Law School

Chapman University officials have announced the start of construction on an $18-million law school in a historic building across from its campus. The move to build the 130,000-square-foot law school is an attempt to garner national accreditation. Nearly 60 law school students recently accepted tuition refunds due to the lack of national accreditation. Some students sued over the accreditation status.

U.S. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. compared attorneys to firefighters, telling a law school gathering that both had to jump into tough situations to contain problems. Roberts, who suffered a seizure this summer, looked fit and energetic as he spoke to about 1,000 people at the University of Montana law school event in Missoula. Among other comparisons, Roberts noted that firefighters and lawyers were both viewed as "a little bit nuts" and have a strong sense of camaraderie.

Chapman University has tapped a former Mississippi prosecutor and law dean to lead its fledgling law school in Anaheim as it seeks to become accredited before its first class graduates next year. University officials confirmed Tuesday that Parham H. Williams Jr., a professor at Samford University's Cumberland School of Law in Alabama, will head Chapman's 2-year-old school as of June 1, succeeding founding dean Jeremy Miller, who resigned the post Friday but will stay on as a tenured professor.

Pacific West College of Law has until Oct. 22 to correct problems with construction on its building that was performed without city building permits, officials said. Chuck Daleo, a Fullerton building official, said doors and walls were installed without a permit. College officials said they are working to correct the problems and expect to pass inspection. The 4-year-old law school, which was in Orange but moved to Fullerton last year, has 40 students.

Western State University College of Law is making plans to open a satellite campus here in hopes of becoming the first established law school in the burgeoning South County area, its president said Thursday. Western State, already the largest law school in California, hopes to have as many as 200 students in Irvine by the 1990 fall semester, with the possibility of expanding to 1,000 students within four or five years.

Murray L. Schwartz, 87, dean of the UCLA School of Law from 1969 to 1975 and a longtime professor there, died of heart failure Feb. 15 at St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica, said UCLA spokeswoman Sara Wolosky. A specialist in criminal law and legal ethics, Schwartz joined the UCLA faculty in 1958 and was the first to hold the David G. Price and Dallas P. Price Chair in Law. He also served as UCLA's vice chancellor from 1988 until 1991, when he was granted emeritus status. Known for his teaching skills, Schwartz won the law school's Rutter Award for Excellence in Teaching and was named professor of the year by the graduating class of 1986.

The dean of a small Christian law school in Santa Ana has been suspended with pay for several weeks while authorities look into allegations that he lifted text from the Encyclopaedia Britannica for an article in the school's law journal. The allegations concern an article that Trinity Law School Dean Winston L. Frost wrote on the history of human rights for the Trinity Law Review last year. Frost, 43, also works as a part-time judge for the Orange County Superior Court.

When Tony Tolbert turned 50 last year, he marked the occasion by moving in with his mother. The decision wasn't about money. He's a Harvard-educated attorney, on the staff of UCLA's law school. And it wasn't because his mother wanted or needed him home. It was Tolbert's response to the sort of midlife milestone that prompts us to take stock. Instead of buying a sports car, he decided to turn his home - rent free - over to strangers. He'd been inspired by a magazine article about a family that sold their house, squeezed into a tiny replacement and donated to charity the $800,000 proceeds from the sale.

Mathew L. Spitzer, an authority in federal broadcasting law, has been named dean of the University of Southern California Law School. Spitzer is a professor at the law school and director of the USC Center for Communications Law and Policy. "He will bring to the dean's office the highest academic standards and the enthusiasm and creativity to lead the law school to the next level of excellence," said Lloyd Armstrong Jr., USC's senior vice president for academic affairs.

The president of the California Bar Assn. will deliver the keynote address at Whittier Law School's 1999 commencement ceremony. Raymond C. Marshall, a San Francisco attorney, will speak to law school graduates on May 16 at the campus, 3333 Harbor Blvd., Costa Mesa. It's the second commencement since the school moved from Los Angeles to Orange County. Information: (714) 444-4141.