LAW SCHOOL TO REMAIN OPEN DESPITE LOSS OF ACCREDITATION.

Byline: Lisa M. Sodders Staff Writer

WOODLAND HILLS - The president of the beleaguered University of West Los Angeles said Thursday the law school will remain open, despite losing a second key accreditation last weekend.

The State Bar of California's Committee of Bar Examiners voted last Saturday to withdraw its accreditation from the nonprofit university, which operates law and paralegal programs in Woodland Hills and Inglewood. Administrators said they plan to appeal, and that the school will remain accredited until the situation is resolved.

``We're going to continue and bring the institution within the standards of accreditation,'' university President Robert W. Brown said. ``We don't see this as an adversarial process. We're going to demonstrate the viability of the University of West Los Angeles. We believe we've turned the corner.

``The real key is to have this university available for our communities and the law students of the future.''

If the school ultimately loses its California Bar accreditation, its students would be ineligible to sit for the State Bar exam.

The State Bar's action follows a decision in November by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges to terminate its accreditation of UWLA because of the school's shaky finances.

If the school loses its appeal of that termination, it could impact students' ability to qualify for federal financial aid.

Brown said the university's income is exceeding its expenses for the first time in seven years, primarily because it has laid off all but one full-time faculty member. Adjunct instructors are teaching most of the classes, attended by about 300 law and 70 paralegal students.

But Brown said UWLA also is working on a plan - as directed by the State Bar - on ways to transfer its students if the school closes.

Although the State Bar's decision was made Saturday, students said they weren't told until late Thursday - after the Daily News made inquiries.

William Goldstein, 54, of Los Angeles, works full-time as a computer consultant and is scheduled to graduate in May from the law school's Woodland Hills campus. He fears that if the law school closes before then, only a limited amount of his course credits would transfer to another school.

``I'm 10 units shy of my JD (law degree) and I would literally have to take a year and a half more of school if I were to transfer,'' Goldstein said. ``That's why so many of us have been hanging on, even though we believed the institution was going down the tubes very quickly.''

Lisa M. Sodders, [phone]

lisa.sodders(at)dailynews.com