Legal Question in Business Law in California

Re: Law School

There are several law schools in California who offer part-time programs; some are accredited by the California Bar and some are not. To pass take the bar you will either need to go through an accredited program, or, at some point, take the "baby-bar."

Check into Western State University College of Law (who I believe still has a part-time program and is accredited by the California Bar, and now, I believe, the American Bar Association), in Fullerton, or Southern California Law School on Elizabeth Street in Riverside (not accredited by the California bar).

If you think you will ever want to practice law in a state other than California, you will want to attend a program that is accredited by the American Bar Association.

Re: Law School

There are no good correspondence law schools. (My apologies to any colleagues reading this who graduated from such schools; most likely even they will agree with what I have said.)

As the other Mr. Hoffman (no relation) has pointed out, there are part-time programs you may be able to attend. The best one I know of in the Los Angeles area is at Loyola Law School near downtown.

Note that California is more lenient in accrediting law schools than are most other states. Most states won't even let you take the bar exam unless you graduated from a school approved by the American Bar Association, but there are a number of law schools in California which lack ABA certification but which are accredited by the state. Graduates of these schools can become California lawyers but will have a very hard time trying to practice elsewhere. Even within California, the most sought-after employers will only consider graduates of ABA-approved law schools.

California will even allow people who have not attended law school but who have apprenticed for practicing attorneys to take the bar exam. I believe fewer than 70 of the state's 175,000 or so lawyers followed that route, and some may have taken correspondence courses along the way. The number of these folks who failed the bar exam is surely much higher.

Re: Law School

There are none. Either go to a part time (4 year evenings) program or not at all. Correspondence schools have virtually zero pass rate in CA.