Alcala 1958

gen era l bar ex am ina tio nas do es any oth er law sch ool gradua te. Howe ver , su ch pra ctic al asp ects are in my mind rel ati ve lyunimporta nt.Acc redita­ tion is on ly a pa ssi ng hur dle on the wa y to cre ati ng he re in San Di eg o at Alcala Pa rk a law sch oo lthat is sec ond to none in the Un ite dSta tes in the qu ali tyof the edu ­ cat ion of fer edto the stud ents ,in the qu ali ty of tho se stu den ts and fin ally, in tha t all imp ort ant res pe ct, the qu ali ty of the fin ­ ish ed pro duct. Th at pro duc t is a law yer wh o is no t on ly an edu cat edma n, but also a who le ma n, a man wh o look s upo n hi s pro fes sionas an inte gra l and vita l par t of the life of the en tir e commu nity ,cit y, stat e and na tio n. I antic ipa tetha t in the comingacad em ic yea r the law sch oo l will bec ome a sch ool fu lly acc red ite dby the Ca lifo rni aComm it­ tee of Bar Ex am ine rs. I can promis e that under the lea der shi p,gu ida nc ean d insp ira­ tion of su ch me n as Bis hop Cha rles F. Buddy , LL .D., of Sa n Di eg o, Found erand Pr esi den t of the Un ive rsi ty, and Ms gr. Jam es T. Bo oth , J.C .D. , Reg ent of the Sch ool of Law , we are alr ead y well on our wa y to at tainin gour lar ger goa ls. After ac cre dit ati on , or per hap s eve ncon­ cur ren tly the rew ith , I ant icip ate tha t our ne xt ste p wi ll be the esta blishm ent of a da y law sch ool , wh ich will be run in con­ junctio n with our alr ead yest abl ish ednig ht sch ool . It is my tho ught that a nig ht law school ful fill s a pr eci ou s dut y to the com mu nit y, a dut y tha t sho uld nev er be for gotten. It is on ly the ni gh tlaw sch ool that can off er edu cat ion alopp ort uni tiesto those wh o for one reas on or- ano ther, usu ally eco nomi c, are unabl e to tak e adv ant ageof a full day­ tim e pro gram,but who nev erth eles sdes erv e an opp ort uni ty to furt her thei r edu cat ion toward s so wo rthwh ile a goa l. Those who atte nd nig ht law school while sup por ting themse lves an d the ir fam ilies are usu ally charac ter ize dby remarkable dete rmi nat ion i ation l uate. r, cti al ts tively rtant. it - l ing l ting o l it d tes lity - i ed ts, lity ts l , t ct, lity - roduct. t l ted , h l , s fession l l t e nity, , ti n. i te i g e ic l e l ll ited b ia it- iners. i e ship, nce i - rl , . ., o, er t i rsity, . es , . ., t l , y t i i g ls. ditation, s even con- tly ith, i i ate li ment of a l, i r - i y li hed night l. t school filJs ious t nity, l tt . It l t law chool educational opportunities to those who for . , ll ic, le tage - , t ele e tunity her tion s t hile l. l ting s lves ilies ll terized able ination l

It is my con vic tion that a law school is bui lt upo n three fun dament als :the prin­ cip les for whi ch it sta nd s; the cal ibr e of its fa cu lty ;and its gre at wo rki ng tool , its librar y. Fou r yea rs ag o our law scho ol had no librar y. Now its librar y stand s sec ond in the cou nty onl y to the law libr ary own ed by the cou nty its elf . Th e fou r years pas t are be hin dus now , and we now must look forw ard to the com­ in g yea rs and to the pro gress tha t the y pro mi se. Th e ne xt ste p in that pro gre ss is, in my op ini on , to obtain wh at is termed "a ccredi tat ion " by the Califo rni aCommit­ tee of Bar Ex amine rs. Th e differ encebet wee nan accred itedlaw sch ool in Ca liforni a and an unacc redite d one is per hap s ma gn ifi edin the mi nds of many pers ons .Ess ent iallythe on lypra ctic al dif fer en cema y be that aft er com ple tion of the firs t yea r in an unacc redited law school ea ch studen t must tak e the fir st yea rlaw stud ent s'exa mina tion,or "b ab ybar ," as it is ofte n cal led . I per sonally do not view thi s as an y gre at hand icap. Th e purp ose of thi s exa mi na tio n is to check the pro gre ss of the stud ent and to gi ve him an oppor ­ tun ity to det erm ine if hi s law sch ool is gi vi ng him the edu cat ionhe des erv es. As such, the exa mi na tio nalso gi ve sthe sch ool a contin uou s check on the qu ali ty of its ins tru ctio n. Nor ha ve ou r studen ts any cau se to fea r thi s exam ina tio n.Our reco rd ov er the past thre e yea rs show s that 10 0 pe r cen t, 87 per cen t and 10 0 per cen t of ou r studen ts who took the exami na tion passed it. Th is com par esext rem elyfavor­ ab ly wit h sta tew ide sta tist ics , wh ich show tha t less than 50 per cen t of all thos e tak ing th is exami nat ionpas s. Oth erwise acc red ita tionor the lack of it ha s per hap s no really pra ctical disa dva n­ tag es, ass um ing ar gu en do tha t thi s exami ­ na tio n is in fac t a dis advanta ge.Th e law school gradua te froman unacc red ited school ha s ev ery bi t as go oda sta nd ingto take the i tion l e tals: - l s; e lty; t ing , y. s l y. y s t lf. d , - s ress ise. res o , tation" rnia it- iners. ence ited l l a redited s ified . tial y l cti al ence l tion t redited l t r s' i tion, y , . s l icap. ose s ination res - it ine if l giving him tion es. ination s l cont uous lity in ction. ts use to fear i ation. s s , ent and 100 per cent of ts nation i res ely favor- l t i e statistics, which show t of all those taking i ation s. r i itation s cti l n- , a urning en.do i- ti n vantage. te from redited chool ing

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