University of Southern California Law School

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USC Gould School of Law
Image:USC Law logo.jpg
Established: 1896
Type: Private
Endowment: US$100 Million
Dean: Robert K. Rasmussen
Students: 717
633 JD
84 LLM
Location: Los Angeles, California, USA
Campus: Urban
Website: www.law.usc.edu
USC Law School
USC Law School

The University of Southern California Law School (Gould School of Law), located in Los Angeles, California, is a graduate school within the University of Southern California. The oldest law school in the Southwestern United States, USC Law had its beginnings in 1896, and was officially established as a school of the university in 1904. It currently has about 630 J.D. students (200 per year), and also has a growing LL.M. program of about 90 students. Law School 100, a ranking scheme that purports to use qualitative criteria instead of quantitative, ranks the law school fourteenth overall, tied with Duke, UCLA, and the University of Texas. The 2009 U.S. News & World Report list of "America's Best Graduate Schools" ranks USC Law School at number eighteen.

USC Law publishes three academic journals[1]: Southern California Law Review, Interdisciplinary Law Journal, and Southern California Review of Law and Social Justice (formerly the Review of Law and Women's Studies).

Contents

[edit] History

USC Law School had its beginnings in 1896 when Judge David C. Morrison opened his courtroom for 36 law apprentices, who later formed the Los Angeles Law Students Association, to discuss the concept of a formal law school. Their efforts resulted in the incorporation of the Los Angeles Law School in 1898. In 1900, the program became affiliated with the University of Southern California and the first law degree was awarded in 1901 to Gavin W. Craig. Over the next several decades, USC Law rose to become one of the most prominent national law schools, priding itself on an interdisciplinary form of study.

As of 2007, the law school continues to build upon its tradition of interdisciplinary training with the addition of the Center in Law and Philosophy, Center in Law, Economics and Organization, and the Center in Law, History and Culture. The school also strives to offer its students practical experience through its clinics, which include the Post-Conviction Justice Project, Children's Legal Issues Clinic, and the Intellectual Property and Technology Law Clinic.

[edit] Deans

  • Frank M. Porter, 1904-1927
  • Justin Miller, 1927-1930
  • William G. Hale, 1930-1948
  • Shelden Elliott, 1948-1952
  • Robert Kingsley, 1952-1963
  • Orrin B. Evans, 1963-1968
  • Dorothy W. Nelson, 1968-1980
  • Scott H. Bice, 1980-2000
  • Matthew L. Spitzer, 2000-2006
  • Edward J. McCaffery (interim dean), 2006-2007
  • Robert K. Rasmussen, 2007-present

[edit] Notable faculty

  • Jody Armour - specializes in race issues; author of Negrophobia and Reasonable Racism
  • Alexander Capron - specializes in law and medicine
  • Susan Estrich - Professor of Law and Political Science. A Fox News commentator, Professor Estrich is frequently asked to comment on political interest stories. As an author, most recently, she has published The Case for Hillary Clinton, 2005, and Soulless: The Right Wing Church of Hate, 2006. Estrich is a woman of firsts; she was the first woman to become Editor in Chief of the Harvard Law Review, the youngest woman to receive tenure from Harvard Law School (before leaving to teach at USC), and the first woman to ever run a Presidential campaign (Dukakis, 1988).
  • Elizabeth Garrett - appointed to President Bush's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform; USC Vice Provost, and Provost of Academic Affairs, Professor of Public Interest Law, Legal Ethics, Political Science, and Policy, Planning and Development
  • Carole E. Handler - Professor of antitrust and intellectual property law
  • George Lefcoe - Real Estate expert. Author of the widely used, "Real Estate Transactions" textbook.
  • Edward McCaffery - Tax expert
  • Elyn Saks - expert on mental health law who has paranoid schizophrenia, author of The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness
  • Charles Whitebread - expert on Criminal Procedure and lecturer for BarBri; author of The Eight Secrets of Top Exam Performance in Law School
  • Scott Bice - expert on federal courts; former dean of USC law school (1980-2000)

[edit] Former faculty

[edit] Notable alumni

[edit] Business

[edit] Law

[edit] Politics

[edit] Sports and media

[edit] External links

v • d • e
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Research
Athletics
Media
Miscellaneous

[edit] Notes and References

  1. ^ USC Gould School of Law