First-Class Action

They learned about torts and testimony, duress and due process, but perhaps most important, the first graduates of Chapman University School of Law learned about gambling.

The 64 students who receive their degrees today in a ceremony on campus had wagered that the university could win national accreditation for the fledgling law school by the time they graduated. Accreditation is crucial because it opens the door to law licenses and jobs in other states.

After rejecting the law school’s bid twice last year, the American Bar Assn. finally approved the school’s program and accredited it in February.

“There’s a hard gambling streak in the inaugural class,” said Jim Henry, a 49-year-old senior.

Now those donned in cap and gown today feel as if they hit the jackpot.

“This is like any big life event, it’s good and exciting but it’s real emotional,” said senior Diana Prince of Newport Beach. “How many times in your life do you take a flying leap like that and end up being better off than you ever dreamed?”

Choosing Chapman certainly involved a leap of faith.

Chapman opened the school in 1995 and told students it would win ABA accreditation by the time they earned their juris doctor degrees in three years. But many doubted it last year.

In January 1997, and again last May, the ABA denied accreditation, saying that the law school’s grading policies were weak and noting that the school didn’t have a permanent home. The school initiated a dramatic overhaul of its grading policies and started construction on a law school building, which is scheduled to be completed next year.

The school also took the unusual step of offering to refund two-years’ worth of tuition for students who chose to leave. Altogether, 49 students went home with a total of $1.2 million from the university.

The uncertainty of the school’s future added to the more mundane pressures that accompany a law school education.

“There was a lot of unpleasantness that we hadn’t thought through,” Henry said. “Job interviews often happen a year, a year and a half in advance. When the reality hits that we’re not going to get accreditation, we thought, ‘We’ve got a lot of contingencies to go through.’ ”

Without accreditation, students last year had to take California’s first-year law student--or “baby bar”--exam. Only 14% passed. And had it not won accreditation, graduates would have been limited to taking bar exams and practicing only in California and a few other states.

“It was stressful. It was really frightening that it could come down to that. I had so much invested,” said Prince, a mother of three who studied philosophy at UCI before coming to Chapman.

“On another level, staying was the right thing. I was getting a quality legal education, so the thought of taking the deal never came up,” she said. “We had the Chapman reputation to rely on. I was there through the end.”

For the several dozen law students who will be the school’s first graduates, their willingness to play the odds has paid off. “They have endured some tough times, but with each bump in the road they seemed to gain new resolve and dedicate themselves more completely to study,” said law school Dean Parham Williams. “Now they reap the rewards.”

Though today marks the end of the graduates’ law school experience, it does not mean an end to the challenges that the school faces.

By the time the ABA accredited the school, several students already had filed a class-action lawsuit against Chapman alleging that the university had misled them about its chances for accreditation. The students claim Chapman failed to disclose information about its ABA reviews and the consequences for its students.

Many of those who took the offer were not willing to take the financial risk involved in sticking it out. Denis Bilodeau, 30, an assistant to Orange County Supervisor Todd Spitzer, took Chapman up on its refund offer after spending two years and $36,000.

“The bottom line was the stakes got too high,” he said. “It’s a big blow to incur that kind of debt at my age. I couldn’t afford to gamble, so I took the safe route. I got my money back and all in all I thought it was a good experience.”

Others who accepted the compensation left disappointed with Chapman’s performance. Snow Hume, for instance, questioned the quality of the law school program.

“For the first two years . . . everyone [was] running around and making their own curriculum,” said Hume, a certified public accountant now running for county auditor. “The whole thing was out of control.”

The lawsuit also could prove costly for the university.

“If through misrepresentation you make people enroll in your school, that’s a statutory violation,” said Chuck Greaves, attorney for 18 current and former students.

“Unaccredited law schools have to give a written disclosure to their students every year before they can accept tuition money.”

Williams acknowledges that the school “could have done several things differently,” but the dean added: “The end result was what the university set out to do, what we needed to do.”

“We said from the outset that Chapman would seek the highest level of accreditations, and it achieved it in only 2 1/2 years,” he said.

“It’s astounding that it could have happened so quickly.”

For graduates, the process was just part of the learning experience.

“Getting denied was better for us in the long run,” said senior Brad Eter. “Since that time I think they’ve just strengthened it. I’d choose Chapman again. After all, how many people get that chance to start up a brand new law school?”