Western State University College of Law, located in Fullerton, is the oldest law school in Orange County and was founded 45 years ago. It is a private, for-profit law school owned by Education Management Corp. and is part of Argosy University, also owned by that company.
The school has a very strong alumni base, including more than 100 judges, magistrates and commissioners, according to William Adams, dean of the school. The large number of local alumni offers many networking opportunities to students.
“We have a very strong record of producing practicing lawyers,” Adams said, “We have a very diverse student body. Many of our students are the first in their family to pursue law degrees.”
Students from the school do well on the California Bar Exam, he noted, in part because the school stresses the skills tested on the exam. For example, it has a section on preparing legal documents. Western State University has courses that focus on this area. The school also encourages students to take a bar preparation class after graduation and partially reimburses costs of the course for those who pass. The school’s bar pass rate is 81 percent, fourth highest in the region.
The school has begun to offer clinical experience and recently added an immigration law clinic. It is the most affordable law school in the region, but tuition is still $37,284 a year.
Published Winter 2013
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