Monterey College of Law

Monterey College of Law (MCL) is a private, non-profit law school founded in 1972 in Monterey, California. The school is approved by the Committee of Bar Examiners of the State Bar of California but is not accredited by the American Bar Association. As a result, while graduates of MCL can sit for the California Bar Exam, and upon passing, be licensed to practice law in California, they are generally not able to sit for the bar exam or practice in other states without at least passing the California bar exam first. MCL has part-time evening J.D., Master of Legal Studies (M.L.S.), and LL.M. degree programs. History Monterey College of Law was founded in 1972 as a 501(c)3 nonprofit by a group of local lawyers and judges. The early years reflected a modest operation that frequently moved, using temporary rented classrooms in schools, churches, and the local Naval Postgraduate School. As founding Dean David Kirkpatrick once described, “the law school was in session when I pulled up to a rented classroom and carried the box of school supplies in from the trunk of my car.” Leon Panetta served as the new law school's first tort law professor. In 1995, Dean Karen Kadushin negotiated a permanent home for the law school, obtaining 3.2 acres and two abandoned army buildings adjacent to California State University Monterey Bay (CSUMB) on the former Fort Ord.  By 2005, Dean Frank Hespe  had converted the first of the two buildings into a 12,000 sq. ft. renovated classroom, library, and administration building within the higher-education enclave being developed on the former Fort Ord Army base, joining CSUMB, Hartnell College, and the Monterey Peninsula College. In April 2010, the school opened its second building, a Certified LEED Platinum Community Justice Center that became home to its clinical programs and the Mandell Gisnet Center for Conflict Management. In 2010, the law school opened a first-year satellite campus in Santa Cruz, California. After successfully completing the first-year curriculum, Santa Cruz students commuted to the main campus in Seaside, California to complete their degree programs. In May 2020, upon adding and expanding an online Hybrid JD program, the Santa Cruz satellite campus was closed because local students could take classes online and not have to commute to Seaside for their upper-division courses.