Southern California Institute of Law was founded in 1986 as a fixed facility law school accredited by the State Bar of California for twenty-five years, with campuses in both Ventura and Santa Barbara, California, until June 1, 2020. Originally a part-time evening only law school, it catered to working adults.
Registered but unaccredited school Since 2020, it operates as an unaccredited distance learning law school with a Juris Doctor degree program. SCIL is not approved by the
American Bar Association. SCIL is however registered with
State Bar of California Committee of Bar Examiners. Its graduates are not automatically qualified to take the bar exam in California without meeting unaccredited school requirements and are not qualified to take a bar exam or practice law outside of California. Students are required to engage in the "study of law diligently and in good faith for at least four years" with
each of the four years consisting of at "least 864 hours of preparation and study over no fewer than forty-eight and no more than fifty-two consecutive weeks...evidenced by a transcript that indicates the date each course began and ended." SCIL also filed suit in federal court and filed an appeal in the
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which, in 2015, affirmed the original U.S. District Court's decision to toss the lawsuit. In 2016, after SCIL filed an action in state court, the case was dismissed on grounds of issue preclusion and was later affirmed by a state appeals court. ==Tuition==