California Western is San Diego's oldest law school and was originally chartered in 1924[7] by Leland Ghent Stanford as a private graduate institution called Balboa Law College.[8] Balboa Law College expanded to include undergraduate and other graduate studies and changed its name to Balboa University.[8]
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.[7] In 1973, the law school relocated within downtown San Diego to its current downtown campus at 350 Cedar Street.[7] In 1975, the school ended its affiliation with Cal Western's successor school, US International University, and became an independent secular law school.[7] 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.[7]
Sean M. Scott [9] was named the school's new president and dean in August 2020.[2]
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.[10]
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.[1]
California Western is ranked number 68th for legal writing by USNWR.[11]
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.[12]
Programs and research centers
Research centers include:
The California Innocence Project,[13] 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.[14] The project was founded by Professors Justin Brooks and Jan Stiglitz.[15]
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.[citation needed]
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.[16]
This section is missing information about the kind of degree and date granted usually supplied for alumni. Please expand the section to include this information. Further details may exist on the talk page.(August 2023)
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
