The Southern California Institute of Law was formed by a small group of legal academics and scholars, and incorporated in 1986, with its first law classes commencing in 1987.

For 25 years, until June 1, 2020, it had been an accredited law school. On that Silver Jubilee anniversary, the Chief Justice of California was the Commencement Speaker. The law school has had three Justices of the state High Court as Commencement Speakers. Others jurists include several Presiding Justices of our state appeal courts, the Chief Judge of the U.S, Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and other US Court of Appeals judges, a former U.S. Solicitor General and Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and several county superior court judges.

Among its roster of keynote speakers are three State Bar Presidents, a state Attorney General, several state senators and local assemblymembers, the Chair of the Assembly Judiciary Committee, and the President of the International Criminal Court.

On October 31, 2017, a State Bar Accreditation Inspection Team Report that included a Chair of the Committee of Bar Examiners, found that “overall, SCIL’s curriculum, admissions, scholastic standards, faculty, library, facilities, Dean and administrators [are] all compliant in offering students a sound program of legal education.”

Prior to the establishment of the Law School there was only one other law school in the entire tri-county of San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura.

With modest outside investments, small class sizes, and a mission to offer the low-priced accredited legal education in California, the Law School has continually sought to broaden access to legal education, especially to low-moderate socio-economic groups.

The campus is located in the high-end professional office district in Ventura directly across the road from the Ventura County Courthouse and Law Library. It is located in a building that was formerly occupied by the state Court of Appeal, Division Six.