Northwestern California University (NWCU) was established in 1982 and is the oldest continuously operating degree-granting correspondence/online law school in the country offering distance-education. Its programs were developed so that economic obstacles, family commitments, remoteness of location, and other hardships would not prevent deserving individuals from studying law. The school was approved to issue degrees by the State of California Department of Education in 1982. Its Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree program is presently registered with and regulated by the California State Bar.

NWCU has a proven record of success for online legal studies, and is the first such school to offer Internet based videoconferencing support to its students. It offers entirely online correspondence programs leading to the presentation of the Bachelor of Science in Law (B.S.L.) and Juris Doctor (J.D.) degrees. It also has a Paralegal program.

The school's high quality, very affordable online programs are offered over the Internet through a course management system and technology platform featuring Online Discussion Boards, Online Audio/Video Lectures and a Virtual Classroom to provide dynamic collaboration and communication between students and faculty members.

The faculty consists of law professors who are available to all students for course-specific questions, discussions and reviews via the school's Online Discussion Boards and through Cyber-Mail. Students have access to an electronic law library, through LexisNexis™, and can network with the professors and each other, and participate in online "real-time" chats, through the online law school's Internet campus. The school's faculty members have the further capability of conducting individual sessions with students over the Internet by means of online Videoconferencing technology.