California Western School of Law (also known as Cal Western or CWSL) is a private law school in San Diego, California. It is one of two successor organizations to California Western University, the other being Alliant International University. The school was founded in 1924, was approved by the American Bar Association (ABA) in 1962, and became a member of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) in 1967.
History
California Western is San Diego's oldest law school. It was originally chartered in 1924 by Leland Ghent Stanford as a private graduate institution called Balboa Law College. Balboa Law College expanded to include undergraduate and other graduate studies, and changed its name to Balboa University. Baer is a well-respected scholar in the areas of white-collar and corporate crime and is also a member of the American Law Institute and a fellow of the American Bar Foundation.
Academics
The law school teaches the J.D. curriculum plus a dual-degree option, a J.D./Master of Business Administration with San Diego State University (SDSU).
For the Entering Class Fall 2025, California Western accepted 46.5% of applicants, and with Median LSAT score for all program entrants of 155 and a median undergraduate GPA for all program entrants of 3.50.
Clinics and experiential learning
- California Western Innocence and Justice Clinic
- Community Law Project
- New Media Rights
- Trademark Clinic
- Clinical Externship Program
- Pro Bono and Public Service Honors Programs
- Competitive Advocacy Program
Faculty
CWSL employed 36 full-time faculty during the 2024-25 academic year and another 60 part-time faculty, including local members of the judiciary, practitioners, and public servants.
Full-time faculty are well-known scholars who have published their work in multiple top-50 journals and law reviews, and books with top academic publishers such as Cambridge, University of California, and Oxford University Press. The faculty’s scholarship, which is compiled by the SSRN California Western Legal Research Series Paper Series, has collectively received over 80,000 SSRN downloads and over 700,000 abstract views. On Scholarly Commons, CWSL professors’ work has been downloaded over 1.7 million times, and over 300,000 times in the 2025 calendar year alone.
Student debt
According to U.S. News & World Report, annual tuition and fees are $58,350 for full-time, and $43,550 for part-time.
Notable alumni
- Anthony J. Battaglia, U.S. district court judge for the Southern District of California
- Scott C. Black, former judge advocate general of the United States Army
- Bruce Blakeman, Nassau County (New York) county executive and commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
- Christina Bobb, attorney for Donald Trump (Juris Doctor)
- Shana Dale, former deputy administrator of NASA
- David Francis, former member of the United States cycling team
- James B. Gibson, former mayor of Henderson, Nevada
- M. James Lorenz, U.S. district court judge for the Southern District of California
- Bruce E. MacDonald, former U.S. Navy vice admiral and judge advocate general of the Navy
- Brian Maienschein, member of the California state assembly
- Afa Ripley Jr., attorney general of American Samoa
- Margaret Catharine Rodgers, United States federal judge
- David Roger, district attorney of Clark County, Nevada
- Kevin Sandkuhler, retired brigadier general in the United States Marine Corps
- Michael Tsai, former minister of national defense, Taiwan