California Law School
Western State University College of Law, founded in 1966, is Orange County's oldest law school, located in the college town of Fullerton about 30 miles south of metropolitan Los Angeles. As Orange County has grown into a dynamic financial, business and high technology center with a population over 3 million and the legal community has expanded dramatically, Western State quickly became a well-respected center for legal education in Southern California, with over 11,000 graduates.
WSU's accomplished alumni have excelled in public and private legal practice, business, government, and academia. The school also proudly points to the fact that in recent years, WSU has produced approximately 170 of California's judicial officers, more than any other law school.
Throughout its history, Western State has continued to maintain the highest standards of legal education with an emphasis on solid academic foundation and practical lawyering experience; its mission to provide opportunity for a diverse student body; and an exceptionally supportive learning environment with an accessible, teaching-oriented faculty.
Western State has now been granted full American Bar Association (ABA) approval, the highest level of accreditation achievable for a law school in the United States. With full accreditation, WSU students are eligible to apply for bar membership in any state in the nation.
Western State is dedicated to providing students with the support, guidance, and training necessary to realize their potential. Western State offers both full- and part-time programs and throughout its 45 year history has been committed to the excellence of its teaching and to preparing students for the practice of law.
Western State's student body is diverse and reflects the law school's mission to serve the community. That diversity is also reflected in the dedicated and highly accessible, teaching-oriented faculty, who serve as scholars and mentors both inside and outside of the classroom.
Western State Is...
- Receiving special attention for its creative first year program of instruction.
- Renowned for its lawyering skills programs including its Business Law and Criminal Law Practice Centers, Legal Clinic and Externship programs and competitive Moot Court teams.
- Offers both a full- and part-time program of instruction and admits students in August (full- and part-time).
- The oldest law school in Orange County, California, with over 11,000 graduates.
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Featured Faculty
Antonette Barilla, Assistant Director of STELLAR
Antonette Barilla has been selected to participate in this year's Summer Academy at the Hague as one of only four participants from the United States. Currently the Assistant Director of Academic Support at Western State University, she comes from a practice focused on private international law. She is one the Italian Consul General of Los Angeles’ select group of referred attorneys and teaches a variety of courses involving international law and international business transactions.
The Hague Academy of International Law has occupied premises at the Peace Palace, alongside the highest judicial institutions such as the International Court of Justice and the Bureau of the Permanent Court of Arbitration. It is a center for research and teaching in public and private international law, with the aim of further scientific and advanced studies of the legal aspects of international relations.
Participants, who have come from all over the world, representing between sixty and eighty nationalities each year, and many of whom have subsequently become well-known in the academic world, in research, or in diplomacy, have thus had the opportunity to meet "great names" of international law and to attend courses of a very high level. The "summer courses" also provide an opportunity, in the city which has become the "Capital of international law", to have contacts with the International Court of Justice, the international criminal courts, the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal, the Bureau of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, the Conference on Private International Law, and other institutions.
This is a great honor and achievement.