Metropolitan News-Enterprise

 

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

 

Page 3

 

UC Irvine Law School Earns Provisional ABA Accreditation

 

By a MetNews Staff Writer

 

The UC Irvine School of Law yesterday announced it has been granted provisional accreditation by the American Bar Association.

Dean Erwin Chemerinsky remarked that the ABA’s decision “puts the official seal of approval on the hard work of scores of faculty, administrators, students, and supporters—both on campus and in the legal community” and was “the culmination of years of planning and execution.”

Under ABA rules, no law school may be considered for accreditation until it is in its second year of operation. Provisional accreditation means that graduating students can take the bar exam in California without taking a qualifying “baby bar” exam.

UC Irvine Chancellor Michael Drake said the school has “worked hard to make sure the Law School was accredited at the earliest opportunity.” After having “received very positive feedback through each step of the accreditation process,” he said he was “look[ing] forward to its continued success.”

He related that school officials “have envisioned having a rigorous academic and nationally prominent law school for decades” and the law school’s “level of success to-date has exceeded our expectations.”

Full accreditation requires full compliance with all ABA standards after having been provisionally approved for at least two years. A student at a provisionally approved law school and an individual who graduates while the school is provisionally approved are entitled to the same recognition given to students and graduates of fully approved law schools.

 

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