USC Law School had its beginnings in 1896 when Judge David C. Morrison opened his courtroom for 36 law apprentices, among whom were future California Supreme Court Justice Frederick W. Houser and his wife, Sara Isabella Wilde; the couple would soon form 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. 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. 2002 saw the beginning of the USC Law Graduate and International Programs. It is an American Bar Association (ABA) approved law school since 1924. It joined the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) in 1907.
USC Gould awards the J.D., LL.M., and M.C.L. law degrees. It currently has about 600 J.D. students (200 per year) and a growing graduate program of about 200 LL.M. and M.C.L. students. It offers three certificate programs: business law, entertainment law and alternative dispute resolution.
USC Gould has consistently been ranked between 15th and 18th by the U.S. News & World Report list of "America's Best Graduate Schools" since the magazine has published an annual version of its rankings, ranking 18th in 2011. "The Law School 100", a ranking scheme that uses qualitative criteria instead of quantitative, ranks the law school 14th overall, tied with Duke, UCLA, and Vanderbilt University. It was listed with an "A-" in the March 2011 "Diversity Honor Roll" by The National Jurist: The Magazine for Law Students.
USC Gould also ranked 12th in the 2011 National Law Journal job placement study, with over 32% of its graduating class hired by the NLJ 250 largest law firms in the United States.
USC Gould has been noted as one of the top law schools for bar exam preparation.
Academic journals and honors programs
USC Gould hosts three academic journals and offers one additional honors program: Southern California Law Review, Southern California Review of Law and Social Justice (formerly the Review of Law and Women's Studies), Interdisciplinary Law Journal, and the Hale Moot Court Honors Program.
Selected law students can participate in one honors program in an academic year.
USC Gould has a chapter of the Order of the Coif, a national law school honorary society founded for the purposes of encouraging legal scholarship and advancing the ethical standards of the legal profession.
USC Gould maintains six client clinics to provide students real experience with lawyering skills.
International Human Rights Clinic – assisting with research and drafting in cases trying perpetrators of war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and terrorism; representing survivors of human trafficking and domestic violence
Immigration Clinic – providing pro bono representation to clients in a variety of immigration cases from over 25 different countries
Intellectual Property and Technology Law Clinic – assisting artists, entrepreneurs, non-profit organizations, and policymakers with intellectual property issues
Mediation Clinic – providing mediation for small claims and civil harassment cases for the Los Angeles County Superior Court
Post-Conviction Justice Project – representing clients on civil issues related to incarceration, parole hearings, and constitutional rights
Small Business Clinic – providing corporate legal assistance to entrepreneurs, non-profit organizations, and small businesses
USC Gould offers international study abroad programs, providing credit to J.D. students. Students may spend a semester abroad at the University of Hong Kong Faculty of Law, Bocconi University, Jean Moulin University Lyon 3, Bond University and Fundação Getúlio Vargas. Previously, students could pursue a J.D./LL.M dual degree with the London School of Economics.
USC Gould maintains dual degree programs with the Marshall School of Business, the Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, the Price School of Public Policy, the School of Social Work, the Davis School of Gerontology, and the Annenberg School of Communications.
Dual degree programs are accelerated. If a master's degree normally requires one year of study, a student in a dual degree program earns both degrees in only three years. If the master's degree normally requires two years of post-baccalaureate courses, a total of four years is required.
USC Gould also maintains two other dual degree programs. A program administered in conjunction with the California Institute of Technology enables a student to receive a J.D. from USC and a Ph.D. in social science from Caltech. A dual degree program initiated with the USC School of Pharmacy enables a qualified student to earn a J.D. and a Pharm.D. degree. Students admitted to the J.D./Pharm.D. program must begin their studies in the School of Pharmacy. At the request of individual students, other dual degree programs may be initiated with the concurrence of USC Gould and the other departments involved.
According to the USC Gould School of Law's official 2014 ABA-required disclosures, 79.3% of the Class of 2014 obtained full-time, long-term, JD-required employment nine months after graduation. USC Gould's Law School Transparency under-employment score is 8.8%, indicating the percentage of the Class of 2014 unemployed, pursuing an additional degree, or working in a non-professional, short-term, or part-time job nine months after graduation.
The total cost of attendance (indicating the cost of tuition, fees, and living expenses) at USC Gould for the 2014-2015 academic year is $81,679.
- 1904–1927, Frank M. Porter
- 1927–1930, Justin Miller
- 1930–1948, William G. Hale
- 1948–1952, Shelden Elliott
- 1952–1963, Robert Kingsley
- 1963–1968, Orrin B. Evans
- 1968–1980, Dorothy W. Nelson
- 1980–2000, Scott H. Bice
- 2000–2006, Matthew L. Spitzer
- 2006–2007, Edward J. McCaffery (interim)
- 2007–2015, Robert K. Rasmussen
- 2015–present, Andrew T. Guzman
Jody Armour – specializes in race issues; author of Negrophobia and Reasonable Racism
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).
