Western State’s Chance of Accreditation Rises

Thirty-two years after it opened, Western State University College of Law on Monday took a big step toward national accreditation.

A key panel of the American Bar Assn. is recommending provisional accreditation to the ABA section council. The council will vote on the matter next month in Newport, R.I. A favorable vote would serve as a recommendation to the ABA House of Delegates, which has the final say. It will make a decision in August.

If the delegates grant the accreditation, the law school would become the third in Orange County in the nation’s upper echelon. Whittier Law School, which moved to Costa Mesa last year, was the first; Chapman University School of Law became the second five months ago.

“This is a very significant accomplishment,” said Dennis R. Honabach, Western State’s president and law school dean. “We’re very pleased and excited, but it’s not a done deal yet. We’re cautiously optimistic.”

Nevertheless, Honabach said he announced the news to students Monday afternoon. “We had cheering all over the place,” he said.

Winning ABA approval would make Western State one of only about 180 law schools nationwide with the prestigious accreditation.

Such recognition would mean that Western State graduates could take the bar examination in any state and apply for advanced-degree programs at other ABA-accredited law schools. It also would create more employment opportunities.

The Fullerton law school is the county’s oldest and has graduated more than 9,800 lawyers.

It applied for national accreditation in 1987 but did not receive approval, Honabach said.

Since then, he said, the school has made several major changes to improve its program.