Monterey College of Law (MCL) is a
private
Private or privates may refer to:
Music
* " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation''
* Private (band), a Denmark-based band
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, non-profit
law school founded in 1972 in
Monterey, California. The school is approved by the Committee of Bar Examiners of the
State Bar of California but is not accredited by the
American Bar Association
The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of aca ...
. As a result, while graduates of MCL can sit for the California Bar Exam, and upon passing, be licensed to practice law in California, they are generally not able to sit for the bar exam or practice in other states without at least passing the California bar exam first.
MCL has part-time evening
J.D., Master of Legal Studies (M.L.S.), and LL.M. degree programs.
History
Monterey College of Law was founded in 1972 as a 501(c)3 nonprofit by a group of local lawyers and judges. The early years reflected a modest operation that frequently moved, using temporary rented classrooms in schools, churches, and the local
Naval Postgraduate School. As founding Dean David Kirkpatrick once described, “the law school was in session when I pulled up to a rented classroom and carried the box of school supplies in from the trunk of my car.”
Leon Panetta
Leon Edward Panetta (born June 28, 1938) is an American Democratic Party politician who has served in several different public office positions, including Secretary of Defense, CIA Director, White House Chief of Staff, Director of the Office of ...
served as the new law school's first
tort law
A tort is a civil wrong that causes a claimant to suffer loss or harm, resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act. Tort law can be contrasted with criminal law, which deals with criminal wrongs that are punishabl ...
professor.
In 1995, Dean Karen Kadushin negotiated a permanent home for the law school, obtaining 3.2 acres and two abandoned army buildings adjacent to
California State University Monterey Bay (CSUMB) on the former
Fort Ord
Fort Ord is a former United States Army post on Monterey Bay of the Pacific Ocean coast in California, which closed in 1994 due to Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) action. Most of the fort's land now makes up the Fort Ord National Monument, ...
. By 2005, Dean Frank Hespe had converted the first of the two buildings into a 12,000 sq. ft. renovated classroom, library, and administration building within the higher-education enclave being developed on the former Fort Ord Army base, joining CSUMB,
Hartnell College
Hartnell College is a public community college in Salinas, California. Established in 1920 as Salinas Junior College, Hartnell is one of 115 schools that constitute the California Community Colleges, one of the three higher education systems in ...
, and the
Monterey Peninsula College
Monterey Peninsula College (MPC) is a public community college in Monterey, California. Established in 1947, it is a part of the California Community Colleges system. There are two additional MPC campuses located in Marina, CA, and Seaside, ...
. In April 2010, the school opened its second building, a Certified
LEED Platinum Community Justice Center that became home to its clinical programs
and the Mandell Gisnet Center for Conflict Management.
In 2010, the law school opened a first-year satellite campus in
Santa Cruz, California
Santa Cruz ( Spanish for "Holy Cross") is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, in Northern California. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 62,956. Situated on the northern edge of Monterey Bay, Santa Cruz is a po ...
. After successfully completing the first-year curriculum, Santa Cruz students commuted to the main campus in
Seaside, California
Seaside, formerly East Monterey, is a city in Monterey County, California, United States, with a population of 32,366 as of the 2020 census. It is located east-northeast of Monterey, at an elevation of , and is the home of California State Uni ...
to complete their degree programs. In May 2020, upon adding and expanding an online Hybrid JD program, the Santa Cruz satellite campus was closed because local students could take classes online and not have to commute to Seaside for their upper-division courses.
In early 2015, Monterey College of Law acquired the University of San Luis Obispo School of Law, a registered unaccredited law school formerly located in
Morro Bay, California
Morro Bay (''Morro'', Spanish for "Hill") is a seaside city in San Luis Obispo County, California. Located on the Central Coast of California, the city population was 10,757 as of the 2020 census, up from 10,234 at the 2010 census. The town ...
. The new law school became an approved branch of Monterey College of Law, was moved to a new campus in downtown
San Luis Obispo
San Luis Obispo (; Spanish for " St. Louis the Bishop", ; Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, in the U.S. state of California. Located on the Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly hal ...
