Chapman Law School Looks Beyond Past

Hoping to leave Chapman University School of Law’s tumultuous beginnings behind, officials expect that a high-profile visit from Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and a ceremony to rename the law school building after a prominent donor Wednesday will shine a positive light on the fledgling school.

The celebration is being touted as a “coming of age” for the 4-year-old law school, which moved into its new $25 million building across the street from Chapman University’s campus in downtown Orange in June. The building will be renamed for Donald P. Kennedy, a Chapman University trustee and chairman of the board of First American Financial Corp.

More than $18 millionof a millennium fund-raising goal of $25 million has been collected, and a gift of an undisclosed amount from Kennedy will go in part toward providing scholarships for law students. The remainder will be used to establish the Donald P. Kennedy Deanship and Chair of Legal Studies, which will be held initially by law school dean Parham Williams.

This year’s entering class of 60 students had a median score of 154 on the law school entrance exam, or LSAT, landing Chapman in the top third of all law schools in the country.

Williams, who became dean in June 1997, said his goal is to see the school’s median LSAT score reach the top 20 percent.

Williams has seen the school move from a shaky start to more solid footing. When the school was denied accreditation by the American Bar Association in 1997, several students filed a class action lawsuit alleging that they had invested in a “useless legal education.” As a result, the university offered unprecedented tuition refunds that cost the school about $1.25 million.

The school went on to win provisional accreditation in February 1998. Williams said the law school will begin applying for full accreditation in March.