Ambulance scarcity, long 911 response times: COVID pushes L.A. County to ‘brink of catastrophe’. Whittier Law School in Costa Mesa, Calif., will remain open for two more years while second- and third-year students complete their programs. Final exams are in two weeks. The worker’s family said he had been called back into the Fresno plant, got sick with COVID-19 and died weeks later. If it closes, it will be the first ABA-accredited law school to do so. Most institutions file for a "teach out" with the Department of Education when they plan to close. The board met one week later and nearly unanimously, voted to close the law school. Students, alumni and professors of Whittier Law School are outraged by the board of trustees’ decision to close, making it the first fully accredited law school in the country to shut down. It also ensures a quality program for the remaining students. For a portion of Wednesday, a statement was posted on the law school’s website that called the decision to close the school “unwise, unwarranted and unfounded.”. “Yes, we will finish our coursework, yes we’ll take the bar, but what’s the value of our degrees if we don’t have a law school to refer to?”, To read the article in Spanish, click here, UC Berkeley cancels Ann Coulter appearance, citing safety concerns after violent protests, UCLA finance official arrested on charges of embezzling from the last college he worked for, California and L.A. Unified graduation rates continue to increase. Technically, Whittier Law School is not the first law school to shut down, but it is the first ABA-accredited school to completely end its legal program. 2017-09-21 05:33:14. You MUST choose a term to begin the search process. " A group of law professors sought a temporary restraining order preventing the sale but a judge refused to grant it, according to CBS Los Angeles. November 11 Last day to drop with a “W”. The board began investigating alternatives in 2015, after the school reported dismal bar pass rates and employment outcomes, despite lower enrollment. Several first-year law students, however, said they would have enrolled elsewhere had the school indicated the possibility that it could close. “This degree that I’m going to get is depreciated,” said Kathy Iravani, 23, a first-year student who lives in Irvine. Whittier will also need approval for the teach out with the American Bar Assoctiation, which accredits law schools. Appreciation: In just three seasons of ‘Gilligan’s Island,’ Dawn Wells left a lasting mark. But it is only provisionally accredited by the ABA. The bar exam is in July. Subscribe and get breaking news, commentary, and opinions on law firms, lawyers, law schools, lawsuits, judges, and more. Whittier’s first-year enrollment plunged to 132 students last year from 303 in 2010, according to Law School Transparency, a North Carolina-based nonprofit. October 28 Last day to Add. Law students, from left, Victoria Lucero, Ruth Arellano, Amrit Nahal and Kathy Iravani stand in the parking lot at Whittier Law School voicing their anger over the proposed closure. But it still has not announced whether it will close or not. Whittier recently finalized the sale of the 14-acre law school campus for $35 million — and a tidy $13 million profit. All of these factors came to a head at Whittier, which will be the nation’s first fully accredited law school to shut down in three decades. This article was originally published at 10:05 a.m. Sonali Kohli is on leave from the L.A. Times until June 2021, completing the Spencer Education Journalism Fellowship at Columbia University. 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