Western State College of Law has moved from Fullerton to Irvine, leasing space at 1 Banting in Irvine, part of a two-building California State University-Fullerton Irvine campus in the Irvine Spectrum.
The CSUF Auxiliary Services Corp. in 2012 bought from Western State its former location, 78,000 square feet of space across the street from CSUF’s main campus, for $18.25 million, and leased it back to the law school for $1.4 million a year.
The ASC paid $30.5 million in 2013 to buy 1 and 3 Banting in Irvine, two buildings totaling 138,000 square feet, where it had operated a branch campus since 2011. It occupied one building and retained the other for future use.
The two schools had disagreed last year about whether Western State would continue as a tenant in Fullerton before the law school agreed to take space in the second Banting Corporate Park building.
CSUF plans to move some departments into the Fullerton building later this year, according to reports.
Western State plans an opening celebration April 29 at 1 Banting with Western Dean Allen Easley; Todd Friedland, president of the Orange County Bar Association; William Shapiro, a 1978 alumnus and Isaiah Leslie, board chairman of the Irvine Chamber of Commerce.
The 50-year-old law school is part of the Argosy University system. Argosy’s parent, Education Management Corp. in Pittsburgh, agreed in November to pay $95.5 million to settle federal claims that it illegally paid recruiters and exaggerated the career-placement abilities of its schools.
