SB 1281: Law schools: unaccredited law school disclosures.

Existing law requires any law school that is not accredited by the examining committee of the State Bar of California (State Bar) to provide every student with a disclosure statement, subsequent to the payment of any application fee but prior to the payment of any registration fee, that contains, among other things, a statement that the law school is not accredited and the number and percentage of students who have taken and who have passed the first-year law students examination and the final bar examination in the previous 5 years, or since the establishment of the school, whichever time is less, as specified.

This bill would additionally require a law school that is not accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA) to publicly disclose on its Internet Web site, specified information, including tuition costs, class sizes, number of faculty, bar passage data, and employment outcomes for graduates. The bill would define terms for these purposes. The bill would also authorize the State Bar to develop a standard information reporting template. The bill would require specific disclosure information be distributed by the school to all applicants being offered conditional scholarships at the time the scholarship offer is extended.