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California Desert Trial Academy College Of Law
21 August
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The September, Um, October Bar Exam Approaches – Don’t Fear (Bar Exam Moved To October)

Posted by cdtalaw
in Baby Bar Exam, Bar Exam, California law, CDTA, Distance learning, Distance learning law school, High Pressure, Studying
The September, Um, October Bar Exam Approaches – Don’t Fear (Bar Exam Moved To October)

The California Supreme Court first announced preliminary plans for administering the October Bar Exam online in a July 16 letter to the State Bar Board of Trustees. These plans have been confirmed and finalized with the next California Bar Exam scheduled for October 5–6, 2020. Under the direction of the California Supreme Court, the exam will be administered primarily online. The California First-Year Law Students' Exam, also known as the Baby Bar, has been rescheduled to November 17, 2020. In July, California Supreme Court justices held a videoconference with California law school deans, then held a three-hour virtual hearing to receive input from law school graduates registered...

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20 August
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How To Write A Contract – The Essentials

Posted by cdtalaw
in CDTA, Hard Skills, Law Practice, legal writing, Substantive Law
How To Write A Contract – The Essentials

A 1L’s first contracts class is often an intimidating experience, if not just because the 1L saw “The Paper Chase” a few weeks or months before starting law school. Once we get over the initial realization that our Contracts professor is not as heavy-handed as Professor Kingsfield but just as competent, we wrestle with what a contract is and what a contract is not. At some point, we wonder how these documents, often voluminous with endless provisions of legalese, even get drafted in the first place by mere humans. To be candid, many lawyers never write a contract technically from scratch...

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19 August
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Holding A Job As A Law Student

Posted by cdtalaw
in CDTA, Distance learning, Distance learning law school, Online Law School
Holding A Job As A Law Student

Law school, like any form of undergraduate. graduate, or postgraduate education, is expensive, especially since a law student also loses the income that he or she would have gained from working. Some students are lucky enough to receive some form of financial aid, but not all are so fortunate. For a good part of the last century, the notion of working and attending law school was foreign to most students who believed that there was no time to work and study the law. In 2020, times have changed, and many students need to work as a means of paying their tuition...

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18 August
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Location And Legal Office-Space Options: Conventional Space

Posted by cdtalaw
in CDTA, Law Practice
Location And Legal Office-Space Options: Conventional Space

Location, location, location! Location is everything when it comes to real estate. Location is everything especially when it comes to commercial real estate, and this includes law offices. Lawyers have many options when becoming sole practitioners and opening a new office. Each space and location provide amenities and conveniences both with associated advantages and disadvantages. Lawyers starting a new practice must be sure to examine the written lease for each space option and understand clearly what they are receiving and what they are not receiving. It is always a good idea for new practitioners to compare various leases to ensure they...

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17 August
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Attorneys, Advocates, And The CDTA Vision

Posted by cdtalaw
in CDTA, Soft Skills, Trial Advocacy
Attorneys, Advocates, And The CDTA Vision

From the time the California Desert Trial Academy (CDTA) accepted its first class of students in 2012, it provided them with a unique, innovative, genuinely modern focus on legal education. While this emphasis implements the same comprehensive learning curriculum as traditional law schools, it contemplates and remedies the common shortcomings of law school graduates. At CDTA, we educate students to be lawyers, but we also train and develop them to be exceptional trial advocates. The Attorney Upon leaving law school with a JD, ideally, a graduate should understand the substantive law and be in the position to start her own practice or assume the role...

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13 August
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Why The CDTA Embraces Online Technology

Posted by cdtalaw
in CDTA, Distance learning, Online Law School
Why The CDTA Embraces Online Technology

Even before the advent of the coronavirus pandemic, the California Desert Trial Academy (CDTA), unlike the majority of law schools and educational institutions, embraced and utilized the use of online technology as an important and essential tool for teaching students, not just how to be exceptional attorneys, but exceptional attorney-advocates. Various technologies and applications for use in the instruction of law have become available in the last two decades. The California Desert Trial Academy has taken advantage of many of these tools to assist its students for the last eight years. Always seeking new ways to enrich the law school experience, the CDTA stays...

