The Only Law School in the Coachella Valley

Where trial lawyers are made.

A law school built around trial advocacy. Earn your Juris Doctor inside a real courtroom, taught by practicing attorneys and sitting and retired judges.

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Indio, California
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Educating Extraordinary Advocates
The Academy

Educating, training and developing extraordinary legal advocates.

Most law schools teach students to think about the law. CDTA trains students to stand up and argue it. Your legal education is built from bar-tested academic subjects, skills training and values reinforcement, and it is taught in a working courtroom rather than a lecture hall.

On completing the four-year course of study you will be qualified to sit the California Bar Examination, and trained to represent a client on your first day of practice.

Legal theory alone does not win cases. Advocacy does.The CDTA philosophy
More About the Academy
Stone columns and carved pediment of a courthouse against an overcast sky
4A four-year course of study, built around the California bar-tested subjects.

The Academy by the numbers

Over 60%
Passed the First-Year
Law Students’ Exam
1
Law school in the
Coachella Valley
3
Courtrooms on campus:
trial, appellate, federal
2
Instructors in most classes:
attorneys and judges

The school states that its success rate is above the overall average for all registered, unaccredited fixed-facility law schools in California. The First-Year Law Students’ Examination is not the California Bar Examination, and CDTA does not publish a General Bar Examination passage rate. 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 law library corridor lined floor to ceiling with bound volumes
Law books stacked beside an open notebook and pen
45-290 Fargo Street · Indio
A Different Classroom

Your lecture hall is a real courtroom.

Learn where lawyers work

Every State Bar tested course is taught in a real courtroom environment, so the room you learn in is the room you will one day work in.

Two instructors, most classes

Most classes are led by two instructors, experienced attorneys and judges who bring live courtroom perspective to every subject.

Built around the bar

A curriculum centered on California bar-tested subjects, practical skills training, and the values that define good advocates.

See the Campus
Programs of Study

Four paths.
One standard.

Whether you are beginning your legal education, studying from a distance, preparing for an examination, or already practicing, CDTA meets you where you are.

( 01 )

Juris Doctor Program

A four-year course of study built on California bar-tested subjects, skills training, and values reinforcement, taught inside a real courtroom.

Explore J.D. Program Read more about the Juris Doctor Program
( 02 )

Distance Learning Option

Live 50 miles or more from the Indio campus? Complete most of your studies from home and still earn your J.D.

Explore Distance Learning Read more about the Distance Learning Option
( 03 )

Bar Preparation

Internal FYLSX course reviews, AdaptiBar, and ExamSoft, all included in tuition, so exam day is not the first time you sit under exam conditions.

Explore Bar Prep Read more about the Bar Preparation
( 04 )

Saturday Enrichment Program

Direct and cross examination, opening and closing, motions and objections, practiced on Saturdays in the courtrooms on campus.

Explore Saturday Enrichment Read more about the Saturday Enrichment Program
The Origin

Born from conversations with the trial attorneys F. Lee Bailey and Gerry Spence, and one plain observation: law schools were not producing lawyers who were ready for a courtroom.

John Patrick Dolan and Irene Garcia Dolan founded CDTA to close that gap. Here the art of trial advocacy is not an elective bolted onto the third year. It is the point of the school.

John Patrick Dolan
President, CEO & Dean
A California trial lawyer with over forty years in criminal defense, and a State Bar Certified Specialist in Criminal Law.
Meet the Faculty
Admissions

More than one way in.

CDTA admits students from a range of academic backgrounds. A four-year degree is one route in. It is not the only one.

Start Your Application
Path 01

Four-Year Degree Holders

Bachelor’s degree in hand? You are ready to apply to the J.D. program directly.

Path 02

Two-Year Degree Holders

CDTA admits students holding a two-year degree. Your Associate degree opens the door.

Path 03

60+ Transferable Credits

No completed degree, but at least 60 transferable college credits? You qualify for admission consideration.

Path 04

Distance Students

Living 50 miles or more from the Indio campus? Pursue your J.D. through the Distance Learning Option.

Admission also requires an appropriate LSAT score and completion of the CDTA admissions application. See the full admission requirements.

Your Move, Counselor

The courtroom is waiting.

Join the only law school in the Coachella Valley, in a program built around trial advocacy from the first term.

Apply to CDTA

Or call the Academy, (760) 342-0900

45-290 Fargo Street, Indio, CA 92201

Call (760) 342-0900Apply