Thomas Jefferson School of Law (TJSL) is an independent law school in San Diego, California. It offers a Juris Doctor and three Master of Laws programs, including one that is exclusively online, as well as a combined J.D./M.B.A. with San Diego State University.
Its law program is accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA). However, in 2017, the school was one of ten American law schools found to be out of compliance with the ABA requirement that schools admit only students who appear capable of earning a J.D. degree and passing the bar examination. As a result, the school is on probation.
Video Thomas Jefferson School of Law
History
The Thomas Jefferson School of Law was founded in 1969 as the San Diego campus of the Western State University College of Law and operated as such until 1995. It became independent in 1995 and received approval from the ABA in 1996. It joined the Association of American Law Schools in 2008.
In January 2011, TJSL opened a new campus located in the East Village district of downtown San Diego. The campus is an eight-story 305,000-square-foot (28,300 m2) building complies with Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Gold Certification requirements and has classrooms, a two-story law library (containing 1,250,598 volumes), offices, collaborative work areas, and a legal clinic. A variety of fossils found during construction, including mammoth and whale bones, were donated to the San Diego Natural History Museum.
In 2018, the school announced it would vacate its campus as a cost-cutting measure, moving into a office building in downtown San Diego. Classes will be held in the new location beginning fall 2018.
Academics
The program offers Master of Laws (LL.M.), Master of Science of Law (M.S.L) and JSD "Doctor of Laws or Juridical Science" degrees. Certificate Programs in International Financial Centers, United States Taxation, E-commerce, Anti-Money Laundering & Compliance, and Trusts and Estate Planning are available. Faculty for the program are generally part-time and populated with industry professionals from around the globe.
Bar pass rates
The February 2017 bar rate was 24% and the July 2017 first time taker pass rate for TJSL was 30% for the California bar exam, vs. a statewide average of 70%.
Maps Thomas Jefferson School of Law
Rankings
The ranking of the School of Law by U.S. News & World Report is not published, as U.S. News does not publish the ranking of schools that fall below 145. The School of Law is not ranked in National Jurist's rankings of the top 80 law schools in the United States. The School of Law has been described as "the most underrated" based on the spread between the Social Science Research Network Ranking of the School of Law faculty's scholarship compared to its U.S. News ranking.
Admissions
Students begin classes in January or August, attend the three-year, full-time program or the four-year, part-time program, and accelerate graduation one semester by taking additional classes during the summer. Day and evening classes are offered.
TJSL was listed with a "B+" in the March 2011 "Diversity Honor Roll" by The National Jurist: The Magazine for Law Students.
Student debt
According to U.S. News & World Report, the average indebtedness of 2013 graduates who incurred law school debt was $180,665 (not including undergraduate debt), and 92% of 2013 graduates took on debt. Only 28.8% of 2012 graduates obtained full-time, long term positions requiring bar admission (i.e., jobs as lawyers) within 9 months after graduation.
2017-2018 Tuition:
- Full-time: $49,500
- Part-time: $37,130
Law School Transparency calculates that the total debt-financed full cost of attendance for full-time students who do not receive tuition discounts (scholarships) to be $257,905.
Costs
The total cost of attendance (indicating the cost of tuition, fees, and living expenses) at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law for the 2014-2015 academic year is $70,670. The Law School Transparency estimated debt-financed cost of attendance for three years is $262,645.
Post-graduation employment
Employment statistics
According to Thomas Jefferson School of Law's official 2013 ABA-required disclosures, 29% of the Class of 2013 obtained full-time, long-term, JD-required employment nine months after graduation. Thomas Jefferon's Law School Transparency under-employment score is 43.7%, indicating the percentage of the Class of 2013 unemployed, pursuing an additional degree, or working in a non-professional, short-term, or part-time job nine months after graduation.
In 2013, the National Law Journal reported the college has the worst unemployment rate after graduation (31.5%) amongst all law schools in the country.
Employment Outcomes: According to the law professor blog, The Faculty Lounge, based on 2012 ABA data, only 28.8% of graduates obtained full-time, long term positions requiring bar admission (i.e., jobs as lawyers), 9 months after graduation, ranking 192nd out of 197 law schools.
24.2% of the Class of 2011 were known to be employed in long-term, full-time legal jobs (excepting solo practitioners) nine months after graduation. 54.2% of the Class of 2011 were employed in part-time or short-term jobs, unemployed and seeking employment or pursuing additional education. The employment status of 3.8% of the Class of 2011 was unknown. 0% of the Class of 2011 obtained a federal clerkship. 0.8% of the Class of 2011 were known to be employed in law firms of 101 attorneys or more. 5.1% of the Class of 2011 were known to be employed in full-time, long-term government or public interest jobs. 0% of the Class of 2011 were employed in school funded jobs.
