California Western School of Law


California Western School of Law is a private law school in San Diego, California. It is one of two successor organizations to California Western University, the other being Alliant International University. The school was founded in 1924, was approved by the American Bar Association in 1962, and became a member of the Association of American Law Schools in 1967.
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History

California Western is San Diego's oldest law school. It was originally chartered in 1924 by Leland Ghent Stanford as a private graduate institution called Balboa Law College. Balboa Law College expanded to include undergraduate and other graduate studies, and changed its name to Balboa University.
In 1952, Balboa University became affiliated with the Southern California Methodist Conference and changed its name to California Western University, and the law school was relocated to downtown San Diego. In 1960 California Western received approval from the American Bar Association. In 1973, the law school relocated within downtown San Diego to its current downtown campus at 350 Cedar Street. In 1975, the school ended its affiliation with Cal Western's successor school, US International University, and became an independent secular law school. In 1980, the new trimester system was announced, allowing two entering classes per academic year, reducing individual class size and allowing students the opportunity to graduate in two years rather than the standard three.
In January 2000, California Western opened a new law library building at 290 Cedar Street, dedicated by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy.
Miriam H. Baer was named the school's dean and president in July 2025.Baer is a well-respected scholar in the areas of white-collar and corporate crime and is also a member of the American Law Institute and a fellow of the American Bar Foundation.

Academics

The law school teaches the J.D. curriculum plus a dual-degree option, a J.D./Master of Business Administration with San Diego State University.
For the Entering Class Fall 2025, California Western accepted 46.5% of applicants, and with Median LSAT score for all program entrants of 155 and a median undergraduate GPA for all program entrants of 3.50.

Clinics and experiential learning

Faculty

CWSL employed 36 full-time faculty during the 2024-25 academic year and another 60 part-time faculty, including local members of the judiciary, practitioners, and public servants.
Full-time faculty are well-known scholars who have published their work in multiple top-50 journals and law reviews, and books with top academic publishers such as Cambridge, University of California, and Oxford University Press. The faculty’s scholarship, which is compiled by the SSRN California Western Legal Research Series Paper Series, has collectively received over 80,000 SSRN downloads and over 700,000 abstract views. On Scholarly Commons, CWSL professors’ work has been downloaded over 1.7 million times, and over 300,000 times in the 2025 calendar year alone.

Student debt

According to U.S. News & World Report, annual tuition and fees are $58,350 for full-time, and $43,550 for part-time.

Notable alumni