TRAINING PEOPLES LAWYERS SINCE 1974

TABLE OF
CONTENTS:
ABOUT
INTRODUCTION
HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL
SCHOOL GOVERNANCE
ABOUT THE STATE BAR
TUITION
ADMISSIONS
SCHEDULE
ALUMNI

Leon Arellano, Damani Atiba, Patricia Sierra

 PEOPLES COLLEGE OF LAW
660 S. Bonnie Brae
Los Angeles, CA 90057
(213) 483-0083
peoplescollegeoflaw.edu

Peoples College of Law is a licensed, degree-granting, public

interest law school, offering a four year Juris Doctorate (JD)
program. At the end of the program, PCL graduates are
eligible to sit for the California Bar.

Peoples College of Law is a student and community-run

nonprofit law school which was founded in 1974 under the
name The Guild Law School by the National Lawyers Guild
(NLG), La Raza National Students Association, the Asian
Law Collective, and the National Conference of Black
Lawyers. The school exists to bring legal resources to
under-represented communities and to train legal advocates
dedicated to securing progressive social change and social
justice.

John Doe, Héctor Peña Ramírez, J.D. (PCL ‘18), Tristan Scremin, J.D. (PCL
‘09)
If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who
profess to favor freedom yet deprecate agitation…want
crops without plowing up the ground. They want the
ocean without the awful roar of its many waters.
The struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical
one, and it may be both moral and physical, but it must
be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand.
It never did and it never will.
‒ Frederick Douglass
INTRODUCTION
The past always goes before us, but it need not be our future.
We can change it in the present. It was in this belief that the
People’s College of Law was conceived. There is no other law
school like it.
In the past, traditional legal institutions have mass-produced
lawyers, whose concept of lawyering consisted of joining
an elite organization dedicated to maintaining the national
socio-economic status quo, as well as the lawyer’s superior
position in it, by serving the rich or acting as legal functionaries
of the state. The People’s College of Law hopes to educate
people whose motivations are to the contrary — lawyers
who will service the communities of the dispossessed and the
disinherited. If you want to become a deputy district attorney
or work in the legal department of some corporation, don’t
waste your time or ours by applying. There are other schools
for you - all the others.
—Statement from the first PCL literature in 1974.
 The People’s College of Law (PCL) was founded in 1974.
The school’s primary goal was and is the development of
lawyers dedicated to the struggle for social change both in
working class communities and in communities of color.
Communities historically denied access to the legal system

HISTORY OF THE
and disproportionately targeted for criminalization.

In those early years, with all of the social movements and

struggles going on, PCL thrived with large cohorts filled with

PEOPLE’S COLLEGE student activists. The law school itself was a manifestation of
movement work. Students collectively maintained the school
and built an ethos which would carry it through the next

OF LAW
decades, even when both the school, and society as a whole,
saw a decline in activism.

For nearly 45 years PCL steadfastly maintained its commitment

to social justice and steadfast in its mission of creating People’s
Lawyers. This despite a number of decades of declining
enrollment and an eventual decline in the school’s collective
management and democratic control. Slowly, by at least 2010
there had been a shift of power which saw board elections
come to a halt, and a consolidation of power in one individual.

In 2017 PCL experienced a major change of leadership and a

restoration of democracy. This change was ushered in by a
group of students with backgrounds in community organizing,
activism, and education who believed PCL had deviated from
its founding mission and from its commitment to those it was
created to serve.

Along with a handful of PCL faculty, this group of activist

Students at Peoples College of Law in 1976
students wound up being sued by the then incumbent
administration. With the help of the National Lawyers Guild,
this group of fifteen defendants fought the suit in the interest
of protecting the majority of PCL students and community
members. The events culminated in a court ordered election
where the “PCL 15” prevailed in the first democratically
elected PCL board of directors in nearly a decade.
 To that end a new generation has taken leadership of the
institution in the hope of recommitting our small social justice
of this unique, community and student run, social justice law law school toward the radical goals and objectives for which
school. it was intended to fulfill. An objective of liberating the working
class. Realized in part through legal advocacy in the areas of
poverty, civil rights, labor law, criminal law, tenants rights,
immigration law, environmental law, Black Lives Matter,
women’s rights, and LGBTIQ rights.

Now, in its 45th year of existence, PCL continues to educate

social justice lawyers. The process has been difficult at times,
but the clarity of direction evolving from the resolution of this
internal struggle has accelerated its growth and development.

This article appears in The New York Times on October 16, 1975, on Daniel Sandino Navarro (PCL ‘13), Maria Elena Durazo (PCL ‘85)
Page 42 of the New York edition with the headline: A Radical Law
School Enters Its 2d Year.
SCHOOL
GOVERNANCE The school is governed by a board of directors which is
made up of community members and students. The board
of directors manages the school’s business, makes the major
decisions regarding operations, and delegates tasks to the
administration and standing committees. The committees are
the heart and soul of the school’s operations. Comprised of
students, board members, and other members of the PCL
community, there are currently seven committees:
Admissions and Recruitment; Building, Accountability,
and Library; Communications and Outreach; Development
and Fundraising; Executive; Faculty and Curricula; and Finance.

