L.A. Law School to Relocate to Costa Mesa

Whittier College Law School officials said Tuesday that they will permanently relocate the fully accredited law school from Los Angeles to Costa Mesa.

Although officials, who will make a formal announcement today, would not disclose the exact location Tuesday, the new site is expected to be on property owned by real estate developer C.J. Segerstrom & Sons, which helped attract the 650-student law school to Costa Mesa.

Civic leaders in Costa Mesa, which had been in competition with Irvine for the law school, cheered the decision. “The school carries a great deal of prestige, and I’m glad they chose our city,” said Mayor Joe Erickson.

Irvine had appeared to be the front-runner for getting Orange County’s only American Bar Assn.-approved law school. Last spring, college officials announced that law school classes would be held at the Park Place building in Irvine.

But college officials said the Irvine site will only be used until a new law school can be built in Costa Mesa. No cost has been disclosed, but officials said they expect to occupy the new campus in a year.

Citing a need for more room and a larger market, law school officials announced in February their intention to relocate to Orange County. Officials said the law school had outgrown its 60,000-square-foot campus in Hancock Park and wanted a facility twice that size.

The arrival of an accredited law school in the county will fill a void created almost two decades ago when Pepperdine University left for Malibu. Orange County is one of the most populous areas in the country without an ABA-approved law school.

There are about 180 ABA-approved law schools in the country. The approval, which is based upon such factors as student-faculty ratios and the size of legal libraries, is considered one of the most prestigious classifications a law school can obtain.

Chapman University opened its law school last year and is aggressively seeking ABA approval, which school officials hope to obtain as early as February. Chapman University announced Monday the purchase of 4.2 acres in Orange to ensure that the law school will remain in Orange County.

Western State University College of Law, with campuses in Fullerton and Irvine, announced this spring its intention to seek ABA approval.