Law Schools

Despite Positive News, Western State’s Long-Term Future Is Uncertain

Finding a buyer for Western State won’t be easy, despite several parties expressing interest.

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Western State College of Law at Argosy University will live to see the end of the spring 2019 semester, a glimmer of positive news among a dark time for the students who have gone without financial aid and battled stress from their school’s predicament. However, the Orange County law school’s long-term future remains murky.

Earlier this week, an Ohio federal judge directed the receiver overseeing the receivership of the law school’s parent company to continue funding Western State through May 29.

Previously, the law school’s administration had told students classes were only guaranteed to continue through March 22.

U.S. Judge Dan Aaron Polster’s order also gave the receiver more time to try to find a buyer for Western State, an American Bar Association-accredited school in Irvine, California. Polster said the receiver had until April 26 to market the law school’s assets.

But finding a buyer for Western State won’t be easy, despite several parties expressing interest.

The U.S. Department of Education has indicated that the only way for the law school to again receive federal financial aid is to be brought under an existing institution other than Argosy with federal loan eligibility. This requirement prompted a company called Studio Enterprise Manager LLC to discontinue its efforts to purchase the school.

The Department of Education also told the federal court in Ohio that any formal proposals to purchase the school must be presented to DOE through the receiver. The receiver is required to file a status report on efforts to find a buyer by April 2.

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As for the school’s students, the 77 3Ls scheduled to graduate in May appear to be in the best position.

They were informed recently that most of them would be able earn their JDs if they complete classes through March 22.

To make that possible, the school reduced the number of units needed to graduate from 88 to the ABA-minimum of 83.

The school also suspended the requirement that Western State students achieve 8 units of Foundational Law Points, or FLPs, for the May 2019 graduating class. An FLP is earned by earning a grade of 2.5 or higher in certain classes, such as evidence or civil procedure.

A 3L said Thursday that the law school staying open through May will not preclude third-year students from graduating on an accelerated schedule this spring. That is great news for third-year students like Jamila Ha who feared they may not be able to graduate this spring and take the July bar exam.

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The ability to complete the semester at Western State is also positive in the near term for students who will not graduate in May.

Western State Dean Allen K. Easley wrote in a March 14 letter to Judge Polster that two students hope to graduate in August 2019, 34 hope to graduate in December 2019, and 95 hope to graduate in May 2020.

For those students, many law schools in California have expressed openness to allowing them to transfer, an enticing option given that Western State’s long-term future remains unclear.

However, Western State students should try to make sure they transfer to a school that won’t end up in a similar precarious position, a “double whammy” experienced by those who transferred to Western from Whittier Law School in Orange County.

Lyle Moran is a freelance writer in San Diego who handles both journalism and content writing projects. He previously reported for the Los Angeles Daily Journal, San Diego Daily Transcript, Associated Press, and Lowell Sun. He can be reached at lmoransun@gmail.com.

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