Members of the board are elected once a year by the PCL

community.

Certain critical issues are discussed and acted upon in

all-school meetings where every member of the PCL
Community participates. In this way, PCL practices the
principle of democratic representation.

PCL alumnus Magda Madrigal and Carol Deu Pree with current
2L student Ada Rajkovic
ABOUT THE
STATE BAR
PEOPLE’S COLLEGE OF LAW is a four year,
unaccredited, degree granting institution. It should be
understood that this unaccredited status is consistent with
PCL’s philosophy of open access and non-competitive learning.
PCL graduates receive a Juris Doctor degree (J.D.) and are
eligible to take the California General Bar Examination, and
upon passing, become a lawyer.
The method of instruction at this law school for the Juris
Doctor (J.D.) degree program is [principally in physical
classroom facilities]/[principally by correspondence]/[principally
by technological means including interactive classes].
Students enrolled in the J.D. degree program at this law school
who successfully complete the first year of law study must pass
the First-Year Law Students’ Examination required by Business
and Professions Code § 6060(h) and Rule VIII of the Rules
Regulating Admission to Practice Law in California as part
of the requirements to qualify to take the California Bar
Examination.
A student who passes the First-Year Law Students’ Examination
within three (3) administrations of the examination after first
becoming eligible to take it will receive credit for all legal
studies completed to the time the examination is passed.
A student who does not pass the examination within three (3)
administrations of the examination after first becoming eligible
to take it must be promptly disqualified from the law school’s
J.D. degree program. If the dismissed student subsequently
passes the examination, the student is eligible for re-enrollment
in this law school’s J.D. degree program, but will receive credit
for only one year of legal study.
Study at, or graduation from, this law school may not qualify
a student to take the bar examination or to satisfy the
requirements for admission to practice in jurisdictions other
than California. A student intending to seek admission to
practice law in a jurisdiction other than California should
contact the admitting authority in that jurisdiction for
information regarding the legal education requirements in
that jurisdiction for admission to the practice of law.
The Committee of Bar Examiners currently asses a
registration fee of $624 when a student registers to
take the FYLSE. Registration for the FYLSE must be
completed near the end of the second semester. If the
application is late, there is a substantial penalty fee. There
is an additional fee assessed if the exam is typed instead of
handwritten.
*Registration as a law student and registration for the examination
is made directly to the Committee of Bar Examiners along with
the appropriate fees. Because the school is unaccredited every
student is required to take the first year law students’ examination,
administered by the State Bar. The “Baby Bar” as it is also called, is
administered twice a year, in June and October. Students not passing
the “Baby Bar” cannot enter the second year of instruction.
The LSAT is not required to get into PCL.
TUITION
Because we exist outside the margins of the accreditation we
are able to charge low tuition (otherwise we would have to
include ABA annual fees in the tuition). Furthermore, our
dedicated professors are unpaid volunteers - many of whom
are PCLgraduates/lawyers, members of the National Lawyers
Guild, orradical lawyers with a passion for social justice - who
want to give back to the community by teaching at the school.

At this time, PCL has not yet determined the total cost of
attendance for the 2019-2020 academic year. However, it will
not exceed $5600 for the year. That will include tuition and a
$600 accountability fee that can be fulfilled by payment or by
volunteering hours at the school, known as accountability.
New students will be notified of any increase before
enrollment.

Because Peoples College of Law is geared towards working

class people, classes take place at night. Most from 6:00-9:00
pm or 6:30-9:30 pm, three to four times a week.

Linda Ferguson, 1974

People’s College of Law, Summer of 1977 course catalog.

ADMISSIONS At a minimum, applicants are required to have completed
two years of college education: 60 semester units or 90
quarter units, OR have passed the CLEP (College Level
Examination Program). A Bachelor’s Degree satisfies the
former requirement.

A complete application and at least three letters of

recommendation must be submitted along with the application
fee which is $50 before June 1, 2019 and $75 after June 1,2019
via http://www.peoplescollegeoflaw.edu/admissions

The applicant must be interviewed in person or via video con-

ference if out of town, by a panel of faculty and students who
will make a recommendation to the board of directors based
upon review of the application and interview.

