News Scrapbook 1986

lmperlal Beach, CA (San Diego Co.) Imperial Star Beach News (Cir. 2xW. 2,087)

R 24 1986

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I , --~~---_-_-.=----- nitan receives Abdelnour award, ··scholarship ~oul always dreamed scheduling secretary , RU

for Assemblyman Larry Stirling. Raya said keeping tabs on an elected official takes up most of her working day. Before beginn- ing work with Stirling in January she worked as an intern for San Diego city clerk. She plans to begin studies this fall at National University . Should she decide tostudy law, the scholarship award will be in- creased to 51,000. Raya, however, said she will probably earn a master! degree in public administration. "Someday I would like 10 be doing something with. state governllJF,m, I'd· like to be a legislative or administrative aide for a legislator. "I've always been interested in state and local governments," she said, adding she even kept up on local election results as a teen-

degree in political science. She is a 1981 graduate of Bonita Vista High School. Raya was nominated for the chotarship award by the San· Diego Lebanese Professional Group. The leadership award is named after San Diego City Clerk Charles G. Abdelnour and is awarded to people of Near East descent. Abdelnour is a foundin1 member of the San Diego Lebanese Professional Group. Raya's grandparents came to America from Lebanon. Her parents, Michael and Margaret Raya of Bonita, \l,'ere born in the United States. Raya was born in San Diego and has spent much of her lifc-.in the South Bay. "I visited Lebanon once in 1974. It was very diffe(ent. One visit there is enough. I don't think it will ever be the same aaain," Raya commented. Currently she works as

about being mvolved m politic nd overnment, Mi helle Raya never thought her most avid in- terest would lead to a S7SO 1:holarship award. When he found out she was the r cipient or the Charles G. bdelnour Leader hip Award and accompanyina scholarship tuition ward from ational Univcr ity, he was stunned. "l w n't told I was gettina the w rd. When they called my name my father had to push me to make me realize it was really my name they were calling. It was quite nice urprise," aid RayL Pre entma the award to Raya were Chula Vista City Coun• dim n David Malcolm and a- tional University President Dr. recent gradu~ the University of San Diego ..!i!_h a bachelor of arts David Chiaos. The 22-year-old i a

I Michelle Raya (c.) receives award from Chula Vista City Councilman David Malcolm (I.) and Dr. David Chigos (r.), president of National University

ager.

San Diego, CA (San Diego Co.) Dally Transcript (Cir. D. 7,415)

APR 2.5 1986 I

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... 1f kAnd Hamilton & Lindley GaveWyTo CalWestern, USD Stanford's Balboa Law College Wa Early Leader, But With New Name It Quit From 1952-58 U D Filled The Gap With 'WarmBodies' -- By LIBBY BRYDOLF . 1nDI fODailyTl'llaarripl.lJfltrit,r three ye11rs earlier. The First Formal School

TUESDAY APRIL 25 1986

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ofL~al Law Schools

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school full time. Both schools offer smaller day programs for full-time recent college graduates. Na- tional's program differs slightly from Western's - targeting middle managers who view the law degree as a ch a nce for promotion up the corporate ladder , rather than as a license to practice law. National, which recently moved to larger quarters in a commercial office building on Miramar Road, ; also hopes to file its application I with the ABA this fall. Its new moot court room, described as 1 state-of-the-art, will be offered to I local courts for part-time use, of- ; ficials said. d _7 I

ABA:ac~red1ted law schools. But the city s two_premrnr schools have other competitors - Western State and National University - both of whom plan to vie for ABA ac- creditation later this year. Western State The largest of t hese is Western State University College of Law, a n Oran ge County-based law school with a large campus in San Diego. Enrollment at the two cam- puses stands at 1,560, with 570 students attending Western State's Old Town campus. Founded in 1966, by a group of lawyers, judges a nd businessmen, Western State offers night and day classes, but focuses on it s evening program for second career hope- fuls. The local campus opened in 1969. For the past two years, Western State has been working hard to meet the ABA requirements for full accreditation . Two consult ants are working full-time with the school, which plans t o submit its application next fall. The final ABA decision should come in 1987, according to Carl Tusinski of the admissions office. National's Style A less traditional approach to legal education is offered by Na- tional University. Its law school, formerly Cabrillo Pacific Universi- ty College of Law, was bought by National in 1978. Fourteen-year- olr1 Cabrillo offer ed bot h a bachelor's degree in law as well as traditional L.L.B a nd J.D. degrees. National's law courses bega n in 1979. Current law curriculum is a mixture of traditional legal educa- tion a nd Nat i onal 's un i que modular course structure. Na- tional's 200 law students spend their first year taking courses si- multaneously three nights a week to prepare for the baby bar, a qual- ifying exam required of all st u- dents attending non-ABA ac- credited law schools in the state. Stude nts t h en switch to the modular plan, taking one intensive course a t a time at their own pace. Typical students spend four years completing the evening law degree. Like Western State, National focuses its program on working adults who want to earn a law degree, but can't afford to attend

one-to-one basis,

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holding court in his office. Fearful students would stand at attention in front of his desk to await the results of their exams, Evatt said. "There were several times when I Datt a n was also sternly to the future of the school. Evatt, fearful the inst itu- tion would close for lack of stu- · dent s, was assured by Datt an: "As long as we have one student in this law school th~t I feel can pass the bar examination, we'll have a dedicated sweated blood in there."

