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Hochner Program

Please note: Whittier has suspended the Hochner Summer Conditional Admission Program for 2013. The Admissions Committee will consider whether to waitlist or admit applicants who have already applied to the Hochner program or expressed an interest in it.

The Hochner Pre-Admission Summer Program (Hochner program) is designed for students who show potential to succeed in law school and as lawyers, but whose skills and talents may not be accurately reflected in the traditional measure of the LSAT and undergraduate GPA. Taught by Whittier Law School professors, the Hochner program gives you the opportunity to gain exposure to law school course work and gives an opportunity for the faculty to evaluate your performance.

The Admissions Committee identifies candidates for the Hochner Program during the regular admissions process (from the pool of applicants who have applied for admission to the J.D. program). Usually, these students are wait-listed first, and then notified of the invitation to participate in the program. If a student is denied admission by the Admissions Committee, he/she is not considered for the Hochner Program.

Additionally, once a student is invited to participate in Hochner, that is the only avenue through which admission to the law school can be accomplished. Students that are outright admitted through the regular admissions process are not eligible to participate in the program.

If you are wait-listed, but are interested in participating in the program, it is suggested that you send an addendum to your application stating that you wish to be considered for the Hochner Program.

During the four-week program, classes are held approximately four hours per day, four days a week. The classes are designed to expose you to the law school environment and the skills necessary to succeed here. These skills include:

  • critical reading
  • reading and briefing cases
  • understanding and using legal language
  • analogizing and distinguishing
  • understanding the structure of legal analysis
  • understanding the significance of facts and knowing how to use them in legal analysis
  • articulating legal rules precisely
  • recognizing the role of policy in legal decisions

Hochner students who successfully complete the program will be offered admission to the law school in the Fall 2009 entering class. Successful completion is measured by student performance in the program. To be offered admission, students must receive at least an 80 in each of the 3 program components (legal writing plus 2 law school exams). In addition, students must have a cumulative average of an 83 in the program.

For additional information, please feel free to contact the Director of the Hochner Pre-Admission Summer Program, Professor Jennifer Mertus at 714-444-4141 ext. 243 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).