Date: April 17, 2008
News Subject: Dean Cogan's Letter to the Community

I am delighted to announce that the ABA Accreditation Committee today recommended to the Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar that Whittier Law School be removed from its probationary status. All of us are pleased with this recognition that the Law School’s educational program is in compliance with the Standards for Approval of Law Schools.

The Law School requested this action on February 14, 2008, because the bar passage rates of our graduates for the five-year period, 2003-07, show compliance with the ABA bar passage rule, Interpretation 301-6. We fully expect that the Council will accept the Committee’s recommendation at its meeting on June 6 and remove the Law School from its probationary status.

Interpretation 301-6 is the first published ABA bar passage rule describing the measures that a law school must meet to be in compliance with the ABA Standards. The bar passage rule went into effect on February 11, 2008, when the ABA House of Delegates concurred in the new rule; the House of Delegates’ action came at the behest of a directive by Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings to the ABA requiring a properly-adopted, consistently-applied, and transparent bar passage rule.

During the whole period of the Law School's probation, from 2005 to the present, the Law School has been a fully-accredited school. During this whole period, in the view of the 2006 ABA Site Inspection report, our educational offerings – doctrinal classroom, legal skills, academic support, clinics, and externships -- met and exceeded the Standards of the ABA. And we are delighted that the Committee recognizes that Whittier exceeds the bar passage standard as well. We look forward to June when we can spread the good news of our probation being lifted and to moving beyond the last three challenging years.

We are enthused about our future. We are in the process of planning enhancements of our existing curriculum and academic programs and planning additional offerings in Costa Mesa and our locations outside the United States. We are ready to move on, strengthen the Law School further, and achieve the goals and recognition that our students and graduates deserve.

Please watch for more good news in a couple of months.