Western in which law professors and students work to free wrongly convicted prisoners in California. The law students assist in the investigation of cases where there is strong evidence of innocence, write briefs in those cases, and advocate in all appropriate forums for the release of the project's clients. Founded in 1999, the California Innocence Project reviews more than 2,000 claims of innocence from California inmates each year. The project was founded by Professors Justin Brooks and Jan Stiglitz.
* William J. McGill Center for Creative Problem Solving
* Institute for Criminal Defense Advocacy
* National Center for Preventive Law

### 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.
The law school created six endowed professorships to support faculty members in their research and scholarship. California Western has also been named to the President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for the past five years.

## Student debt

According to U.S. News & World Report, annual tuition and fees: full-time $58,350 and part-time $43,550

## Notable people
### Alumni

* Anthony J. Battaglia, U.S. district court judge for the Southern District of California
* Scott C. Black, former judge advocate general of the United States Army
* Bruce Blakeman, Nassau County (New York) county executive and commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
* Christina Bobb, attorney for Donald Trump (Juris Doctor)
* Shana Dale, former deputy administrator of NASA
* David Francis, former member of the United States cycling team
* James B. Gibson, former mayor of Henderson, Nevada
* M. James Lorenz, U.S. district court judge for the Southern District of California
* Bruce E. MacDonald, former U.S. Navy vice admiral and judge advocate general of the Navy
* Brian Maienschein, member of the California state assembly
* Afa Ripley Jr., attorney general of American Samoa
* Margaret Catharine Rodgers, United States federal judge
* David Roger, district attorney of Clark County, Nevada
* Kevin Sandkuhler, retired brigadier general in the United States Marine Corps
* Michael Tsai, former minister of national defense, Taiwan
* Grace Elena Garner, city council member and former mayor of Palm Springs, California