Two Orange County law schools made it into the Top 10 most culturally diverse law schools in the nation, as ranked by U.S. News and World Report.
Costa Mesa-based Whittier Law School has been dubbed the second most culturally diverse law school in the nation, and No. 1 in California. Fullerton-based Western State University College of Law was put at No.5 nationally.
St. Thomas University School of Law in Miami ranked first in diversity in the “America’s Best Graduate Schools” report in the April 2 edition of the magazine, while Rutgers University School of Law in New Jersey tied with Whittier.
Other California law schools cracking the top 10 for diversity include Loyola Law School, USC, Southwestern University College of Law and Santa Clara University School of Law.
About 42% of Whittier’s 718 law students are minorities and 52% are women. Out of the 501 students at Western State University College of Law, 39.5% are minorities and 46% are female.
Whittier Law School, established in 1975, is part of Whittier College. Whittier received full approval by the American Bar Association in 1978 and is a member of the Association of American Law Schools.
Specialty programs include the Center for Children’s Rights and the new Children’s Rights Clinic; the Center for Intellectual Property Law as well as annual symposia on health law and international law. An LLM degree in U.S. Legal Studies for foreign lawyers began in fall 2000.
Western State University College of Law, founded in 1966, is OC’s oldest law school. The school has provisional American Bar Association approval and its specialty programs include practice-oriented legal studies.