, and was renamed the San Luis Obispo College of Law. In 2017, the law school opened its second approved branch campus, Kern County College of Law in
Bakersfield, California. In July, 2022, Monterey reached an agreement, approved by the
State Bar of California Committee of Bar Examiners to acquire the
Empire College School of Law as a branch, pursuant to which Empire would transition from a for-profit, unaccredited law school, to a non-profit, accredited branch of Monterey, while retaining the Empire name.
Curriculum and technology
MCL has part-time evening
J.D., Master of Legal Studies (M.L.S.), and LL.M. degree programs.
MCL was the first California-accredited law school authorized to offer a Master of Legal Studies degree, concurrent MLS/JD degrees, and an LL.M. advanced law degree. In 2010, MCL became the first U.S. law school to provide
iPad
The iPad is a brand of iOS and iPadOS-based tablet computers that are developed by Apple Inc. The iPad was conceived before the related iPhone but the iPhone was developed and released first. Speculation about the development, operating ...
s for every student and professor. In 2017, the law school was one of the first two California accredited law schools and one of only a few law schools in the nation to be approved to offer an accredited online hybrid JD program.
Programs and clinics
Mandell Gisnet Center for Conflict Management
Bill Daniels, one of the founding “fathers” of the law school, facilitated the creation of the Mandell Gisnet Center for Conflict Management through a local bequest. Organized in 2004 by the founding executive director and current California State Senator
Bill Monning
William Wheeler Monning (born April 2, 1951) is an American politician who was elected to the California State Senate in 2012. A Democrat, he served in the 17th Senate District which encompasses the Central Coast. Monning was reelected to the ...
, the Center has subsequently provided mediation certification and training for almost 1,000 law students, local lawyers, and community mediators. The Center coordinates the local court-directed mediation program, the Neighbor Project, and numerous other mediation programs for city, county, and community groups.
Community clinics
Started in 1992 by former Dean Marian Penn, the original Small Claims Advisory Clinic program has grown into more than a dozen different advisory clinics in which supervised law students provide free legal advisory services in the areas of small claims, conservatorship, guardianship, domestic violence, immigration, landlord/tenant, mediation, family law, neighbor disputes, elder law, collections, workers' compensation, social security, and probate law.
Moot court
Since 1984, all students have participated in a Constitutional moot court program as part of the trial advocacy skills training during their final law school year.
Leadership
Following the example of founding Dean David Kirkpatrick,
local lawyers, including Marian Penn, Joel Franklin, Rodney Jones, Al O’Connor, R. Lynn Davis, and Fred Herro served as part-time deans for the first twenty years. In 1995, Dean Karen Kadushin ushered in the era of full-time deans. Mitchel L. Winick, the current President and Dean of the law school, joined the school as Dean in August 2005.
Bar exam passage
Fewer than eleven MCL alumni sat for the October 2020 California bar exam for the first time, so a school pass rate was not reported. Of the 29 MCL alumni who repeated the exam at that sitting, six, or 21%, passed.
California Accredited Law Schools (CALS) must “maintain a minimum,
ive-yearcumulative bar examination pass rate” of 40 percent or more, as calculated under Rule 4.160(N) and Guideline 12.1 of the Guidelines for Accredited Law School Rules. Monterey College of Law has had a Cumulative Pass Rate on the California Bar Exam of 47.9% in 2018, 54.3% in
2019
File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
, and 53.7% in 2020.
The law school has been an outspoken advocate requesting that the
California Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of California is the highest and final court of appeals in the courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sac ...
adjust the scoring of the California Bar Exam from an arbitrarily high minimum passing score (“cut score”) to a score closer to the national norm. The California Supreme Court issued an order on August 10, 2020 adjusting the California “cut score” from 1440 to 1390, closer to the national mean of 1350.
References
External links
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Law schools in California
Educational institutions established in 1972
Monterey, California
Universities and colleges in Monterey County, California
Private universities and colleges in California
1972 establishments in California