To be admitted to the California Desert Trial Academy College of Law, a prospective student must be at least 18 years old. The applicant must have completed two years of undergraduate college work. The two years or sixty (60) undergraduate units must be in courses acceptable to the State Bar, typically an Associate of Arts degree serves as acceptable. Only those applicants who reasonably appear to be qualified to study law and reasonably appear to be likely to succeed in that study will be admitted. Adequate and appropriate screening procedures will be used to ensure persons clearly lacking in ability or educational background are not admitted or allowed to continue as students. The applicant must understand that to be admitted to the practice of law in California, the applicant must be prepared to spend four years studying the law and pass the First-Year Law Students’ Examination. Finally, the applicant must understand that he or she must have a positive “moral character” to be admitted to the practice of law in California.
A prospective student must complete the application for admission to CDTA. That application will include a recitation of prior education and employment; copies of prior educational institution transcripts; a statement and explanation of any prior law school attendance; any criminal history which could bar the ultimate admission to the practice of law, information specific to one’s financial ability to pay the expense of the four year program of education; a personal letter outlining one’s interests and goals in attending our law school; letters of reference and a current LSAT score.
Each applicant will be interviewed prior to the final decision to admit as a student. That interview will look at the candidate’s maturity, true interest in achieving a law degree and being admitted to the practice of law and demonstrated skills to fulfill the academic requirements. Those demonstrated skills could be shown with previous experience in speech and debate, prior coursework in logical thinking, practical experience that would translate into the ability to handle the rigors of law school.
An application may be obtained by contacting the Registrar. There is a checklist that accompanies the application which must be followed by each applicant.