Caruso School of Law
A former dean of the Pepperdine University Caruso School of Law was known to tell prospective students, "If you want to be a decent person and a good lawyer, come here." A legal education from the Caruso School of Law intends not only that its students become excellent practitioners of the law, but that they would aspire to epitomize the legal profession in its best practice, as advocates and instruments of peace, care, and service to their clients and to society. Students are instructed and counseled within a context and worldview of Christian values, supported by faculty and administration.
Originally founded in 1964 as the Orange University College of Law located in Santa Ana, the school became affiliated with Pepperdine University in 1969.
Distinctive to Pepperdine among law schools is that Caruso Law puts students at the heart of the enterprise. This attitude manifests itself in the law student experience of open-door accessibility to professors, delivery of solid foundational concepts, superior "examsmanship" preparation, useful clinical and legal practice skills, events to interact with the highest practitioners in the profession today, and cultivation of a keen moral and ethical sense in approaching the practice of law.
Pepperdine Caruso Law is home to several special-interest institutes and academic centers that address, through scholarship, seminars and symposia, and practical workshops, how the law does (and should) interact with society and individuals in very specific arenas. The Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, repeatedly ranked first of its peers in the nation, trains professionals to be agents of reconciliation; the Geoffrey H. Palmer Center for Entrepreneurship and the Law deals with issues on the role of enterprise and its practitioners in a free society, to name just two.
Today Pepperdine Caruso Law enrolls approximately 650 full-time students, offering three degrees: the juris doctor (JD), the master of laws (LLM) in dispute resolution, and the master of dispute resolution (MDR). The school is approved by the American Bar Association and accredited by the Committee of Bar Examiners, State Bar of California. Graduates of the law school are eligible to apply for admission to practice law in any state.
Explore a well-rounded collection of centers and institutes that support the University mission as they complement and enhance learning and personal growth.