Chapman Law School Again Refused Accreditation

With one year to go before it graduates its first class, Chapman University’s law school will remain unaccredited for now, after the American Bar Assn. this week reaffirmed its decision to deny the school approval.

The decision means the school must submit a new application for the coveted accreditation, and incoming dean Parham H. Williams Jr. said the school will do so in mid-September. That would mean an ABA vote in January, he said.

ABA accreditation would have catapulted the 2-year-old school into the ranks of the 180 most respected law schools in the country and allowed its graduates to qualify for the bar exam in any state.

Unless the school succeeds in a separate application for State Bar approval, which it will soon file, its graduates may not be qualified to practice anywhere unless they meet criteria not required of students from accredited schools.

ABA decisions are confidential, and the school declined to release the organization’s letter sent Tuesday.

Williams said the ABA faulted the school for lacking a long-range plan and an adequate faculty evaluation mechanism.

Williams, who assumes his post June 1, said he did not know why those things were not devised sooner, but he has appointed two committees to develop them.

At the same time, because the school has made progress in toughening its curriculum, grading standards and other aspects of its program to meet the ABA’s criteria, the organization has agreed to waive its usual requirement that the school wait 10 months before reapplying.

The ABA denied the school accreditation last January because of concerns over what it considered a lack of rigor in the curriculum program and easy grading and probation policies, school officials have said.