An aspiring attorney with dreams of attending law school in California may feel a little overwhelmed with the number of available choices. A helpful first step may be to identify a number of schools located in California. The Law School Admission Council website allows users to click on a U.S. map to find information about the 20 nationally accredited schools located in California. LSAC users can also input their LSAT scores and grade point averages to compare their qualifications with admitted students at each California law school and assess their chances of admission.
The American Bar Association, a national professional association for lawyers, administers a nationwide accreditation process for law schools in the United States. Many states other than California have rules for granting professional licenses to practice law that require a law degree from a law school with ABA accreditation. For that reason, some applicants choose to only apply for admission at ABA-approved law schools. The State Bar of California's website provides a list of the 20 ABA-accredited schools located in the state, which include UCLA, UC Davis and UC Berkeley; Chapman University; Golden Gate University and Santa Clara University.
The State Bar of California administers its own accreditation program operating separately from the American Bar Association. California schools without ABA accreditation can earn accreditation from the state's Committee of Bar Examiners. The State Bar website identifies 18 California law schools with state-level accreditation. State-accredited law schools include Cal Northern School of Law located in Chico, San Joaquin School of Law in Clovis, San Francisco Law School in San Francisco, Trinity Law School in Santa Ana and Pacific Coast University School of Law in Long Beach.
Non-accredited law schools include schools physically located in California, as well as online learning programs or distance-learning programs. These programs include the California School of Law, Concord Law School of Kaplan University and California Southern Law School, among others. A full list appears on the State Bar website. California, unlike many other states, does not prevent graduates of non-accredited law schools from taking the state bar examination or applying to become licensed attorneys. However, graduates of non-accredited law schools must complete the number of educational hours set by the State Bar of California and other requirements that graduates of accredited programs do not. Furthermore, not every state bar association accepts graduates of non-accredited schools as California does. An individual who wishes to attend law school in California but move to another state after law school should research the other state's attorney licensing requirements.