Not all law schools offer an "equal education," and employers have the right to require candidates to graduate from American Bar Association-accredited institutions, according to an Oct. 28 ruling from California's Fourth District Court of Appeal.

"Although graduation from an ABA-accredited law school is not a guaranty of an attorney's skill level, intelligence, or professional qualifications, the record shows it is a reliable indicator or predictor of those characteristics," wrote Acting Presiding Justice Richard Aronson in an unpublished opinion joined by Associate Justices David Thompson and Richard Fybel.

The court affirmed a trial court ruling that said a Huntington Beach rule requiring city attorneys to graduate from ABA-accredited schools was constitutional.

Lawyer Jerold Friedman brought the case against Michael Gates, who was elected as the city attorney for Huntington Beach. Friedman had also run for the position but was booted from the race because he had not graduated from an ABA-accredited law school, as dictated by city charter, according to the opinion. Friedman has passed the municipality's other requirements, including passing the state bar and practicing for five years, but had attended the University of West Los Angeles, accredited by the California State Bar's committee of bar examiners.

Claiming the requirement was unconstitutional and violated equal protection principles, Friedman filed a petition for writ of mandate and complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief with the California Supreme Court, asserting that he has a fundamental right to run for and hold public office and the requirement violated state and federal equal protection clauses.

The California Supreme Court routed the case to the Fourth District, which, in turn, routed it to the Superior Court of Orange County. At the trial court, Judge Robert Moss wrote there was "an objective correlation between a student's ability to pass the state bar examination and whether the student attended an ABA-accredited law school."

The appellate court agreed, ruling that the city has an interest in placing well-qualified candidates in the post, "particularly considering the City Attorney's wide-ranging high level duties, coupled with the City's inability to vet candidates for elected positions."

In the opinion, Aronson disagreed with Friedman's arguments that the differing accreditations are insignificant.

"Friedman asserts all law schools provide an 'equal education,' but this is simply not true," the justice wrote. "In fact, most states do not permit graduates of non-ABA-accredited law schools to sit for their bar exams, at least not without several years of experience practicing law in another jurisdiction. Recognizing the effectiveness of the ABA's accreditation process, courts in other jurisdictions repeatedly have upheld rules restricting bar admission to graduates of ABA-accredited law schools."

But Aronson wrote that the court did not intend to diminish the skills of lawyers who had not graduated from an ABA-accredited law school, pointing to Abraham Lincoln and Supreme Court Justices Robert Jackson and Stanley Forman Reed, who never graduated from law school.

"We merely recognize the fact that not all lawyers practice at the same level, and Huntington Beach reasonably could conclude that in today's legal market, graduation from an ABA-accredited law school generally correlates to a candidate who has the specialized skills necessary to function as City Attorney," Aronson wrote.

Friedman, who was represented by Christine Kelly of The Animal Law Office in San Rafael, said in an emailed response that elected office must not be encumbered by arbitrary qualifications. "Only voters should decide when an elected official is qualified, which is why we have campaigns and elections," he said. "The only exception is when the qualification is manifestly important to the position such as an elected sheriff having a background in law enforcement."

Friedman said that Section 300 of the city charter allows Huntington Beach's city council to skirt the qualification laid out in the city charter, even allowing it to appoint a nonlawyer.

"Since the City allows its city council to appoint anyone, it admits that the City has no particular need for an ABA-graduate, and if the city council can appoint anyone then the voters should be allowed to elect anyone," Friedman said.

Yet, according to the opinion, a committee memorandum stated, "If no qualified candidate was elected, … [a]n appointee would have to meet the same qualifications as those required of a person elected to the office."

Gates, Huntington's current city attorney, was represented by Chief Assistant City Attorney Brian Williams and Deputy City Attorney Daniel S. Cha.

"If you look at the decision, it's well-reasoned and grounded in some of the same theories we reported in our papers," Gates said. "It was what we had hoped for and what we expected."