ABA Deals Chapman Students a Potentially Losing Hand

You wonder what it would be like to have casino gambling in Orange County?

Here’s an idea: Ask the law students at Chapman University. Right now, they have a huge stack of chips sitting in the middle of the table while they reexamine their cards and try to decide whether to keep playing or throw in.

I’d be sweating so much by now I’d be sliding out of my clothes. These people must be cooler than any Texan named “Slim” who ever sat down at a seven-card stud table in Las Vegas. Nerves of steel. One thing we can say about this Chapman class--if they ever get to practice law, no judge will make them nervous.

From the start, these students have been gamblers. Now midway through its second year, the school came into being on the shoulders of Chapman’s solid reputation and the certainty that well-heeled alums like local millionaire George Argyros were never more than a phone call away. But as a start-up law school, it wasn’t accredited, and Chapman officials had rolled the dice and decided to forgo seeking state accreditation. Instead, they went after the big enchilada--American Bar Assn. accreditation.

So, hoping to be the first graduates of Orange County’s first ABA-accredited law school, the students came, some 200 for the first semester in 1995. Those carrying a full first-year load also brought more than $17,000 with them and laid it on the table. Second-year students carrying a full credit load plopped down another $18,000 this year.

Now, those students are $35,000 in the hole. Last week, many of them may have gulped when the ABA denied accreditation to the school. It’s only the first rejection, and an appeal is in the works. If that fails, a renewed application will be in the mail for next year.

Still, no student likes to have $35,000 invested in an unaccredited law school. Second-year student Linda Norcross of Dana Point said students are wary.

“We were told we would get accreditation,” she said this week. “We were told they [the Chapman administration] couldn’t guarantee it, but that we would get it.”

She believes students still have faith in the school. But she is miffed that Law School Dean Jeremy Miller publicly revealed that only 14% of Chapman students passed the “baby bar” exam required by the State Bar of California for first-year students of unaccredited law schools. Without passing the baby bar--and assuming that Chapman isn’t ABA-accredited by the time Norcross’ class graduates--a Chapman graduate couldn’t practice law anywhere.

That’s the worst-case scenario, and one that no one wants to contemplate.

What, me worry, Miller seemed to be saying this week. “I think we had a near-miss. We get two bites of the apple, and a school which is devoting the resources which we’re devoting almost always gets it within those two bites. It’s my belief we’re going to be ABA-approved before anyone graduates.”

In the meantime, the school will go after state accreditation, an easier hurdle.

As gently as I could, I suggested that the ABA’s rejection came at a bad time, considering that Whittier Law School, which already has ABA accreditation, has set up shop in Orange County, and may lure away Chapman students wondering about their post-graduation employment.

Again, not to worry, Miller said. “At the moment, I’d be lying if I said I wished we weren’t the only law school within a thousand miles, but ultimately, it will be a synergistic thing. It won’t be a nasty rivalry.”

In the meantime, to steady the nerves at Chapman, Miller said the school would beef up scholarship offers. “Defeat is a state of mind,” he said. “I don’t feel defeated. Of course, it is a setback, but I’m honestly proud of what we’ve accomplished. But we do need the imprimatur of approval.”

It’s the students, of course, who are stuck with most of the risk at the moment. Perhaps that’s why Norcross is steamed at Miller, and thinks he should consider stepping down.

A number of students also want Miller to release the ABA’s reasons for denying accreditation, but Miller said legal counsel has advised against that. “But in answer to the question you haven’t asked, ‘Do I have anything to hide?’ absolutely not,” Miller said. “There’s no smoking gun. I absolutely feel it was a near-miss.”

The game isn’t close to over, but the decisions are getting stickier. “You’re into the house for so much money, you can’t quit playing,” Norcross said.

That makes me jumpy. Some of my worst poker nights occurred when I thought like that.

Dana Parsons’ column appears Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Readers may reach Parsons by writing to him at the Times Orange County Edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626, or calling (714) 966-7821.