SB 1281, as amended, Block. Law schools: unaccredited law school disclosures.
Existing law requires any law school that is not accredited by the examining committee of the State Bar of California (State Bar) to provide every student with a disclosure statement, subsequent to the payment of any application fee but prior to the payment of any registration fee, that contains, among other things, a statement that the law school is not accredited and the number and percentage of students who have taken and who have passed the first-year law student’s examination and the final bar examination in the previous 5 years, or since the establishment of the school, whichever time is less, as specified.
This bill would additionally require a law school that is not accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA) to publicly disclose onbegin delete it’send deletebegin insert
itsend insert Internet Web site, specified information, including tuition costs, class sizes, number of faculty, bar passage data, and employment outcomes for graduates. The bill would define terms for these purposes. The bill would also authorize the State Bar to develop a standard information reporting template. The bill would require specific disclosure information be distributed by the school to all applicants being offered conditional scholarships at the time the scholarship offer is extended.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Section 6061.7 is added to the Business and
2Professions Code, to read:
(a) Any law school that is not approved by the
4American Bar Association shall publicly disclose on its Internet
5Web site, with a link from the Internet home page under
6“Admissions,” all of the following information:
7(1) Admissions data.
8(2) Tuition, fees, and financial aid.
9(3) Conditional scholarships.
10(4) Enrollment data.
11(5) Number of full-time and part-time faculty, technically trained
12librarians, and
administrators.
13(6) Average class size of each required course and the number
14of clinical offerings.
15(7) Employment outcomes for graduates.
16(8) Bar passage data.
17(b) (1) The information in subdivision (a) shall be disclosed in
18a standardized information report that is readily accessible to
19current and prospective students in a manner that is complete,
20accurate, and not misleading to a reasonable student or applicant.
21(2) The State Bar may create a standardized information report
22template.
23(3) Any law school that
is not approved by the American Bar
24Association shall include the standardized information report as
25part of the annual compliance report required to be submitted to
26the State Bar by all law schools that are not approved by the
27American Bar Association and are regulated by the examining
28committee of the State Bar.
29(4) A law school may use the information report template to
30comply with the information disclosure required under subdivision
31(a).
P3 1(c) Any law school that is not approved by the American Bar
2Association shall publicly disclose on its Internet Web site, in a
3readable and comprehensive manner, all of the following
4information on a current basis:
5(1) Refund policy.
6(2) Curricular offerings, academic calendar, and academic
7requirements.
8(3) Policy regarding the transfer of credit earned at another
9institution of higher education.
10(d) The law school’s transfer of credit policy shall include, at
11a minimum, both of the following:
12(1) A statement of the criteria established by the law school
13regarding thebegin delete transferend deletebegin insert acceptanceend insert of credit earned for coursework
14completed at another institution.
15(2) A list of institutions, if any, with which the law
school has
16established an articulation agreement and the terms of any such
17agreement. If the law school has not entered into a transfer or
18articulation agreement with any other college or university, the
19institution shall disclose that fact.
20(e) All information that a law school reports, publicizes, or
21distributes pursuant to this section shall be complete, accurate, and
22not misleading to a reasonable law school student or applicant. A
23law school shall use due diligence in obtaining and verifying such
24information.
25(f) A law school that is not approved by the American Bar
26Association shall distribute the data required under paragraph (3)
27of subdivision (a) to all applicants being offered conditional
28scholarships at the time the scholarship offer is made.
29(g) For the purposes of this section, the following definitions
30apply:
31(1) “Admissions data” means information from the most recently
32enrolled fall semester class including the total number of
33applications, the total number of accepted students, and the 75th,
3450th, and 25th percentile scores for the undergraduate grade point
35averages and law school admission test scores of admitted students.
36(2) “Bar passage data” means the most current cumulative bar
37pass rates defined and reported by the examining committee of the
38State Bar.
39(3) “Conditional scholarship” means any financial aid award,
40the retention of which is dependent upon the student maintaining
P4 1a
minimum grade point average or class standing other than that
2ordinarily required to remain in good academic standing.
3(4) “Curricular offering” means only those courses offered in
4the current and past two academic years.
5(5) “Employment outcomes for graduates” means the results of
6a survey by the law school, taken three years after graduation, that
7breaks down the employment rate of graduates in each of the first
8three years after graduation, including the rate of employment of
9graduates in jobs where a Juris Doctor degree is required by the
10employer and the rate of employment of graduates in jobs where
11a Juris Doctor degree is an advantage in employment.
12(6) “Enrollment data” means information about the number of
13students
who are admitted to the school per class per year for the
14past three years, the number of students who transfer to and from
15the school per class per year for the past three years, and the
16number of students who do not continue to attend the school each
17year for the past three years on either a voluntary or involuntary
18basis.
19(7) “Transfer or articulation agreement” means an agreement
20between the law school and any other college or university that
21provides for the transfer of credits earned in the program of
22instruction.
O
95