Chapman University School of Law

Private, non profit law school located in Orange, California

Established in 1995 as part of Chapman University, Chapman Law gained provisional accreditation from the American Bar Association (ABA) in 1998 and received full ABA accreditation in 2002. In addition to its ABA membership, the Association of American Law Schools admitted Chapman Law as one of its members in 2006.

For the class entering in 2023, the school accepted 30.68% of applicants, with 24.51% of those accepted enrolling. The average enrollee had a 161 LSAT score and 3.67 undergraduate GPA.

For 2023, the overall first time bar passage rate for Chapman University's Dale E. Fowler School of Law was 80% and 79.86% for the California bar, while the overall first time pass rate for ABA accredited law schools for the California bar was 72.33%. The Ultimate Bar Pass Rate, which the ABA defines as the passage rate for graduates who sat for bar examinations within two years of graduating, was 91.72% for the class of 2020.

According to Chapman's official ABA required disclosures, 78.00% of the Class of 2022 obtained bar passage required employment (i. e., as attorneys) 10 months or less after graduation, 12.00% were employed in JD advantage jobs where bar passage was a desired qualification, but not required. Positions were in various size law firms, most being in 1 10 attorney firms with employment in firms of up to 501+ attorneys, one graduate obtained a local or state judicial clerkship and one a federal clerkship. 30 were employed in public interest, government, higher education, or business employment. 7.33% of the class was unemployed.

Chapman University School of Law is currently ranked tied for 108th by the U. S. News & World Reports annual law school rankings.

The cost of tuition for full time JD students at Chapman for the 2021–2022 academic year was $57,873, which does not include living expenses and fees; and for part time students was: $46,183 Accordingly, of 2022 graduates, 74% incurred debt to attend Chapman, with an average indebtedness of $150,534.

Chapman, like some other law schools, uses merit based scholarships in order to entice competitive students who might otherwise pass over the school for higher ranked competitors and to enhance its own ranking.

Paul D. Paton was named dean of Chapman University's Dale E. Fowler School of Law and the Donald P. Kennedy Chair in Law in March, 2023. He assumes the role from Interim Dean Marisa Cianciarulo who served as interim dean from December 1, 2021 through June 30, 2023. Prior deans include Matthew J. Parlow who served as dean from July 1, 2016 to December 1, 2021 who, in turn, succeeded Tom Campbell, dean of Fowler School of Law from 2011 2016, Scott W. Howe served as dean from 2010 2011, John C. Eastman from 2007 2010, and Parham Williams served as dean from 1997 2007.

Chapman's Fowler School of Law publishes the Chapman Law Review, a student run scholarly journal. In addition to publishing the scholarly journal, the Chapman Law Review hosts a symposium at the start of the spring semester each year.