Elyn Saks – expert on mental health law; founder and director of Saks Institute for Mental Health Law, Policy, and Ethics; recipient of MacArthur Foundation "genius grant"; author of The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness
Elizabeth Garrett – first woman president of Cornell University, appointed to President Bush's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform; USC Vice President of Academic Planning and Budget, Professor of Law, Political Science and Public Policy
Erwin Chemerinsky – former Sydney M. Irmas Professor of Public Interest Law, Legal Ethics, and Political Science, 1983–2004; former professor at the Duke University School of Law; founding Dean at the University of California, Irvine School of Law
Richard Epstein – well known for his arguments against anti-discrimination laws; currently the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law and director of the Classical Liberal Institute at New York University; previously the James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School
James Brown Scott – authority on international law, founding dean of USC Law School
Charles Whitebread – expert on Criminal Procedure and lecturer for BarBri; author of The Eight Secrets of Top Exam Performance in Law School
Debra Wong Yang – trial advocacy expert; the first Asian American woman served as a United States Attorney
Jean Rosenbluth – former professor of Legal Writing and noted expert on criminal law; currently serving as a Federal Magistrate Judge in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California
Carole E. Handler – Professor of antitrust and intellectual property law
U.S. federal Court of Appeals judges
Arthur Lawrence Alarcon (1951) – Judge of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (1979–1992)
James Marshall Carter (1927) – Judge of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (1967–1971); Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California (1949–1967)
Walter Raleigh Ely, Jr. (LL.M. 1949) – Judge of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (1964–1979)
Ferdinand Francis Fernandez (1962) – Judge of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (1989–2002); Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California (1985–1989)
Warren J. Ferguson (1949) – Judge of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (1979–1986); Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California (1966–1979)
Dorothy Wright Nelson (LL.M. 1956) – Judge of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (1979–1995)
David R. Thompson (1955) – Judge of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (1985–1998)
Charles E. Wiggins (1956) – Judge of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (1984–1996)
U.S. federal District Court for the Central District of California judges
William Matthew Byrne, Jr. (1956) – Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California (1971–1998)
Thurmond Clarke (1927) – Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California (1966–1970); Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California (1955–1966)
Elisha Avery Crary (1929) – Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California (1966–1975); Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California (1962–1966)
Richard Arthur Gadbois, Jr. (1960) – Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California (1982–1996)
Peirson Mitchell Hall – Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California (1966–1968); Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California (1942–1966)
James M. Ideman (1963) – Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California (1984–1998)
David Vreeland Kenyon (1957) – Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California (1980–1995)
George H. King (1974) – Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California (1995–present)
Stephen G. Larson (1989) – Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California (2006–2009)
Nora Margaret Manella (1975) – Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California (1998–2006)
Edward Rafeedie (1959) – Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California (1982–1996)
Albert Lee Stephens, Jr. (1938) – Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California (1966–1979); Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California (1961–1966)
Alicemarie Huber Stotler (1967) – Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California (1984–2009)
Robert Mitsuhiro Takasugi (1959) – first Japanese American federal judge; Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California (1976–1996)
Dickran Tevrizian (1965) – Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California (1985–2005)
Laughlin Edward Waters, Sr. (1947) – Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California (1976–1986)
David W. Williams (1937) – first African American federal judge west of the Mississippi River; Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California (1969–1981)
Other U.S. federal court judges
Mary Ann Cohen (1967) – Judge of the United States Tax Court (1982–present)
J. Lawrence Irving (1963) – Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California (1982–1990)
David W. Ling (1913) – Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona (1936–1964)
Leland Chris Nielsen (1946) – Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California (1971–1985)
Howard Boyd Turrentine (1939) – Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California (1970–1984)
Ronald M. Whyte (1967) – Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California (1992–2009)
California Supreme Court justices
David Eagleson (1950) – Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court (1987–1991)
Douglas L. Edmonds (1910) – Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court (1936–1955)
Frederick W. Houser (1900) – Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court (1937–1942)
Marcus Kaufman (1956) – Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court (1987–1990)
Joyce L. Kennard (1974) – first Asian-American to serve as an Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court (1989–2014)
Malcolm M. Lucas (1953) – 26th Chief Justice of California (1987–1996); Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court (1984–1987); Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California (1971–1984) All four were appointed by Republican Governor George Deukmejian.
