Newport Beach-based St. Francis School of Law has graduated its first class, with three law students. It’s billed as the country’s first not-for-profit, online-only law school.
St. Francis is owned by Baker College, a not-for-profit enterprise based in Flint, Mich. The law school was founded in Northern California and moved the headquarters for its online operations to Orange County in 2014 when Dean Carole Buckner joined the program.
St. Francis is registered with the California State Bar as an unaccredited, distance-learning law school. The State Bar currently does not accredit distance learning law schools, but there’s a pending proposal under consideration by the California State Bar Committee of Bar Examiners.
