BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó




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          |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE            |                       SB 1281|
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                                      CONSENT 


          Bill No:  SB 1281
          Author:   Block (D) 
          Amended:  4/18/16  
          Vote:     21 

           SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE:  7-0, 4/26/16
           AYES:  Jackson, Moorlach, Anderson, Hertzberg, Leno, Monning,  
            Wieckowski

           SUBJECT:   Law schools:  unaccredited law school disclosures


          SOURCE:    Author

          DIGEST:  This bill, to ensure that prospective law students can  
          make informed decisions about which law schools to attend,  
          requires law schools not accredited by the American Bar  
          Association (ABA) 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.

          ANALYSIS:  
          
          Existing law:

          1)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.  

          2)Requires that attorneys who wish to practice law in California  
            generally must be admitted and licensed in this state and must  








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            be a member of the State Bar. 

          3)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. 

          4)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. 

          5)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;
                 The passage rates of students who took the final bar  
               examination in the previous five years;
                 The ratio of faculty to students;
                 A statement that the education provided by the school  
               may not satisfy the requirements of other states for the  
               practice of law; and
                 Other disclosures as specified.

          This bill:

          1)Requires that any law school in California not approved by the  
            ABA 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  
               attrition.  
                 Number of full-time and part-time faculty, professional  
               librarians, and administrators;  








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                 Employment outcomes for graduates; and 
                 Bar passage data.  

          1)Requires the above disclosures to be published in a  
            standardized information report, allows the State Bar to  
            create a standardized information report template, and  
            requires the law schools to include the standardized  
            information report as part of their annual compliance report  
            to the State Bar.

          2)Requires 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.

          1)Requires 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.

          2)Requires that a law school shall use due diligence in  
            obtaining and verifying such information. 

          3)Provides definitions for the required disclosures.

          Background
          
          The ABA accredits law schools throughout the United States,  
          including California law schools.  The State 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 ABA 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 also meet other criteria.  Graduates of non-ABA  








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          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 showed 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 Web sites 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 this information.

          To ensure that prospective students can make informed decisions  
          about which law schools to attend, this bill requires 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. 

          Comments
          
          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 had a 35.4% passage rate.  The  








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              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.

          Related Legislation
          
          SB 1257 (Block, 2016) requires 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.  The bill is  
          currently in the Senate Judiciary Committee.









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          FISCAL EFFECT:   Appropriation:    No          Fiscal  
          Com.:NoLocal:    No


          SUPPORT:   (Verified4/28/16)


          Association of California Accredited Law Schools
          Center for Public Interest Law
          Public Advocates
          Public Law Center 


          OPPOSITION:   (Verified4/28/16)


          None received


          ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT:     Supporters contend, 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(CPIL) notes that "students who yearn  
          to practice law are being persuaded to enroll in institutions  
          with low Bar passage rates and are incurring life-altering debt;  
          debt that cannot be eliminated through bankruptcy." 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."

          Prepared by:Margie Estrada / JUD. / (916) 651-4113
          4/29/16 13:03:19


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