The degree-granting authority for California Southern Law School is the Committee of Bar Examiners, and the school is not an accredited law school.
The method of instruction at this law school for the Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree program is principally in physical classroom facilities.
Students enrolled in the J.D. degree program at this law school who successfully complete the first year of law study must pass the First-Year Law Students' Examination required by Business and Professions Code Section 6060(h) and Rule VIII of the Rules Regulating Admission to Practice Law in California as part of the requirements to qualify to take the California Bar Examination. A student who passes the First-Year Law Students' Examination (FYLSX) within three (3) administrations of the examination after first becoming eligible to take it will receive credit for all legal studies completed to the time the examination is passed. A student who does not pass the examination within three (3) administrations of the examination after first becoming eligible to take it must be promptly disqualified from the law school's J.D. program. If the dismissed student subsequently passes the examination, the student is eligible for reenrollment in this law school's J.D. degree program, but will receive credit for only one year of legal study.
Study at, or graduation from, this law school may not qualify a student to take the bar examination or to satisfy the requirements for admission to practice in jurisdictions other than California. A student intending to seek admission to practice law in a jurisdiction other than California should contact the admitting authority in that jurisdiction for information regarding the legal education requirements in that jurisdiction for admission to the practice of law.
Students attending California Southern Law School are required to complete the first-year fall and spring semester courses in order to be eligible to take the First-Year Law Students' Examination (FYLSX) give by the Committee of Bar Examiners of the State of California (CBE) in June and October of each year. There is no limit on how many times a student may take this examination. Students shall not receive credit for any law study by the CBE until they have passed the examination.
An applicant who passes the FYLSX within three (3) consecutive administrations of first becoming eligible to take the examination upon completion of one year of law study, shall receive credit by the CBE for all study completed to the date of the administration of the examination passed. An applicant who does not pass the FYLSX within three consecutive administrations of first becoming eligible to take the examination but who subsequently passes the examination shall receive credit by the CBE for his or her first year of law study only.
California Southern Law School is not required by the CBE to admit into advanced courses any student who has not passed the FYLSX. California Southern Law School requires that a student who completes the first year of law student at this school have achieved an average grade of 68 or higher average in the first-year subjects of Contracts, Torts, and Criminal Law OR achieve a score of 530 (out of 800) on the June FYLSX (immediately after first becoming eligible to take the FYLSX), to be considered for enrollment in 2nd year courses while preparing for the following October and/or June FYLSX. The decision to admit students who have not passed the June FYLSX into 2nd year is strictly at the discretion of the Administration.
All students are required to attend classes for a minimum of 270 hours (18 units) a year. In order to graduate in four years students must complete 84 semester units. All students are expected to complete the course in four years unless permission of the Dean is obtained to extend the period.
Attendance is a statutory requirement for admission to practice law in California. The California Supreme Court also regulates the attendance of law students through Rule 9.30, which requires that each student attend not less than 80 percent of the regularly scheduled class hours in each course in which they are enrolled. No credit can be given for courses in which the student has been absent more than 20 percent of scheduled classes. Absences are recorded. Excessive absences may result in probation or dismissal from the law school.
3 unit course - Establishment and termination of the relationship; scope of the agency; liabilities arising therefrom; disclosed and undisclosed principals; express agencies, ostensible agencies, and agencies by ratification. Discusses forms of ownership including corporations and partnerships.
2 unit course - Establishment and termination of the relationship; scope of the agency; liabilities arising therefrom; disclosed and undisclosed principals; express agencies, ostensible agencies, and agencies by ratification.
6 units - General principles of pleading, joinder, discovery, and adjudication without trial; state and federal jurisdiction and venue; trial and appeal of civil actions; res judicata and collateral estoppel.
6 units - This course considers the various aspects of a commercial transaction as conceived and regulated by the Uniform Commercial Code. The theory of the code as an integrated body of law is adhered to. Major emphasis is on the two main articles of the code dealing with sales of goods and secured transactions.
3 units - The classification of separate and community property, the management and control of the community, liability of debts, and problems arising from the dissolution of the community.
6 units - Judicial review, immunities of federal and state governments, federal delegated powers and reserved state powers, federal powers as limitations on state powers, individual rights as limiting federal and state powers.
6 units - The law relating to formation of contracts, the Statute of Frauds, third party beneficiary contracts, assignment of rights and delegation of duties, liability for breach of contract including the law of conditions and discharge, and other related problems.
6 units - Nature of, promotion and formation of corporations; issuance of shares, initially and late; scope of authorized transactions; management's role in corporate government; shareholders' role; derivative suits; dividends; purchase and redemption of shares and capital reduction; fundamental changes through sale assets, merger, consolidation and amendments to articles; dissolution.
4 units - Fundamentals of the substantive law of crimes, punishable acts and omissions, requisite intent, legal defenses, liability for conspiracy and attempt, enforcement of the law.
2 units - Procedure from arrest through appellate proceedings, bail, arraignments, discovery and trial procedures; constitutional guarantees as interpreted by Supreme Court decisions.
6 units - The law relating to relevancy and materiality; privileged communications; the hearsay rule and its exceptions; the opinion rules; authentication and the best evidence rule; impeachment and rehabilitation; presumptions and burden of proof; parole evidence rule.
3 units - Methods of legal analysis, search methods for federal and state statutes, for judicial precedents in the digests, encyclopedias, text books, legal periodicals, loose-leaf reporting services and case reports, with problems in their use.
2 units - A course designed to train the student in problem analysis; a practical approach to Bar Examination questions.
2 units - The legal profession as an institution, appraisal of its works and organization; professional privileges and duties; professional responsibility as reflected in effective and decent representation of clients.
6 units - The law relating to the various types of real property interests including freehold and non-freehold estates and future interests; concurrent ownership of land, adverse possession; methods of transferring title of land, including the law of delivery and acceptance; recording statutes; covenants running with the land and equitable servitudes; easements and profits, and public interests in land including zoning.
6 units - Introduction to the forms of judicial remedies: principles governing their scope and availability, and consideration of grounds for choosing between alternative remedies. Includes general principles of damages, specific performance and injunction.
6 units - The law relating to civil liability for intentional wrongs to persons and property, negligence, strict liability, misrepresentation, defamation, and other civil wrongs.
6 units - Students prepare for and participate in simulated trials.
6 units - Transfers of property at death or by intervivos trust, principles of estate planning including intestate succession, execution of wills, limitations upon testamentary power, contest of wills, private express trusts, informal and incomplete trusts, gifts to charity, interrelating testamentary and intervivos transactions, future interests, social restrictions on perpetuities and accumulations, and fiduciary administration.
