La Verne University College of Law is down but not out for the count. The American Bar Association denied the Ontario, Calif.-school’s request for full accreditation and revoked its provisional status earlier this month.
But the ABA recently waived a ten-month application-waiting period, meaning the school can quickly begin the process to reapply for provisional status, according to La Verne Dean Allen Easley.
The ABA’s decision to deny accreditation came after the school spent five years under provisional status. Because the school was at the maximum allowable period to be provisionally approved, Easley said the ABA also revoked La Verne’s provisional status at the same time it denied full accreditation.
Easley said the reason for the ABA’s decision was the low first-time bar pass rate for La Verne graduates.
“Their concern is that the things we’ve put in place to improve the rate are relatively recent… and the improvement we did see [over the last year] wasn’t enough to satisfy them to get full approval,” Easley said.
La Verne’s first-time bar pass rate was 34 percent in 2009, but rose to 53 percent in 2010.
The ABA requires every law school to have a bar pass rate above 75 percent or within 15 points of the first-time bar pass rate for graduates of ABA-approved law schools taking the bar exam in the same jurisdictions.
That would require La Verne to achieve a bar pass rate around 58 percent. Easley said second- and third-time takers have had success, and the ultimate pass rate for 2009 is now at 74 percent.
La Verne opened its law school in 1970 and operated as a California accredited law school for more than three decades, allowing graduates to sit for the California bar, but not in other states.
In 2006, the ABA approved La Verne for provisional accreditation, allowing graduates can take bar exams in any state. However provisional status is only temporary. A school has five years, to show it is in compliance with ABA standards, or if it is not in complete compliance, is at least on track to be compliant, before it can receive fully accredited status.
According to Easley, La Verne implemented several new programs in 2009 in an attempt to get the school back on track for bar passage rate. This included programs for first-through third-year students that embrace legal writing, general academic support, as well as bar support staff.
“We’re continually looking at additional things we can do to help improve things further,” Easley said. “We will be examining everything we’ve done, look at data and try to pinpoint things that are working, and things that aren’t working.”
The impact of the ABA’s decision on La Verne students could be mitigated if the school moves through provisional reapplication as quickly as possible. La Verne doesn’t officially lose its accreditation until July, Easley said, so the Class of 2011 graduated from a provisionally accredited school and will still be able to take the bar in any state.
However, the Class of 2012 faces a more uncertain set of possibilities. Because the ABA waived the usual ten-month waiting period, La Verne will be able to reapply for provisional status in August 2011. Easley said this will allow the school to conduct an on-site visit in early fall, and get a ruling on its application in mid to late spring 2012. If the application is approved, the Class of 2012 will graduate from a provisionally accredited school, and will face no significant implications for the bar exam.
On the other hand, if La Verne doesn’t get approval by spring 2012, graduates may still be able to take the California bar if the state bar of California reaccredits La Verne. This will not help graduates looking to sit for the bar in other states, however.
“For over thirty years we were accredited by the California State Bar,” Easley said “Even if we don’t get ABA provisional approval back as quickly as we want to… we want to have a safety net to make sure that anyone who graduates in the next year or year after will at the very least be able to take the California bar.”
In a worst-case scenario, where La Verne is not accredited either by the ABA or CBE in May of 2012, students could still take the bar in California, but would have to take another exam first to qualify.
