BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE
Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson, Chair
2015-2016 Regular Session
SB 1281 (Block)
Version: April 18, 2016
Hearing Date: April 26, 2016
Fiscal: No
Urgency: No
ME
SUBJECT
Law schools: unaccredited law school disclosures
DESCRIPTION
Under current law, law schools that are not accredited by the
State Bar examining committee must provide every student with a
disclosure statement detailing that the law school is not
accredited, as well as the number and percentage of students who
have taken and passed the first-year law student's examination
and the final bar examination over a specified period of time.
This bill would require a law school that is not accredited by
the American Bar Association (ABA) to post on its Internet Web
site specified information, including tuition costs, class
sizes, number of faculty, bar passage data, and employment
outcomes for graduates. The bill would additionally authorize
the State Bar to develop a standard information reporting
template to aid the law schools in reporting the disclosures.
The bill would require specific disclosure information be
provided to applicants being offered conditional scholarships at
the time the scholarship offer is extended. The bill would
further require these law schools to report this information to
the State Bar as part of the annual compliance report these law
schools already submit to the State Bar.
BACKGROUND
The American Bar Association accredits law schools throughout
the United States, including California law schools. The State
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Bar of California accredits law schools in California as well.
There are also unaccredited law schools in California. These
unaccredited law schools lack accreditation from the American
Bar Association or the California State Bar.
Graduates from any of these law schools can become licensed to
practice law in the State of California if they pass the bar
examination and meet other criteria. Graduates of non-ABA
accredited law schools have a significantly lower likelihood of
passing the California Bar examination than graduates of ABA
accredited law schools. February 2015 California State Bar
examination results demonstrate that a graduate of an ABA
accredited law school taking the Bar for the first time had a
53.9% chance of passing. By comparison, a graduate of a
California Bar accredited law school had a 30.3% chance of
passing the bar. And, a graduate of an unaccredited law school
had a 35.4% chance of passing the bar on the first try.
ABA accredited law schools are required to make standard
disclosures on their websites that enable prospective students
to make informed decisions about applying and attending the law
schools. The information ABA law schools are required to post
include bar passage rates, tuition cost, class size, grants and
scholarships awarded, grade point averages, LSAT scores,
demographic information, curriculum, attrition rates, and
faculty information. By contrast, California State Bar
accredited law schools and non-accredited law schools are not
required to post all of this information.
To ensure that prospective students can make informed decisions
about which law schools to attend, this bill would require
California accredited law schools and unaccredited law schools
to post information on their Internet Web sites, including bar
passage data, tuition, fees, financial aid, admissions data,
employment outcomes for graduates, conditional scholarships,
enrollment data, faculty information, average class size for
required courses, and the number of clinical offerings.
CHANGES TO EXISTING LAW
Existing law provides that the State Bar's highest priority is
protection of the public, and, whenever the protection of the
public is inconsistent with other interests sought to be
promoted, the protection of the public shall be paramount.
(Bus. & Prof. Code Sec. 6001.1)
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Existing law requires that attorneys who wish to practice law in
California generally must be admitted and licensed in this state
and must be a member of the State Bar. (Cal. Const., art. VI,
Sec. 9.)
Existing law , the State Bar Act, sets forth requirements for an
individual to be certified by the Supreme Court for admission
and a license to practice law, including but not limited to,
having to pass the general bar examination, passing an
examination in professional responsibility, and having to
complete certain legal education in a law school, law office, or
judge's chambers. (Bus. & Prof. Code Sec. 6060)
Existing law requires that law schools not accredited by the
State Bar shall provide a disclosure statement after the
prospective student pays application fees, but prior to the
payment of registration fees, and requires the prospective
student to acknowledge and sign the disclosure. (Bus. & Prof.
Sec. 6061.)
Existing law requires that the disclosures provided by
unaccredited law schools shall include:
The passage rates of students who have taken the
first-year law student's examination; (Bus. & Prof. Sec.
6061(c).)
The passage rates of students who took the final bar
examination in the previous five years; (Bus. & Prof. Sec.
6061(c).)
The ratio of faculty to students; (Bus. & Prof. Sec.
6061(f).)
A statement that the education provided by the school
may not satisfy the requirements of other states for the
practice of law; and ((Bus. & Prof. Sec. 6061(h).)
Other disclosures as specified.
This bill would require that any law school in California not
approved by the American Bar Association to publicly disclose on
its Internet Web site, with a link from the Internet home page
under "admissions," information pertaining to all of the
following:
Admissions data;
Tuition, fees, and financial aid;
Conditional scholarships;
Enrollment data, including academic, transfer, and other
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attrition;
Number of full-time and part-time faculty, professional
librarians, and administrators;
Employment outcomes for graduates; and
Bar passage data.