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12 August
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Law School Myths And Reality: Law School is Nothing But Reading

Posted by cdtalaw
in CDTA, First year law students, Hard Skills, High Pressure, Studying
Law School Myths And Reality: Law School is Nothing But Reading

There are many myths perpetuated by law school, whether from the public’s general perception of lawyers or the way that law school is portrayed in television shows and movies. Of course, the latter is limited since there are not that many true portrayals of law school in tv and film since perhaps law school as a setting and subject is not the most compelling. Nevertheless, those who have never attended law school tend to accept and believe the prevailing myths, although the reality is quite different. The image of a typical law student tends to be shrouded in the image of someone who...

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11 August
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Identifying Your Client Base

Posted by cdtalaw
in CDTA, Law Practice
Identifying Your Client Base

Not every lawyer can be all things to all people. An important component of an attorney’s success is not necessarily having as many clients as possible but finding and attracting the right clients. This not so simple task begins with a lawyer identifying the ideal client base for the firm. Is it even possible that a lawyer has an “ideal client” base? To start, some evaluation should be undertaken to determine this. Ask the following questions: What makes someone part of this client base? What does your ideal client do for a living? Where are potential clients located? How do they...

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10 August
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Knowing The Minority’s View

Posted by cdtalaw
in CDTA, Law Practice, Training, Trial Advocacy
Knowing The Minority’s View

A minority or dissenting opinion is an opinion by one or more judges in a legal case who disagree, or dissent, with the decision reached by the majority. Any law student knows that a dissenting opinion creates no binding precedent as any applicable part of case law. Yet, it is not uncommon for judges to cite them as persuasive authority for an argument the holding of a court should be overturned or limited. John Patrick Dolan founded the California Desert Trial Academy College of Law (CDTA) based on the philosophy of not only teaching students the substantive law, but on training, educating,...

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07 August
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Preparing For The Return To Law School …Whenever It Comes

Posted by cdtalaw
in CDTA, Distance learning, Distance learning law school, Studying
Preparing For The Return To Law School …Whenever It Comes

In the summer of 2020, life is in flux on a global level. Students whose legal educations may have been interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic are preparing to take most, if not all, of their classes online. Here are some tips to ensure that you are prepared for the return to law school…whenever it comes. *Maintain physical and mental well-being Stay well and focus on maintaining the good health of those around you, literally. Wear a mask. Whether classes are live or online in the fall semester, if you are not healthy, you will not be able to participate.  With all the...

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California Desert Trial Academy College of Law
45-290 Fargo Street
Indio, CA 92201
(760) 342-0900

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Statement of Nondiscrimination

Consistent with sound educational policy, CDTA College of Law does not discriminate on the basis of sex, race, color, ancestry, religious creed, national origin, disability, medical condition, age, marital status, political affiliation, gender identity, sexual orientation, or veteran status.

California State Bar Standard and Required Disclosure

The method of instruction at this law school for the Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree program is principally in physical classroom facilities.

Students enrolled in the J.D. degree program at this law school who successfully complete the first year of law study must pass the First-Year Law Students Examination required by Business and Professions Code 6060(h) and Rule VIII of the Rules Regulating Admission to Practice Law in California as part of the requirements to qualify to take the California Bar Examination.

A student who passes the First-Year Law Students Examination within three (3) administrations of the examination after first becoming eligible to take it will receive credit for all legal studies completed to the time the examination is passed. A student who does not pass the examination within three (3) administrations of the examination after first becoming eligible to take it must be promptly disqualified from the law school’s J.D. degree program. If the dismissed student subsequently passes the examination, the student is eligible for re-enrollment in this law school’s J.D. degree program, but will receive credit for only one year of legal study.

Study at, or graduation from, this law school may not qualify a student to take the bar examination or to satisfy the requirements for admission to practice in jurisdictions other than California. A student intending to seek admission to practice law in a jurisdiction other than California should contact the admitting authority in that jurisdiction for information regarding the legal education requirements in that jurisdiction for admission to the practice of law.

Copyright CDTA California Desert Trial Academy College of Law. All rights reserved. The Desert’s first and only Law School. Proudly serving all of Southern California; accepting applications from Imperial, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino Counties.

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