An eligible candidate will be able to demonstrate a commitment

to progressive social change.

opposite page: R. Scott, Felipe Caceres, J.D. (PCL ‘13),

 1L (10 WEEK QUARTERS) PCL 2018-19
FALL WINTER SPRING ACADEMIC YEAR
Legal Writing I Legal Writing II Legal Writing Ill
Magda Madrigal, Esq. with
Tristan Scremin, J.D.
Magda Madrigal, Esq. with
Tristan Scremin, J.D.
Magda Madrigal, Esq. with
Tristan Scremin, J.D.
4L (10 Week Quarters)
Tuesdays Tuesdays Tuesdays

Contracts I
Sherri Nazarian, Esq.
Contracts II
Sherri Nazarian, Esq.
Contracts Ill
Sherri Nazarian, Esq.
FALL WINTER SPRING
Mondays Mondays Mondays
Immigration Law Remedies I Remedies II
Laura Urias, Esq. Rosa Hirji, Esq. Rosa Hirji, Esq.
Torts I Torts II Torts Ill
Tuesdays Wednesdays Wednesdays
Gloria Perez-Stewart, Esq. Gloria Perez-Stewart Esq. Gloria Perez-Stewart, Esq.
with John Duane, J.D. with John Duane, J.D. with John Duane, J.D.
Property I Property II Property II
Thursdays Thursdays Thursdays
Noah Grynberg, Esq. Noah Grynberg, Esq. Noah Grynberg, Esq.
Mondays Mondays Thursdays
Criminal Law Criminal Law
Nicholas Loncar Esq. Nicholas Loncar, Esq.
Advanced Essay Writing Legal Principles and Ele- Competency and
Wednesdays Wednesdays
Kyle Todd, Esq. ments Kyle Todd, Esq. and Performance Kyle Todd Esq.
Wednesdays Nathalie Contreras, Esq. and Nathalie Contreras, Esq.

2/3L (10 Week Quarters) Shake Nazarian Esq. (Sherri Nazarian) | Contracts | University of Michigan
Daniel Kapelvitz Esq. | Criminal Law | UCLA School of Law

FALL WINTER SPRING Kyle J. Todd Esq. | Advanced Essay Writing | UCLA School of Law
Kaimipono D. Wenger Esq. | Wills & Trusts | Columbia University School of Law
Constitutional Law I Constitutional Law II Constitutional Law Ill Rosa Karim Hirji Esq. | Remedies | UC Hastings College of Law
Karen Suri, Esq. Karen Suri, Esq. Karen Suri, Esq. Noah Lawrence Grynberg Esq. | Property | Harvard Law School
Mondays Mondays Mondays
Karen J. Suri Esq. | Constitutional Law| California Western School of Law
Legal Research Criminal Procedure Dan Criminal Procedure II Dan Gloria Perez-Stewart Esq. | Torts | People’s College of Law
Liam Moriarty, Esq. Kapelovitz, Esq. Kapelovitz, Esq.
Tuesdays Tuesdays John Duane JD | Torts | People’s College of Law
Tuesdays Robert D. Skeels JD | Contracts | People’s College of Law
Wills and Trusts I Wills and Trusts II Movement Lawyering
Magda Madrigal Esq. | Legal Writing | People’s College of Law
Kaimipono Wenger, Esq. Kaimipono Wenger, Esq. (Competency/Trial Advo-
Thursdays Thursdays cacy) Tristan Scremin JD | Legal Writing | People’s College of Law
Ken Montenegro, Nathalie Meza-Contreras Esq. | Competency and Performance | Southwestern School of Law
Wednesdays
Laura E. Urias Esq. | Immigration | UC Davis School of Law
Liam Moriarty Esq. | Legal Research | Columbia University School of Law
Ira Spiro Esq. | Dean of PCL | Boalt Hall
Schedule for 2019-2020 TBD
FEATURED ALUMNI Carlos R. Holguín (‘79), is a constitutional Rights Law-
yer who litigated the landmark Flores Settlement before the US
Supreme Court. The 1987 case set national standards regarding the
detention, release, and treatment of all undocumented children in
federal custody.

Ilka Tanya Payán (‘81), Payán was a Dominican born actress,

Immigration Attorney and HIV/AIDS activist. Páyan dedicated her-
self to fighting and changing people’s misperceptions of HIV/AIDS
and increasing education and knowledge about the disease.

B Kwaku Duren (‘88) is a former Black Panther and Civil

Lawyer, Duren ran for the United States Congress three times and
once for Vice President of the United States. As a young man, he
spent five years in a California prison for armed robbery. Duren
began reading extensively and taking college classes while incarcer-
ated. After passing the California Bar Exam Duren has worked as
a “people’s” lawyer and community activist in South Central Los
Angeles ever since.

Magda Madrigal (‘06) is a housing rights attorney at BASTA

Inc. As a community activist turned lawyer, she has exclusively rep-
resented tenants facing eviction and specializes in landlord-tenant
law. In addition to being a board member at the People’s College
of Law, she is also a professor and has taught legal writing and
contracts for the last 13 years.

Kent Wong (‘83), Kent Wong is the director of the UCLA

Labor Center, where he teaches courses in labor studies and Asian
American studies. He was the founding president of the Asian
Pacific American Labor Alliance and of the United Association for
Labor Education and is currently vice president of the California
Federation of Teachers.

Carol Sobel (‘78), is a Homeless and Human Rights Lawyer

who has been involved in many significant civil rights cases. Her
landmark case, Jones v. Los Angeles, struck down an ordinance that
criminalized the lack of shelter for unhoused persons. Sobel served
as an ACLU staff attorney for 20 years, currently works in private
practice.
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will make a good advocate for your community.