Thomas Jefferson School Of Law

Q: I have recently found out that a non-ABA law school in San Diego, Thomal Jefferson, is going ABA within the next six months. Does anyone have any info on this law school?

A: Take that info eith a cup or two of salt. The ABA NEVER announces 6 months in advance that a school will be approved. And they're not approved until they are; cf. Mass. School of Law. TJSL was formerly the San Diego Campus of Western State University. They have been recomended for accreditation by the the people who do the preliminary check of the school. This will go to the approval commitee supposedly at the en of the month. According to the school, there has never been a school denied after this prelim stage has been completed. They are now advertising the school as this so they must be fairly confident of receiving approval. This approval has no bearing on WSU's Fullerton campus although they wil be applying as early as 9/97 for accreditation and are confident of receiving in the next 2 years. Well, if they were going to obtain accrediation

they just lost it. One of the nice little rules the ABA has is that a school cannot say "accrediation is just around the corner." They can say they have applied for accrediation and are hopeful of obtaining accrediation but they can't advertise that they WILL obtain accrediation. In any case, the ABA doesn't accrediate a school on the first shot anyway. A school is only provisionally accrediated until it graduates its first class under ABA supervision and last time I looked TJSL doesn't have provisional accrediation. Be careful on this. There are quite a few schools out there that failed to obtain ABA accrediation and that have tried pretty hard.