[9] In 1995, Dean Karen Kadushin negotiated a permanent home for the law school, obtaining 3.2 acres and two abandoned army buildings adjacent to California State University Monterey Bay (CSUMB) on the former Fort Ord.
[19] As of 2024, Monterey is the only law school accredited by the State Bar of California authorized to have multiple branch campus locations and an online Hybrid JD option.
[20][non-primary source needed] In 2010, MCL became the first U.S. law school to provide iPads for every student and professor.
[15][better source needed] Bill Daniels, one of the founding “fathers” of the law school, facilitated the creation of the Mandell Gisnet Center for Conflict Management through a local bequest.
Following the example of founding Dean David Kirkpatrick,[8] local lawyers, including Marian Penn, Joel Franklin, Rodney Jones, Al O’Connor, R. Lynn Davis, and Fred Herro served as part-time deans for the first twenty years.
[23] California Accredited Law Schools (CALS) must “maintain a minimum, [five-year] cumulative bar examination pass rate” of 40 percent or more, as calculated under Rule 4.160(N) and Guideline 12.1 of the Guidelines for Accredited Law School Rules.
Monterey College of Law is fully compliant under the regulation and has maintained the following Cumulative Pass Rate on the California Bar Exam: 2023=55.8%, 2022=55.43%, 2021=53.8%, 2020=53.7%, 2019=54.3%, 2018=47.9%.
[27] Monterey has continued to push for further equity in the State Bar licensing process, serving as the lead author in a pending 2024 request to the California Supreme Court to adjust the minimum passing score to the national norm of 1350 from its current 1390.