Summary: One California law school does not agree with the regulation from 2012 that requires them to keep a 40 percent passing rate for five years.
Southern California Institute of Law is fighting the California State Bar accreditation standards with all they have. The state bar instituted a minimum bar passage rate for law schools to maintain in order to keep a good standing. Most law schools had no problem with the standard since they already incorporate higher standards.
The new regulation imposed in 2012 by the bar association committee requires schools to keep a 40 percent minimum passage rate for five years or the law school could lose accreditation. Nationally accredited schools such as UCLA and USC have to maintain a 75 percent bar passage rate for every three out of five years.
Southern California Institute of Law has campuses in Santa Barbara and Ventura. They argue that the requirements make law schools only accept students that have the highest chances of passing, ignoring those students that lack opportunities. The school believes that law schools should be allowing students “to at least pursue their dreams.”
The lawsuit brought by the school against the bar exam was dismissed two years ago by a judge. A school appealed the ruling but the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal. The school plans to ask for another hearing.
State accredited law schools differ from nationally accredited law schools. They generally are four-year, part-time programs that target older adults still working full-time jobs as they change careers. Tuition is often cheaper and accepts students that are from low-income, minority populations.
Southern California Institute of Law has a lower annual tuition than most schools. They also have some of the worst bar passage and graduation rates. In July 2012, only 17 of their graduates took the bar exam and none of them passed it.
The school does not aim to guarantee students that they will pass the exam and only aims to give students the chance to pursue their dreams.
Source: http://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-law-schools-bar-20150908-story.html
Photo: campus.lawdragon.com