C. Bertrand Thompson (1900) – First African-American graduate of USC Law School at age 18, later a Unitarian minister, assistant to Frederick W. Taylor and early scholar of scientific management, lecturer at the Harvard Business School (1908–1917), international business consultant (awarded the French Légion d'honneur), and researcher in biochemistry
Louis Galen (1951) – former CEO of Golden West Financial, philanthropist
Sol Price (1957) – founder of Fed Mart and Price Club(Costco Wholesale Corp.)
James E. Rogers (1963) – CEO & owner, Sunbelt Communications
Richard Ziman (1967) – CEO, Arden Realty
Stanley Gold (1967) – President and CEO of Shamrock Holdings
Bruce Karatz (1970) – CEO of KB Home
Jeff Smulyan (1972) – founder and CEO of Emmis Communications
Brian Grazer (left in 1975) - Oscar-winning co-founder of Imagine Entertainment
Charles Prince (1975) – former chairman & CEO of Citigroup
Richard Rosenblatt (1994) – Founder, CEO, Intermix & Demand Media; former Chairman, MySpace; Founder, former CEO, iMALL
Hovanes Margarian (2006) - Co-Founder of NexusLab Inc. (an Inc.5000 Company)
Larry Flax (1967) – Co-founder of California Pizza Kitchen
Other
Mabel Walker Willebrandt (1916) – Assistant U.S. Attorney General (1921–1929)
You Chung Hong (1924) – first Chinese American admitted to practice in California
Gordon Dean (1930) – former USC Law School professor; chairman of the US Atomic Energy Commission (AEC)
Jack Carl Greenburg (1933) – former Chief Clerk of the California State Assembly
William P. Hogoboom (1949) – former California Superior Court judge, author of Rutter Group California legal practice guides
David Getches (1967) – former Dean and Raphael J. Moses Professor of Natural Resources Law at the University of Colorado School of Law
James P. Gray (1971) – presiding judge of the Superior Court of Orange County; former Libertarian candidate for the U.S. Senate and 2012 Libertarian candidate for Vice President of the United States
Stephen Cooley (1973) – Los Angeles County's 36th District Attorney
Douglas Kmiec (1976) – former U.S. Ambassador to Malta, Caruso Family Chair in Constitutional Law at Pepperdine University, former U.S. Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel, former Dean and St. Thomas More Professor at The Catholic University of America, former Director of Law & Government Center, University of Notre Dame
Margaret Radin (1976) – influential law professor at Stanford Law School; former USC Law School professor
George Hedges (1978) – senior partner at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges LLP and attorney to numerous celebrity clients; led team of archaeologists in discovering the lost city of Ubar in Oman in 1991.
Charles Older (1952) - California Superior Court judge presiding over trial of Charles Manson; also one of the famed Flying Tigers pilots of WWII
Aulana L. Peters (1973) – first African American and third woman to serve as commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
Jackie Lacey (1982) – first woman and first African American to serve as District Attorney of Los Angeles County
E. Randol Schoenberg (1991) – attorney specializing in legal cases related to the recovery of looted or stolen artworks; known as one of the central figures of the 2015 film Woman in Gold, which depicted the case he brought against the Austrian government on behalf of Maria Altmann to obtain five Gustav Klimt paintings looted by the Nazi regime during the Holocaust
Arthur Alber–(1918) Los Angeles City Council member (1927–29)
Bertrand W. Gearhart (1910) – lawyer and former member of the United States House of Representatives
Fletcher Bowron (1911) – former mayor of Los Angeles
J. Curtis Counts (1941) – Director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.
Buron Fitts (1916) – former Lieutenant Governor of California
Thomas Kuchel (1935) – former United States Senator
Craig Hosmer (1940) – former United States Representative
Fred Hall (1941) – former Governor of Kansas
James B. Utt (1946) – former United States Representative
Carlos Moorhead (1949) – former United States Representative
Robert Finch (1951) – attorney, former Lieutenant Governor of California, former United States Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare
Yvonne Brathwaite Burke (1956) – Los Angeles County supervisor, former member of the United States House of Representatives
Michael L. Williams (1979) – senior commissioner of the Railroad Commission of Texas, Texas Commissioner of Education
John Heilman (1982) – mayor of West Hollywood, lecturer at USC Gould
James Stuart McKnight (1908) – Los Angeles City Council member (1931–33)
Philip N. Krasne (1929) producer of the later Charlie Chan films and the Cisco Kid television series.
Carey McWilliams (1927) – author, lawyer, journalist and editor of The Nation for twenty years
Joseph Wapner (1948) – Judge of The People's Court (former Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge
Terry Baker (1968) – played quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams and the CFL's Edmonton Eskimos while earning a J.D. at USC
Amy Trask (1985) – Former CEO of the Oakland Raiders
Rick Neuheisel (1990) – College and professional Football Coach. Former head football coach at UCLA and former UCLA quarterback.
