The following schools are accredited by the American Bar Association and by such approval are deemed accredited by the State Bar's Committee of Bar Examiners.
California Western School of Law 225 Cedar Street San Diego, CA 92101 619-239-0391 www.cwsl.edu
University of California Irvine School of Law 401 East Peltason Drive, Suite 1000 Irvine, CA 92697-8000 949-824-0066 www.law.uci.edu
The following schools are accredited by the State Bar of California through its Committee of Bar Examiners. Accredited law schools may teach in fixed-facility classrooms or online or in a combination of these methods. Please contact the law school to confirm their teaching modality. All accredited law schools must maintain a Minimum, Five-Year Cumulative Bar Passage Rate (MPR) of 40 percent or more, with current figures reported here.
Kern County College of Law (A branch campus of Monterey College of Law) 1731 Chester Avenue, Suite 200 Bakersfield, CA 93301 831-582-4000 http://kerncountylaw.org/
University of La Verne College of Law and Public Service 320 East D Street Ontario, CA 91764 909-460-2000 http://law.laverne.edu
*Must raise Minimum, Cumulative Five-Year Bar Exam Pass Rate (MPR) to 40 percent by July 1, 2023 or accreditation will be terminated. If accreditation is terminated, the law school may apply to operate as an unaccredited law school. MPR values for all accredited law schools can be found here. San Francisco Law School is not enrolling new students at either campus until further notice.
The lists below are published for informational purposes only. Please refer to the Unaccredited Law School Rules for the requirements for registration as:
Neither the committee nor the State Bar's Office of Admissions will advise prospective students on the advantages or disadvantages of studying law through correspondence, distance-learning, or fixed-facility law schools or the quality of the legal education programs provided by the listed schools.
Prospective students should refer to available resources such as the law school pass/fail statistics on the bar exam and First-Year Law Students' Exam, current and former students, pre-legal advisors located on college or university campuses and other career counselors, among others.
Applicants seeking admission to practice law in California will receive credit for their law study at a registered unaccredited law school only if such study is completed in accordance with the Admissions Rules and California Business and Professions Code 6060.
Students attending registered unaccredited law schools are required to take the First-Year Law Students' Examination after successfully completing their first year of law school. They must pass this exam within three administrations of becoming eligible to take it in order to continue their law study and claim credit for their law study taken up to the point of passing the exam. If they do not pass within that time frame, they will be dismissed from the law school. If they pass the exam on a subsequent attempt, only one year of law study credit will be recognized toward meeting the legal education requirements needed to qualify to take the California Bar Exam.
The following institutions are currently registered by the Committee of Bar Examiners of the State Bar of California as unaccredited correspondence law schools. A correspondence law school is a law school that conducts instruction principally by correspondence. A correspondence law school must require at least 864 hours of preparation and study per year for four years.
The following institutions are currently registered by the State Bar's Committee of Bar Examiners as unaccredited distance-learning law schools. A distance-learning law school is a law school that conducts instruction and provides interactive classes principally online. A distance-learning law school must require at least 864 hours of preparation and study per year for four years.
The following law schools are now closed:
The following institutions are currently registered by the State Bar's Committee of Bar Examiners as unaccredited fixed-facility law schools. A fixed-facility law school is a law school that conducts its instruction principally in physical classroom facilities. A fixed-facility law school must require classroom attendance of its students for a minimum of 270 hours per year for four years. Due to the circumstances surrounding COVID-19, some of these law schools are operating under a waiver to teach some or all of their classes via synchronous online delivery. Contact the law school to confirm their teaching modality during this time.
***Lincoln Law School of San Jose 384 South Second Street San Jose, CA 95113 408-977-7227 www.lincolnlawschool.edu
*Pacific Coast University School of Law 1650 Ximeno Avenue, Suite 300 Long Beach, CA 90804 562-961-8200 www.pculaw.org
*This school will be changing to the distance-learning category in August 2023. **Peoples College of Law is on probation through June 2024 by the order of the Committee of Bar Examiners at its December 2022 meeting. The law school must provide monthly status reports. If the law school does not make sufficient progress, probation can be ended early, and the law school can be closed. ***This law school was an accredited law school until the Committee of Bar Examiners terminated its accreditation due to noncompliance with Rule 4.160(D), Minimum, Cumulative Bar Exam Pass rate. It transitioned to registered, fixed-facility status on January 1, 2023.