This bill would require the above disclosures to be published in
a standardized information report, allow the State Bar to create
a standardized information report template, and require the law
schools to include the standardized information report as part
of their annual compliance report to the State Bar.
This bill would require a non-ABA approved law school to
additionally publicly disclose the following information on its
Internet Web site, as specified:
Refund policies;
Curricular offerings, academic calendar, and academic
requirements; and
Policies regarding the transfer of credit earned at
another institution of higher education.
This bill would require that all information that a law school
reports, publicizes, or distributes pursuant to the above
requirements shall be complete, accurate, and not misleading to
a reasonable law school student or applicant.
This bill would require that a law school shall use due
diligence in obtaining and verifying such information.
This bill would provide definitions for the required
disclosures.
COMMENT
1. Stated need for the bill
The author writes:
Students attending a non-ABA accredited law school have a
significantly lower likelihood of passing the California
Bar exam. In February of 2015, a first-time student from
an ABA accredited law school had a 53.9% [bar passage
rate]. By comparison, a first-time student attending a
California Bar accredited law school had a 30.3% passage
rate, while a student attending an unaccredited law school
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had a 35.4% passage rate. The gap widens significantly
for repeat test takers. Where 47.5% of repeat takers from
an ABA accredited school passed, only 17.3% of repeat
takers from [California] Bar accredited schools passed.
Repeat takers from unaccredited schools only had a 15% bar
passage rate.
It is clear that students attending non-ABA accredited
programs are less likely to pass the Bar exam in
California. What is also clear is that ABA-accredited law
schools are required to make significant disclosures to
their students, while non-ABA accredited schools are held
to nowhere near the same standard.
[The ABA] requires law schools to post important
disclosure information on their websites, including: bar
passage rates, tuition cost, class size, grants and
scholarships awarded, GPA and LSAT scores, demographic
information, curriculum, attrition rates, and faculty
information.
An unaccredited law school is required by law to make some
disclosures to students, but only after a student has
applied to the institution. California Bar accredited
schools are required by regulation to post Bar passage
rate information on their website. The disclosures
required [by the ABA] are not only more robust, but also
more useful, as they are available to a prospective
student before beginning the application process.
SB 1281 will allow prospective students to make "apples to
apples" comparisons between ABA accredited and non-ABA
accredited law schools in California.
2. Consumer protection
From a consumer protection perspective, prospective law students
benefit from access to information to make informed decisions
regarding where to invest their time and money in pursuit of
legal education. In support, the Center for Public Interest Law
at the University of San Diego School of Law notes that
"students who yearn to practice law are being persuaded to
enroll in institutions with low Bar passage rates and are
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incurring life-altering debt; debt that cannot be eliminated
through bankruptcy. They fairly should be apprised that there
is little chance they will become a California lawyer."
However, the CPIL points out, the prospective students "are not
fairly apprised of this fact." The CPIL notes that not "even a
quarter of exam takers who graduated from non-ABA accredited
schools passed the [February 2015] Bar exam." CPIL further
notes that "the institutions where the chances of passing the
Bar exam are the best have the best disclosures and the
institutions with the least chances have the worst disclosures."
ABA approved institutions must, as a condition of approval, post
robust disclosures on their Internet Web sites. The ABA
disclosures must be accessible from the home page. The State
Bar's accreditation, in contrast, permits minimal disclosures.
The State Bar accredited law schools are merely required to post
a link to the California Bar Examination "statistics" page at
the State Bar's Web site or the pass rates of its graduates for
the ten most recent administrations of the California Bar
Examination.
The Association of California Accredited Law Schools writes the
following in support:
Consumer protection is crucial and our applicants and
students should be provided as much information as
possible in order to make intelligent decisions regarding
whether to attend law school and which law school to
attend. Senate Bill 1281 through its requirements that
specified information relating to cost, admissions,
enrollment, faculty, employment, class sizes, and bar
passage be posted in a manner that is complete, accurate,
and not misleading to a reasonable student or applicant is
clearly in furtherance of the goal that our consumers be
protected.
California has a strong public policy of protecting consumers.
This bill would protect consumers - specifically, potential law
students -- by ensuring they have access to information that is
necessary for them to make informed decisions regarding applying
to law school and attending law school.
Support : Association of California Accredited Law Schools
(CALS); Center for Public Interest Law; Public Advocates; Public
Law Center
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Opposition : None Known
HISTORY
Source : Author
Related Pending Legislation :
SB 1257 (Block) Would require any person who applies to become a
licensed California attorney to complete at least 50 hours of
pro bono service, as defined, prior to filing an application for
admission with the State Bar of California.
Prior Legislation : None Known
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