John F. Kennedy University – School of Law

I am a 3L and am impressed with how good the faculty has turned out to be. The professors are primarily attorneys who practice a specialty and teach that subject, or retired/​active judges. We use the same text books as the expensive law schools so the course content is the same. I feel I am getting more than my moneys worth.
JFK’s law school dean, Dean Barbieri is a great guy and JFK is lucky to have acquired him as their dean. He was the Director for Examinations for The State Bar of California from 2001 – 2010. He knows what it takes to pass the state Bar. He instituted Barbri as a study aid for both law school exams and the Bar itself. I am certain that you are going to see JFK’s Bar passage rates increase once the changes he has implemented as the new Dean take affect.
It’s true, JFK has a mandatory grading curve where 30% of 1L’s and 15% of 2L’s are forced to be graded 69 or lower, and you need to score 70 or greater to stay enrolled. It’s an average score so if you scored a 68 in torts and a 72 in contracts you would have an average of 70. But if you are scoring in this range your chances of passing the bar exam are pretty low. I think the school is doing these folks a favor by cutting their losses early before the tuition expenses mount up with little hope of passing the bar.

I want to warn people not to come here unless they think that they’ll be in the top of their class.
The first red light is their grading curve for 1Ls. Their curve requires 1 out of every 3 students in the first year to fail!!! And you don’t even get to academic probation if you fall victim to their draconian grading curve unless you ask them for it, and they rarely grant such requests! I’ve called different law schools looking to transfer and all of them are shocked when I tell them about JFK’s grading curve!
To make matters worse, they don’t have any sort of academic support programs to help you prevent yourself from meeting their unreasonably strict standards! Their academic support office doesn’t help law students at all!
Be aware that you’re on you’re own if you come here!!!
The only redeeming factor is that they’re one of the most flexible non-​ABA school in California because they have both full-​time and part-​time programs, and both are offered both day and evening, while most other non-​ABA schools in California are part-​time evening programs only.
I recommend that you attend elsewhere if you can. You’d be much happier at a school that actually treated its students with dignity!

I gotta give it to the Dean and Mike Pearson who put on a great open house this past weekend. The decision to go to law school for anyone is jarring and they put on a great presentation along with their 3L’s and 4L’s as to why JFK is not ABA accredited and why it chooses to stay CBA accredited. Of course there are always arguments on both sides ABA/​Non ABA, CBA, etc. Bottom line is in California, it really doesn’t matter because if you attend any CBA Law School, you’re exempt from taking the 1L test before the Bar Exam. In a nutshell, you have the same rights and privileges without the ABA cost. And I like the way the Dean broke down the percentages of 1^st time Bar Exam pass rates and why. I especially like the extra curricular activities JFK offers that I found were extremely helpful, such as their law clinics that most law schools in CAL have, but also their internships/​externships, and the ability to actually start cases from beginning to end and represent clients in actual court w/​the assistance of your professor (active attorney). And in some cases, it appears their students have even argued in court in front of their professor Judges. This University seems very interactive, passionate, and student oriented. I didn’t meet one learner at JFK who didn’t love it there. For any prospective law student, don’t pass up JFK without seriously taking a hard look at them. Don’t automatically dismiss them or any law school in CAL in fact because they aren’t ABA. You may surprise yourself to find the culture and the experience to fit you.

I just submitted my application for Law School, and I really like the staff and faculty already. Their student-​friendly approach is immediately obvious. Attend one of their open houses and discover just how friendly and helpful they are. The Pleasant Hill campus is very accessible to the freeway, yet set back among trees and ponds behind some quiet apartments. I like their facilities and a small campus with good parking will be a refreshing after attending Berkeley previously. Be careful, the only negative is that this law school is not ABA accredited. But for folks who want to practice locally, that is not a bad thing.

I attended JFKU school of law for 3 years and earned a JD from there. I would never, ever, under any circumstances, recommend this school. It was a never ending comedy of errors with screw ups ranging from registration to financial aid to pre-​requisites, every semester. When a problem arises, students are told as many stories as staff they talk to. The place is a disaster and no one working there gives a damn or has a clue. Tons of lip service and no action. If you have a chance to go elsewhere, take it and don’t look back.

John F. Kennedy University School of Law sits in a secluded area right next to apartments and the freeway. There really is no distinction between the actual University itself and the Law School unlike most other schools. It’s surrounded by trees, cute little ponds, and paved roads.
I took my LSATs here and it was HEAVEN! HUGE HUGE HUGE desks and that’s one major aspect you would want while taking your test. The minute I saw that I had a huge desk, that long drive out from SF was SO worth it. Definitely come here to take your LSATs but I can’t say much about the law school program itself.