Whittier Law School to Open in O.C. in ’97

Whittier Law School will open its new campus here in August 1997 on 15 acres on the southwest corner of Harbor Boulevard and Sunflower Avenue, school officials announced Tuesday.

The institution is buying the commercial site with buildings from C.J. Segerstrom & Sons and will renovate them in time to relocate there and welcome the class entering in 1997.

College and city officials, as well as Henry Segerstrom, hailed the agreement at a news conference in the ornate Center Club and said that having an accredited law school in the county would be a boon to the legal and business communities.

“This is the most important move in higher education in Orange County since” the opening of a branch of the University of California at Irvine in 1965, said Segerstrom, who is managing partner of the family business.

Almost every speaker mentioned that Orange County is the largest metropolitan area in the nation without an American Bar Assn.-accredited law school.

Orange County Bar Assn. President Jennifer Keller said that she was “delighted” and that, in addition to serving the “booming business community,” the school will provide students and faculty to help staff the bar association’s pro bono and other community projects, which serve the county’s indigent.

The announcement ended fierce competition in Orange County for the school, which announced in February that it would leave its current, cramped home in Hancock Park in Los Angeles. The incoming class this August will attend classes in Irvine in the Park Place complex off Jamboree Boulevard, while the second and third year classes remain in Los Angeles. The entire school will move to Costa Mesa next summer.

Whittier College, in the city of Whittier, is primarily an undergraduate institution, offering advanced degrees only in law and education.

President James L. Ash Jr. said more than 80 sites had been considered. The key choice ended up between Irvine and Costa Mesa, officials said.

The decision to pick Costa Mesa is a coup for Segerstrom, who has added another jewel to the metropolitan cultural and commercial center his family has developed on one-time farm land in Santa Ana and Costa Mesa.

Though he presided at the news conference, Segerstrom deflected praise or credit: “We focus with pride on bringing this to Costa Mesa, but the larger focus is on bringing such an exceptional resource to Orange County.”

The programs at Chapman University and Western State University College of Law are not currently accredited by the American Bar Assn., officials said.

Neither college officials nor Segerstrom would discuss the sale price until the agreement is presented to Whittier trustees. Segerstrom declined to say if the price was below market value. The assessed valuation of the property in 1994 was $3.1 million.

The Hancock Park campus, which is about 5 acres, will be sold.

About 650 students attend the day and night divisions of the school, which offers both three- and four-year tracks to a law degree. Tuition in the three-year program is $18,000. The larger campus in Orange County has allowed the school to expand its incoming class to 250.

One third of the law school students are from outside California. The largest contingent of students are from USC and California universities.

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Class Action

Whittier Law School will relocate to Costa Mesa in August 1997. For the next school year, freshmen will attend classes in Irvine and upper class members will stay in Hancock Park. Some fast facts:

* Founded: 1966 as Beverly Law School;1975 merged with Whittier College.

* Students: 700 growing to 750.

* Law library: 225,000 volumes.

* Annual tuition: $18,000

* Alumni: 2,800

* Student / faculity ratio: 25 /1

Source: Whittier Law School