In January 2011, a New York Times article about the inability of many recent law school graduates to get jobs discussed Thomas Jefferson's claim that 92% of the class of 2009 was employed within nine months of graduation. The school's claim was based on a survey of the class of 2009. (Under ABA rules, 25% of graduates who do not participate in employment surveys are counted as employed.). In the New York Times article, the school's Associate Dean for Student Affairs attributed the average debt level to the school's admittance of immigrants and those who are the first in their family to attend law school - people who are statistically more likely to lack individual or family resources.
U.S. News & World Report has reported that the average Thomas Jefferson student graduates with $131,800 in debt and 95% of students graduate in debt. On March 22, 2012, U.S. News & World Report included Thomas Jefferson in its list of "10 Law Schools That Lead to the Most Debt." The Wall Street Journal also ran a story in June 2012 listing TJSL as one of the 'bottom five' schools for 2011 graduate employment.
In May 2011, Anna Alaburda filed a class-action lawsuit against her alma mater, alleging that the law school had committed fraud by publishing deceptive post-graduation employment statistics and salary data in order to bait new students into enrolling. Alaburda, a 2008 honors graduate, claimed that despite graduating at the top of her class and passing the California bar exam, she was unable to find suitable legal employment, and had racked up more than $150,000 in student loan debt. This is the first time a law school would stand trial for allegedly inflating its employment statistics. The jury found in favor of TJSL with a 9-3 verdict.
TJSL has been recognized in recent reports for transparency about graduate employment. In 2012 the National Jurist ranked TJSL as one of the top 15 law schools in the country in transparency, and gave the school an "A" in transparency. Also in 2012, Law School Transparency reported that TJSL was one of only 23% of law schools which received a perfect score for transparency.
Center for Solo Practitioners
Since Fall 2012, TJSL has operated a lawyer incubator program called the Center for Solo Practitioners. The incubator provides space and support for selected alumni who are going into solo practice. It is also intended to help serve under-represented communities.
At the 2013 annual meeting of the American Bar Association, the Center for Solo Practitioners was honored with an ABA award in recognition of "successful implementation of a project or program specifically targeted to solo and small-firm lawyers."
Additional programs offered
Intellectual Property Fellowship Program
In 2009, TJSL initiated an Intellectual Property Fellowship Program for students with undergraduate or advanced degrees in the hard sciences or engineering. The William Mitchell College of Law Intellectual Property Law Institute ranked TJSL 15th nationwide for its Intellectual Property course offerings.
The TJSL Center for Law and Intellectual Property has course offerings in copyright, patent, trademark and unfair competition law as well as cyberspace law, biotechnology law and bioethics, telecommunications and media law, and sports and entertainment law.
Intellectual Property Law Association (IPLA)
The law school has an Intellectual Property Law Association (IPLA) which offers Continuing Legal Education credit. Programs include an Intellectual Property Career Day presented in cooperation with Thomas Jefferson's Career Office. IPLA has also presented a Patents in China event in cooperation with IP law firm.
International law
The Center for Global Legal Studies offers a specialized program in international law. In 2007, the Center inaugurated a summer study program at Zhejiang University College of Law in Hangzhou, China. TJSL also offers a summer study program in Nice, France.
Social Justice Center
The Center for Law and Social Justice is a research and teaching program in areas of public policy and law in its field.
Graduate programs
Thomas Jefferson School of Law offers a Juris Doctor (JD), a Masters of Science of Law (MSL) for those without a law degree, a Masters of Law (LLM) for those with a law degree, and a Doctor of Juridical Science (JSD) which is a PhD equivalent. The MSL and LLM program have concentrations in: 1) Taxation; 2) Financial Compliance and Risk Management; 3) Financial Services and Wealth Management. The programs were started in 2008, making them one of the longest standing online programs at any ABA-law school.
Notable people
Alumni
- Roger T. Benitez 1978 - Federal Judge of the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of California
- Bonnie Dumanis 1976 - First openly gay or lesbian DA in the country. Also the first Jewish woman DA in San Diego
- Duncan Hunter 1976 - Republican member of the House of Representatives from California's 52nd, 45th and 42nd districts from 1981 to 2009 and 2008 presidential candidate
- Jessica King 2001 - Wisconsin professor and former Wisconsin state senator
- Leslie Alexander - A former stock trader from New Jersey who owns the National Basketball Association (NBA) team Houston Rockets.
- Tim Purpura 1992 - Former general manager of the Houston Astros
Faculty
- Marjorie Cohn - Former president of the National Lawyers Guild and book author
See also
- Law school rankings in the United States
- List of law school GPA curves
References
External links
- Official website
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