sity. USD's first college, San Diego College for Women, opened its doors in 1952. It was the sixth fi. nanced and built by The Society of The Sacred Heart in the U .S. The College for Men, which included the law school, followed two years According to USD Professor Irv- ing Parker, formerly dean of ad- missions and records for the law school and College for Men, Buddy envisioned a law school with a USD's first professional school, the law school was a night-only operation, offering part-time legal studies to adults interested in law as a second career. Although not every student was Catholic, a number of professors wove Chris- tian ideology into their teaching of such subjects as contracts, torts and probate. First Student Evatt Recalls Still, Timothy Evatt, who was a member of the first USO class, remembers that a rabbi and at least a few avowed atheists at- tended at least some of the law school's courses. The school, quickly successful, attracted about 100 students in its first three years, but according Evatt, the attrition rate was "in- credible." By 1955, the number of students had dwindled to six, Evatt recalls, and the school was forced to combine the first and second year classes. "They took anybody that was warm. They needed your money, so you were in." At three courses a semester, three nights a week, and with studying required the other even- ings and weekends, USD's law school wasn't easy. "It was a terri- ble grind," said Evatt, who worked days as a production control analyst and contract negotiator at Convair. But the lure of a larger salary, future job security and a respected profession kept Evatt in the six-year program. "I feel like a survivor.'t Discipline, embodied by the school's first dean, Howard Dattan, was also strict, Evatt recalled. An Army officer-turned-lawyer, Dat- tan ran a tight ship up on the uni- versity's Alcala Park site. "He treated us like we were privates in the Army." Grades In Court Dattan, who aparently mellowed in the ensuing years, would issue later. "solid grounding in Christian ethics."

Although a few law schools pep- pered the country a century ugo, most I wyer . including those born a nd bred tn San D1eg , earned their stripes in I gal clerkships or under th• tutelage or a practicing lawyer offering informal coui'!l son thes1de. The state of California funded it first law hool, H11slings College of L w, in an Francisco in 1878 Formal legal training came lo I.os Angele. 18 years later. an Diego's first ttempt at tor• mal legal pedago1,,,y probably came i n 1910 with Ern t E. Kirk's Kirk Law &·hool, which dvertised a two-year course ot evening and daytime cla at the Spreckel Theater for $150. According to former San Diego County law li- brarian Leland Stanford, Kirk's attempt probably didn't last past its fourth year. A second school, the Hamilton

Stanford's Balboa Law College, which offered its fir t courses in September 1927, provided San Diego's first on-going formal legal education. For the next 25 years, the college, affiliated with Balboa U111vers1ty, trained some 2,500 students, Stanford reported in his book, "Footprints of Justice." The chool's first student com- pleted coursework in 1931. Gradu- ate remained in the single figures for the next 17 years - records show four, five, six and seven graduates annually. But the school continued lo gain popularity and the ~,'l'(lduates swelled to 10, 15 and 20 tudents between 1949 and 1952 De ·pile the law school's ap- parent growing success, Balboa University switched gears - af- filiating it elf in 952 with the Methodist Church and changing its

school."

Evatt, now 60, graduated in 1958 and left Convair to join the San Diego City Attorney's office. To- day, he, his wife, Mary Lou Smith, and Patrick D. Campbell have a private practice downtown. Cal Western Returns Meanwhile, Robert Castetter wasn't about to let Balboa Law School die for good. After a six-year hiatus, Balboa again opened its doors in 1958 as an alternative to the Catholic-focused legal educa- tion on the hill. Its new name, the one it bears today, was California Western University School of Law. The new Cal Western offered on- ly day classes, commencing opera- tions in 1958 with three law pro- fessors. By 1960, the school had at- tracted 11 students. "We started over," remembers Castetter, who served as dean of the law school for the next 20 years. The school grew quickly, gaining accreditation from the American Bar Association in 1962. That year, Cal Western set up shop at the unversity's Point Loma campus, which in 1968 became U.S. Inter- national University. The law school held onto its Cal Western name, and in 1975, split off from USIU, which was having cash flow problems. Cal Western purchased its Venetian-Palazzo building on Cedar Street between 4th and 5th avenues downtown, and became one of the country's few indepen- dent law schools. Cal Western Takeovers? There have been other attempts to acquire Cai Western over the. years: first from UC Hastings to be its Southern California campus, and later from UCSD. That most recent attempt was squelched two years ago, and Cal Western, which favored joining UCSD, remains in- dependent. Today, Cal Western and sister- rival USD are San Diego's only

Complete schedule of 1986 Law Day events on Page 12C

name to California Western U1,i- versity. The law school was ap- parently not the top priority of the new institution. The new universi- ty focused on business, science and liberal arts and closed San Diego's only law school during 1952. USD Takes Task Enter University of San Diego. Troubled by the closure of the city's only law school, Bishop Charles F. Buddy pushed for the addition of a law school to the Cat~l:c univer- (Continued on Pa \CJ

nd Lindley Law School, operated betweeen 1913 and 1918 with peak enrollment reachi ng about 17 stu- dents. Many graduates Rtayed on to pract ice law a nd rise to Judgeships in the county. After Hamilton and Lindley shut its doors, Stanford took it upon himself to organize a new chool. According to Robert Ca letter, former president end dean of Cali- fornia \\ estern School of Law, Sta nford in 1927 purchased a state lie nae to operate a la_,; school that had been is ued to another party