Collaborative Learning Environment

San Joaquin College of Law (SJCL) encourages a collaborative learning environment where students are graded to a standard and not a curve. Students will typically form small study groups in order to process the information more efficiently together. These small groups lead to more opportunities for personal feedback. Because there are more exchanges among students in small groups, each student receives more personal feedback about their ideas and responses. This feedback is often not possible in a competitive environment where fellow students are seen as the competition.

Thus, faculty and students are all motivated to work as a team towards everyone’s success. Class sizes are small, averaging 25 people per section, providing SJCL students an unparalleled opportunity to interact with and learn from extraordinary professors on a first-name basis.

This collaborative learning environment is unknown at most law schools and is frequently the reason students select SJCL when deciding between law schools. We attribute our high bar passage rate to this unique combination of student effort, small classes and faculty investment in student success.

This team effort has led SJCL student students to consistently place in the top.

Roger J. Traynor California Appellate Moot Court Competition

2014 Winners

CEB Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Oral Argument

Sally Vecchiarelli, San Joaquin College of Law
Daniel Shimmel, UC Davis School of Law
Aaron Blumenthal, UC Berkeley School of Law
Leah Herras, Golden Gate University
Eurik O'Bryant, McGeorge School of Law

2013 Winners

Best Oral Argument: The Roger J. Traynor Award

First Place – San Joaquin College of Law
Second Place – Loyola Law School
Third Place – U.C. Davis, School of Law

2012 Winners

Best Brief: The California Academy of Appellate Lawyers Award

First Place – San Joaquin College of Law
Second Place – Golden Gate University School of Law
Third Place (tie) – Trinity Law School
Third Place (tie) – U. C. Berkeley School of Law