Message From The Dean

Northwestern California University is a non-traditional law school. It arose from the needs of those who desired to study law but because of financial limitations, family responsibilities, geographic location, time constraints, etc., could not attend a regular classroom type law school.

History is filled with the names of famous American lawyers and jurists who, for one reason or another, came to the Bar after having been taught in law outside of a standard law school setting. Persons like Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall, Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, (Harvard) Dean Roscoe Pound, Robert Jackson (Chief U.S. Prosecutor at Nuremberg and U.S. Supreme Court Justice), Clarence Darrow, and many more, either spent little time in law school or, in the example of Lincoln, never even saw the inside of a law school. They had in common a burning desire to learn law and mentors to guide them in their quest.

I strongly encourage those of you who can attend a regular classroom type law school to do so. I realize, however, that this is not possible for many. The strongly motivated, who are unable to attend class, can still obtain an excellent education in law through enrollment in our program.

The information you will find in the pages that follow will give you a sense of all our School of Law has to offer its students. Through a combination of online coursework, webcast audio/video recorded lectures, and textbook study, the School provides opportunities ranging from paralegal studies to a two-year Bachelor and a four-year Juris Doctor degree program.

We at Northwestern California University commend you in your pursuit of higher knowledge. Abraham Lincoln once wrote to a young student interested in studying law, telling him:

"Get the books, and read and study them till you understand them in their principal features; and that is the main thing... Your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing."

Our school’s innovative; quality programs will help you succeed. They are exceptional not because the School has been in existence for over two and a half decades; but instead, the School has been in existence for that period of time because the programs are exceptional.

I now invite you to discover in your reading of the other pages of this Website some of the many aspects of what makes the online law study community of Northwestern California University an extraordinary place to learn.

Very Truly Yours,

Michael P. Clancey

“There is no jewel in the world comparable to learning; no learning so excellent as knowledge of laws.” – Sir Edward Coke