Pacific Coast University

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pacific Coast University


Established	1927
Type	Private law school
Dean	William J. Lewis
Faculty	11
Location	Long Beach, CA,, USA
Address	1650 Ximeno Ave., Suite 310; Long Beach, CA 90804
Telephone	562-961-8200
Campus	Urban
Website	www.pculaw.com

Pacific Coast University (PCU), currently exclusively consisting of the Pacific Coast University School of Law, is a private, non-profit law school located in Long Beach, California. The school prides itself on its history of diversity and low cost legal education.

The sole program offered is a traditional curriculum in Law, leading to the Juris Doctor degree and qualifying graduates to take, and pass, the General Bar examination of California. As such, the course of studies includes all those subjects covered in California’s Bar examination along with additional classes, such as Legal Research, Writing and Lawyering Skills, Trial Techniques (“Moot court”) and Pleading and Practice which the school believes are essential for a lawyer just beginning practice.

PCU has remained small: limiting classes to 50 students and draws its law professors from local practicing attorneys and judges. The school’s alumni all serve a wide variety of specialties in the Bar and the Bench. Most of the School’s newly graduated attorneys enter law practice right in the community, providing service in areas of civil practice, such as family law, property disputes and landlord/tenant matters, as well as entering the field of criminal law both as public defenders and as deputy prosecutors.

[edit] History

Founded in 1927, the PCU originally consisted of an undergraduate program along with graduate schools in business, divinity and law. However, all but the School of Law closed as a result of the Great Depression. World War II nearly eliminated the School of Law but for the persistence of then Dean Carl Manson, who taught all the classes while the other professors were off at war. Manson continued as Dean until his death in 1980. In 1981 Dean Irving Schleimer, previously a member of the faculty, became the PCU's new head and guided the school into the 21st Century.

Dean Schleimer officially retired from PCU in late 1999 and was succeeded by Dean William J. Lewis, both a graduate of PCU and 18 year faculty member.

Although it is required to follow the restrictions of the State Bar of California but is not subject to the restrictions of the American Bar Association, the school can offer legal education at lower cost. Thus PCU represents one of very few economical options for full-time working students interested in pursuing a legal education and becoming attorneys. Historically, many of the law students have also coped with the economic disadvantages faced by minorities and women. For these reasons, Pacific Coast University has always maintained a policy of keeping costs to a minimum, and has been able to maintain its tradition of diversity.

From the beginning, Pacific Coast University opened its doors to everyone. One of the first African-American Superior Court Judges in Southern California, William A. Ross, was a PCU graduate, as was the first woman Superior Court Judge, Kathleen Parker. PCU classes during these years were as representative of the diversity of the community as they are today. During a period when, for example, women made up only 2.7% of the profession as late as 1963, PCU was graduating 30% or more women each year.

[edit] Accreditation

PCU is listed with the Committee of Bar Examiners of the State Bar of California as an unaccredited law school. As such, students must take and pass the First-Year Law Students' Examination, also known as the "Baby Bar", at the end of their first year in order to receive credit for their law study and eventually qualify to sit for the California Bar Exam.

In addition to being registered with the State Bar of California, PCU is authorized by the Bureau for Private and Postsecondary and Vocational Education to issue the Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree.