University of Southern California - Gould School of Law

Vault Law School Diversity Profile • 2007 Edition

Recruitment and Scholarships/Fellowships

How does your school recruit minority and/or women students? Each spring, USC holds a diversity reception for admitted students who are minorities. The reception is attended by current students, alumni and faculty who are minorities, as well as other students, alumni and faculty. In addition, current students participate in the entire recruiting process, so many minority applicants receive personal communication from a minority student. We work with a wide range of undergraduate student organizations across the country, including many minority student organizations.

Please describe any scholarship and fellowship programs for minority and/or women students organized through your school. Name of scholarship program: La Raza Law Student Association Scholarship Deadline for application for the scholarship program: May 31 Scholarship award amount ($U.S., indicate if the scholarship amount represents the amount for a single year or for entire scholarship): varies Web site or other contact information for scholarship: http://www.usc.edu/student-affairs/MAAA-Web/images/2006_scholarship_application.pdf

This scholarship is offered through USC's Mexican American Alumni Association and provides special consideration for Hispanic and Latino students and students committed to serving the Hispanic and Latino communities.

Name of scholarship program: Crispus Wright Endowed Scholarship Deadline for application for the scholarship program: Feb. 15 Scholarship award amount ($U.S., indicate if the scholarship amount represents the amount for a single year or for entire scholarship): varies Web site or other contact information for scholarship: http://law.usc.edu/students/financial.cfm

This scholarship provides special consideration for - but is not restricted to - students who are committed to working in diverse communities upon graduation.

Name of scholarship program: Mabel Wilson Richards Scholarship Deadline for application for the scholarship program: Feb. 15 Scholarship award amount ($U.S., indicate if the scholarship amount represents the amount for a single year or for entire scholarship): varies Web site or other contact information for scholarship: http://law.usc.edu/students/financial.cfm

This scholarship provides special consideration for women applicants.

Name of scholarship program: Summer Fellowship Deadline for application for the scholarship program: Feb. 15 Scholarship award amount ($U.S., indicate if the scholarship amount represents the amount for a single year or for entire scholarship): varies Web site or other contact information for scholarship: http://law.usc.edu/students/financial.cfm

A number of these fellowships provide special consideration for diverse students, but Summer Fellowships are not restricted to minority students.

*Note: Diversity is considered as a factor in the awarding of almost all of USC law school's scholarships. In fact, a significant number of the law school's scholarships - more than 100 this year - are awarded to minority students.

Read all of Vault’s Law School Surveys at www.vault.com/lawschool — get complete surveys on top law schools, C A R E E R 157 expert advice on applicaton essays, LSAT prep and more. L I B R A R Y Vault Law School Diversity Profile • 2007 Edition University of Southern California (Gould) Prominent Alumni/Faculty

Please provide information about prominent minority faculty members at your school. Jody David Armour Professor Armour is the Roy P. Crocker Professor of Law at USC and an expert in criminal defense and prosecution, racial pro- filing, personal injury claims and sexual predator cases. He teaches Torts, Enterprise Liability, Stereotypes and Law, and a seminar on Prejudice and the Rule of Law. Professor Armour's scholarly writings include "Just Desserts: Narrative, Perspective, Choice, and Blame" (University of Pittsburgh Law Review, 1996), "Toward a Tort-Based Theory of Civil Rights, Civil Liberties, and Racial Justice" (Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review, spring 2005), and Negrophobia & Reasonable Racism: The Hidden Costs of Being Black in America (New York University Press, 1997). Before joining USC Law in 1997, Professor Armour practiced law in San Francisco and Pittsburgh. He also taught at the University of California, Berkeley, Indiana University and the University of Pittsburgh. He is a graduate of Harvard University and earned his law degree at Boalt Hall School of Law at UC Berkeley, where he was editor of the Black Law Journal. Professor Armour is a regular legal analyst on KABC News and a sought-after legal expert on a variety of criminal law issues. He also has commented extensively on such high-profile trials as Michael Jackson and Robert Blake.

David Cruz David Cruz is a professor of law at USC and a constitutional law expert focusing on civil rights and equality issues, including equal marriage rights for same-sex couples. He specializes in discrimination law and the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans- gender persons. He teaches Constitutional Law I; Constitutional Law II; Federal Courts; Sexual Orientation and the Law; International/Comparative Perspectives on Sex, Gender, and Sexual Orientation; Identity Categories; and Law, Identity, and Culture. Before joining the USC Law faculty in 1996, Professor Cruz was a Bristow Fellow in the Office of the Solicitor General in Washington, D.C. He also clerked for The Honorable Edward R. Becker, Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He is past chair of the AALS Section on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Issues and president of the International Lesbian and Gay Law Association. Professor Cruz graduated from the University of California, Irvine and earned his master's degree from Stanford University. He is a graduate of New York University School of Law, where he was managing editor of New York University Law Review. Professor Cruz's academic publications include "Spinning Lawrence, or Lawrence v. Texas and the Promotion of Heterosexuality" (Widener Law Review, 2005); "Mystification, Neutrality, and Same-Sex Couples in Marriage," in Mary Lyndon Shanley's Just Marriage (Oxford University Press 2004); "Making Up Women: Casinos, Cosmetics, and Title VII" (Nevada Law Journal, 2004); and "Disestablishing Sex and Gender" (California Law Review, 2002).

Edwin Smith Edwin Smith is the Leon Benwell Professor of Law, International Relations, and Political Science at USC. He is a singular expert on international law, international relations theory and foreign relations law. He holds joint appointments as a professor of law and of international relations. Professor Smith teaches Public International Law, International Organizations, Contracts, and seminars on Foreign Relations Law, the Law of War and the United Nations. Professor Smith's publications include "Ralph Bunche: Peacemaking in Transition" in Ralph Johnson Bunche: A Nobel Peace Laureate Influencing public intellectualism and Diplomacy (University of Illinois Press, forthcoming), "Collective Security, Peacekeeping, and Ad Hoc Multilateralism" in Democratic Accountability and the Use of Force in International Law (Cambridge University Press, 2003) and The United Nations in a New World Order (with Schechter, Keck Center for International and Strategic Studies, Claremont McKenna College, 1994). A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard University, Professor Smith received his J.D. from Harvard Law School. Prior to joining the USC Law faculty in 1980, Professor Smith was an associate with Rosenfeld, Meyer & Sussman, a staff attorney for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and a research associate with the Institute for Marine and Coastal Studies. He also served as special counsel for foreign policy to United States Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. He was appointed by President Clinton as a science and policy advisor to the United States Arms Control and Disarmament Agency and has lectured interna- tionally on United Nations-NATO cooperation in peacekeeping.

Please provide information about prominent minority alumni from your school. Justice Candace Cooper Candace D. Cooper serves as Presiding Justice of Division Eight of the Second Appellate District. She was nominated for that position by Governor Gray Davis and confirmed on November 21, 2001. Prior to joining the Court of Appeal, she served on the Los Angeles Superior Court from 1987 to 1999. Justice Cooper served on the Los Angeles Municipal Court from 1980 to 1987 where she served as Supervising Judge of the Traffic Court and of the Criminal Court and on the Court's executive committee. In 1988 to 1989 she served as President of the California Judges Association; the second Black and second female to head a nearly 2000 member voluntary professional association representing all judicial officers throughout the state from the California

Supreme Court to the remaining Justice Courts. Active in judicial education, Justice Cooper has served as a faculty member for the Continuing Judicial Studies Program, the Judicial College and the New Judges Orientation. She has taught courses in evidence, jury selection, fairness and elimination of bias, and special problems in the justice system for women of color. She has also served on special boards and committees including: the Judicial Council Advisory Committee on Racial and Ethnic Bias in the Court, the Judicial Council Select Committee on Judicial Retirement, the Judicial Council Advisory Committee on Private Judges, the Attorney General's Committee on Child Victim Witnesses and the Judicial Council Task Force on the Quality of Justice and the State Bar Commission on the Future of the Legal Profession and, Chair of Judicial Council Task Force on Judicial Service. Since the fall of 2004, she has been a member of the California Judicial Council; the constitutionally created 27-member policymaking body of the California courts. Justice Cooper has been the recipient of many awards and honors: including, Black Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles Foundation, 2006 "Power of One" Award; Consumer Attorneys of Los Angeles, 2003 Roger Traynor Memorial Appellate Justice of the Year Award; Harriet Buhai Center for Family Law, Community Service Award (2001); California Women Lawyers, Justice Joan Dempsey Klein Distinguished Judge Award (1997); University Of Southern California Association of Black Law Alumni, Outstanding Achievement in the Legal Profession Award (1996); University Of Southern California General Alumni Association, Alumni Merit Award (1994); Los Angeles County Bar Association, Outstanding Trial Jurist (1992 -- 1993); Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles, Ernestine Stalhut Award (1989); Los Angeles Y.W.C.A. Silver Achievement Award (1991).

Victor Romero A native of the Philippines, Victor Romero is Associate Dean at the Penn State Dickinson School of Law. He teaches and writes in the area of immigrant and minority rights. Dean Romero joined our faculty in 1995 after working in private practice and as a law clerk to a federal judge in California. An elected member of the American Law Institute (ALI), Dean Romero is co-editor of the anthology, Immigration and the Constitution, and author of Alienated: Immigrant Rights, the Constitution, and Equality in America. In addition to his course in Immigration Law, Dean Romero teaches or has taught Constitutional Law, Constitutional Theory, Equal Protection and Civil Rights, Criminal Procedure, Administrative Law, Torts, and Race, Racism and American Law. Dean Romero has served our community as president of both the South Central Pennsylvania Chapter of the ACLU and the NAACP of the Greater Carlisle Area. He has also served as a visiting professor of law at the Howard University School of Law and at the Rutgers-Camden School of Law.

Judge Arthur Alarcon Arthur Alarcon is a judge for the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He was nominated by Jimmy Carter on August 28, 1979, and confirmed by the Senate on October 31, 1979. He received commission on November 2, 1979, and assumed senior status on November 21, 1992. He received his BA from USC in 1949, and his law degree from USC in 1951. He served as a U.S. Army Staff Sergeant, 1943-1946, and received a Purple Heart and Bronze Star. After graduating from USC Law, he served as deputy district attorney, Los Angeles County, California, 1952-1961; legal advisor and clemency and extradition secretary to the governor of California, 1961-1962; executive assistant to the governor of California, 1962-1964; chairman, California parole board, 1964; Judge, Superior Court of California for the County of Los Angeles, 1964-1978; associate justice, California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, 1978-1979; adjunct professor, Southwestern University School of Law, 1985-present; and adjunct professor, Loyola Marymount School of Law, 1993 and 1994. He is a founding member and former chairman of the Mexican American Scholarship Foundation Assisting Careers in Law and founder of the Council on Mexican-American Affairs.

Please provide information about prominent women faculty members at your school. Elizabeth Garrett Elizabeth Garrett is university vice provost for academic planning and budget; the Sydney M. Irmas Chair in Public Interest Law, Legal Ethics, Political Science and Policy, Planning and Development. She specializes in the legislative process, direct democracy, the federal budget process, the study of democratic institutions, statutory interpretation and tax policy. She is an expert on state, national and presidential politics. As vice president for academic planning and budget at USC, Professor Garrett oversees resource allocation and manages the university's academic programs and priorities. She also is director of the USC-Caltech Center for the Study of Law and Politics and serves on the board of the Initiative and Referendum Institute at USC. In January 2005, she was appointed to President George W. Bush's nine-member bipartisan Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform, which issued its report in November 2005. She also serves as chair of the finance committee and vice chair of the national governing board of Common Cause. Professor Garrett graduated from the University of Oklahoma and University of Virginia Law School. She clerked for Justice Thurgood Marshall on the Supreme Court and Judge Williams on the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and served as legal counsel and legislative assistant for tax, budget and welfare reform issues for U.S. Senator David L. Boren. Before joining USC Law in 2003, she was a professor at University of Chicago Law School, where she also served as deputy dean for academic affairs. She has been a visiting professor at Harvard Law School, the University of Virginia Law School, Central European University in Budapest and the Interdisciplinary Center Law School in Israel. Professor Garrett is the co-author of the third edition of the leading casebook on legislation and statutory interpretation, Cases and Materials on Legislation: Statutes and the Creation of Public Policy (West Publishing, 2001). Her recent articles have analyzed

Read all of Vault’s Law School Surveys at www.vault.com/lawschool — get complete surveys on top law schools, C A R E E R 159 expert advice on applicaton essays, LSAT prep and more. L I B R A R Y Vault Law School Diversity Profile • 2007 Edition University of Southern California (Gould)

courts and political parties, campaign finance reform laws, various congressional procedures, judicial review of regulatory statutes, and the initiative process.

Daria Roithmayr Daria Roithmayr is a professor of law at USC and an expert on critical race theory. Her innovative scholarship employs "complex systems analysis," a branch of applied computer science that uses computer-based models of human decision-making. She joins USC Law in fall 2006 to teach Civil Procedure and Critical Race Theory. Prior to joining USC Law, Professor Roithmayr taught for nine years at the University of Illinois College of Law. She has also been a visiting professor at universities in Arizona, Michigan and South Africa. Among her recent publications are: Locked in Apartheid: The Lock-In Model of Discrimination (NYU Press, forthcoming); "Locked in Segregation" (Virginia Journal of Social Policy and Law, 2004); and "Access, Adequacy, and Equality: The Constitutionality of School Fee Financing in Public Education" (South African Journal of Human Rights, 2003). Professor Roithmayr received her B.S. from the University of California, Los Angeles, and her J.D., magna cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center, where she was a member of Order of the Coif and served as senior notes editor of the Georgetown Law Journal. She clerked for The Honorable Marvin J. Garbis, judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. Professor Roithmayr twice served as special counsel to Senator Edward Kennedy and last year was special counsel for People for the American Way, advising the group on the U.S. Supreme Court nominations of Judge John Roberts and Judge Harriet Miers. She has practiced law in Washington, D.C. and Phoenix, Arizona. Since 2000, she has been a consultant for the Education Rights Project in South Africa.

Gillian Hadfield Gillian Hadfield is the Richard and Antoinette S. Kirtland Professor of Law and Professor of Economics at USC. She studies the design of legal and dispute resolution systems in advanced and developing market economies; the markets for law, lawyers and dispute resolution; contract law and theory; economic analysis of law; and gender in economics and law. She teaches Contract Law, Advanced Contracts, Law and Policy of Alternative Dispute Resolution, and Antitrust and Intellectual Property. Professor Hadfield joined the USC Law faculty in 2001 and is executive director of the USC Center for Law, Economics and Organization. She also is a 2006-07 fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. Her publications include "The Price of Law: How the Market for Lawyers Distorts the Justice System" (Michigan Law Review 2000), The Second Wave of Law and Economics (with Megan Richardson; Federation Press, 1999); "Delivering Legality on the Internet: Developing Principles for the Privatization of Commercial Law" (American Law and Economics Review, 2004), and "Exploring Economic and Democratic Theories of Civil Litigation: Differences between Individual and Organizational Litigants in the Disposition of Federal Civil Cases" (Stanford Law Review, 2005). Professor Hadfield holds a B.A.H. from Queen's University; a J.D. from Stanford Law School; and an M.A. and Ph.D. in economics from Stanford University. She served as clerk to Chief Judge Patricia Wald on the U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit. Prior to joining the faculty at USC, she was on the law faculty at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Toronto, and a member of the faculty of the Global Law School at New York University. Professor Hadfield was a national fellow at the Hoover Institution in 1993, and senior visiting Olin fellow at Columbia Law School in 1998. She also has held Olin Fellowships at Cornell Law School and USC. She is a member of the American Law and Economics Association, the American Law and Society Association, the International Society for New Institutional Economics, and the Journal of Law and Social Inquiry editorial board. She is a past president of the Canadian Law and Economics Association and director of the American Law and Economics Association.

Please provide information about prominent women alumnae from your school. Justice Joyce Luther Kennard Justice Kennard was appointed to the California Supreme Court by Governor George Deukmejian in April 1989. She was elected in November 1990 and reelected to a full term November 1994. (She was chair of California Judicial Council's Appellate Advisory Committee from 1996 to 2005.) She previously served as an Associate Justice on the state Court of Appeal in Los Angeles (Division Five); judge of the Los Angeles County Superior Court; Associate Justice pro tempore on state Court of Appeal in Los Angeles (Division Three); judge on Los Angeles County Municipal Court; senior attorney on state Court of Appeal in Los Angeles; and Deputy Attorney General in Los Angeles. She graduated from the University of Southern California's Gould School of Law in 1974 and at the same time received a Master of Public Administration degree from U.S.C.'s School of Public Administration. In 1971, she received a Bachelor of Arts magna cum laude degree in German from U.S.C., and in 1970 an Associate in Arts degree. Honors include: University of Southern California - Gould School of Law (9/71 to 6/74), recipient of American Jurisprudence Award in Torts; University of Southern California - School of Public Admin. (9/73 to 6/74), recipient of the "Pfiffner Award for the Outstanding Thesis of the Academic Year"; 4.0 grade point average; University of Southern California (2/70 to 8/71), recipient of academic scholarships, member of Phi Beta Kappa, member of Phi Kappa Phi (honor society for academic excellence), completed two academic years in a year and a half while working 20-hour week; Pasadena City College (9/68 to 2/70), "Honors Extraordinary" in German, recipient of Clara Bates Giddings Scholarship for excellence in German, member of

Alpha Mu Gamma (national honor society for foreign languages), recipient of Alpha Mu Gamma scholarship, member of the state scholarship society of Alpha Gamma Sigma, Dean's list each semester (completed 2 years of college in 1-1/2 years while working 20-hour week). She also was featured in The Counselors, conversations with 18 courageous women who have changed the world, by Elizabeth Vrato, published in March 2002, chapter XII; law review article entitled Joyce L. Kennard: An Independent Streak on California's Highest Court (65 Albany Law Rev., p. 1181, July 2002).

Judge Dorothy Nelson The Honorable Dorothy W. Nelson, who was dean of USC Law for 11 years, is a senior judge of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Los Angeles. At USC, she started teaching in 1957 after completing her advanced legal degree at USC. She later became a professor and, in 1969, became the first woman dean of a leading American law school when she took the helm at USC. She led the school until 1980, when she was appointed to the bench. Nelson is a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles, where she earned her Bachelor of Arts, Phi Beta Kappa, and her Doctor of Jurisprudence, graduating Order of the Coif. She then earned her Master of Law at the USC Law School in 1956. Judge Nelson is also with a member or director of several organizations, including the World Association of Lawyers, American Bar Association, Federal Bar Association, American Judicature Society, National Association of Public Administration and California Bar Association. Nelson also has received various honors and awards, such as UCLA Law Alumna of the Year, Time's Women of the Year, UCLA Professional Achievement Award, Ernestine J. Stalhurst Award, and more.

Yvonne Brathwaite Burke Yvonne B. Burke is serving her fourth four-year term as Los Angeles County Supervisor for the Second District. She brings to the Board of Supervisors more than 30 years of experience in a distinguished public service career at the national and state as well as local government levels. As a member of the Board of Supervisors, she has focused on the needs and education of children, espe- cially those who must be cared for in the County's foster child programs. Most recently she has been a prime mover in bringing about the Department of Children and Family Services new Family to Family program, promoting the placement of foster children in homes near their original neighborhoods. She has also established numerous child care centers that in addition to super- vision also provide learning enrichment programs and nutritious meals. She has actively advanced economic development in the Second District by promoting the establishment of businesses in areas that have been under served, and by providing services to small businesses. Supervisor Burke is President of the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) for 2006-2007; a member of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Board of Directors and of the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO); 2006 President of the L. A. Coliseum Commission and the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) for 2006-2007; and Chair of the Exposition Metro Line Construction Authority, the Advance Technology Vehicle Consortium, and the Baldwin Hills Regional Authority. In the course of her long public service career, Supervisor Burke has amassed numerous "firsts" and innumerable awards and honors. She became the first African American woman elected to the California Legislature in 1967, the first African American Woman elected to the U.S. Congress from California in 1972, and the first to serve as Chair of the L.A. County Board of Supervisors in 1993. She served as Vice Chair of the 1972 Democratic National Convention. She is also a past Chair of the L.A. Federal Reserve Bank, was Vice Chairman of the 1984 U.S. Olympics Organizing Committee, and has set on boards of numerous prestigious organizations and corporations, including Nestle. Time Magazine named her one of "America's 200 Future Leaders", and she was selected as "Woman of the Year" by the Los Angeles Times.

Student Organizations

Please provide information on your school diversity student and alumni organizations. For exam- ple, student-run associations and journals/publications. Asian Pacific American Law Students Association (APALSA) http://law.usc.edu/students/orgs/apalsa/index.cfm The Asian Pacific American Law Students Association (APALSA) is dedicated to promoting the interests of Asian Pacific American students at USC Law on campus and throughout the greater legal community. By representing student interests to the SBA, Deans and professors, APALSA creates an environment that encourages our community to mature and excel. By developing our connections with the alumni family, national APALSA and NAPABA (National Asian Pacific American Bar Association) organizations, APALSA extends that representation nationally. Above all, APALSA promotes equality and social progress for the Asian Pacific American legal community here at USC Law School.

Read all of Vault’s Law School Surveys at www.vault.com/lawschool — get complete surveys on top law schools, C A R E E R 161 expert advice on applicaton essays, LSAT prep and more. L I B R A R Y Vault Law School Diversity Profile • 2007 Edition University of Southern California (Gould)

Black Law Students Association http://www-scf.usc.edu/~blsa/about.html The purpose of USC BLSA is to utilize our collective resources to... 1) Articulate and promote the educational, professional, political, and social needs and goals of Black law students. 2) Foster and encourage professional competence. 3) Improve the rela- tionship between Black law students, Black attorneys, and the American legal structure. 4) Instill in the Black attorney and law student a greater awareness and commitment to the needs of the Black community. 5) Influence the legal community by bringing about meaningful legal and political change that addresses the needs and concerns of the Black community. 6) Adopt and implement policies of economic independence. 7) Encourage Black law students to pursue careers in the judiciary. 8) Do all things necessary and appropriate to accomplish these purposes.

Christian Legal Society http://law.usc.edu/students/orgs/chrls/index.cfm The Christian Legal Society strives to serve the USC Law community with the love of Jesus Christ. The group performs a number of functions within the USC Law community by providing academic and spiritual support, conducting prayer meetings, and bringing informational speakers to campus.

Gay and Lesbian Law Union (GLLU) http://law.usc.edu/students/orgs/gllu/index.cfm The Gay and Lesbian Law Union (GLLU) is an organization for students of all sexual orientations, whose primary purpose is to connect the LGBT and ally communities within the law school with the greater Los Angeles communities. GLLU aims to host a variety of social events and lunchtime talks dealing with social and political issues of interest to the GLLU membership and of concern to the student body as a whole.

J. Reuben Clark Law Society Members of the J. Reuben Clark Law Society are law students who support its mission statement: "We affirm the strength brought to the law by a lawyer's personal religious conviction. We strive through public service and professional excellence to promote fairness and virtue founded upon the rule of law."

Jewish Law Students Association (JLSA) http://law.usc.edu/students/orgs/jlsa/index.cfm The Jewish Law Students Association (JLSA) helps to build a sense of community at USC Law School by providing program- ming of Jewish social, cultural, religious, and legal significance. The organization helps Jewish students get involved in the religious and cultural community at USC and in Los Angeles. Additionally, JLSA sponsors specific activities related to Judaism, such as Shabbat and holiday dinners, and provides information on attending religious services.

JLSA also provides services to the rest of the student body by bringing in speakers, sponsoring academic programs and community service events, having networking events, and taking part in campus activities.

La Raza Law Students Association http://law.usc.edu/students/orgs/raza/index.cfm La Raza is dedicated to building an encouraging environment for current and prospective USC Law School students through academic support, scholarship, community service, and networking events. We also aim to maintain strong ties to our Alumni through networking events and by maintaining an alumni directory.

While most of us share an interest in issues affecting Latino/a communities, our organization is open to all law students.

MESALA (Middle Eastern South Asian Law Association) http://law.usc.edu/students/orgs/mesala/index.cfm MESALA supports Middle Eastern and South Asian law students through academic programs, volunteer projects, events, networking and other activities.

Southern California Review of Law and Social Justice (RLSJ) http://law.usc.edu/students/orgs/rlaws/index.cfm The Southern California Review of Law and Social Justice (RLSJ) promotes the discussion and examination of issues lying at the intersection of gender, social justice, and the law. RLSJ publishes legal narratives and analyses of both case law and legislation, all of which detail the law's interaction with historically stigmatized groups and highlight the law's potential as an instrument of positive social change. These narratives and analyses may borrow from the perspectives of many disciplines, including history, sociology, psychology, theology, political science, economics, and literature. The goal of RLSJ is to influence the development

of the law in ways that encourage full and equal participation of all people in the political, social, civic, and economic life of our country.

Women's Law Association http://law.usc.edu/students/orgs/wla/index.cfm The Women's Law Association is a student organization open to both women and men who are concerned with the success and advancement of women in the legal profession and in society as a whole.

Please also provide information on any classes and concentrations that focus on issues related to women or minorities, such as Civil Rights Law. • The Rights of Groups • Gender Discrimination • Family Violence • Family Law • Feminist Legal Theory • Legal Conceptions of Maternity and Paternity • Review of Law and Social Justice Staff • Review of Law and Social Justice Writing • Review of Law and Social Justice Editing • Children's Legal Issues • Poverty Law • Access to Justice Seminar • International Human Rights • Race, Gender and the Law • Law and Social Change in Post-War America • Law, Literature and Feminism • Stereotypes, Prejudice, and the Rule of Law • Immigrants and the Constitution • Gender, Crime and Justice Seminar • Civil Rights Litigation • Comparative Islamic Law • Critical Race Theory • Sexual Orientation and the Law • Identity Categories • Rights of Groups Seminar • Immigration Law • Immigration Clinic • Immigration Clinic II • Legal Rights in a Multicultural Democracy

Career Opportunities

Please describe any diversity recruiting events for employers recruiting minority and/or women students at or near your school. Our career services office works closely with student organizations and law firms to facilitate a range of programs designed to support diverse students in their career planning. Speakers with diverse backgrounds are invited to speak to students throughout the year; workshops on various issues relating to diversity and careers are sponsored each semester; and career services counselors each are assigned to work with specific student groups to address their concerns and needs. Our students participate in a number of job fairs targeting diverse students, including the Black Law Student Association job fair for Southern California and recruiting events at DuPont and the San Francisco Bar, among others.

Read all of Vault’s Law School Surveys at www.vault.com/lawschool — get complete surveys on top law schools, C A R E E R 163 expert advice on applicaton essays, LSAT prep and more. L I B R A R Y Vault Law School Diversity Profile • 2007 Edition University of Southern California (Gould) Strategic Plan and Diversity Leadership

Please provide your school's diversity mission statement if applicable. USC Principles of Community

USC is a multicultural community of people from diverse racial, ethnic, and class backgrounds, national origins, religious and political beliefs, physical abilities, and sexual orientations. Our activities, programs, classes, workshops, lectures, and everyday interactions are enriched by our acceptance of one another, and we strive to learn from each other in an atmosphere of positive engagement and mutual respect.

We want to make explicit our expectations regarding the behavior of each member of our community. As adults, we are respon- sible for our behavior and are fully accountable for our actions. We each must take responsibility for our awareness of racism, sex- ism, ageism, xenophobia, homophobia, and other forms of oppression.

Bigotry will not go unchallenged within this community. No one has the right to denigrate another human being on the basis of race, sex, sexual orientation, national origins, etc. We will not tolerate verbal or written abuse, threats, harassment, intimidation, or violence against person or property. In this context, we do not accept alcohol or substance abuse as an excuse, reason, or ration- ale for such abuse, harassment, intimidation or violence. Ignorance or "it was just a joke" is also not an excuse for such behavior. Such behavior will be subject to the University's disciplinary processes.

All who work, live, study, and teach in the USC community are here by choice, and as part of that choice should be committed to these principles which are an integral part of the USC's focus, goals, and mission.

How does your school's leadership communicate the importance of diversity of your student body, faculty and administration? Because USC Law is the most diverse of the nation's top 20 law schools, diversity is an underlying theme of all our communication efforts. Our publications, both print and electronic, highlight the achievements and work of our minority and women students, alumni and faculty, and issues of importance to diverse communities are often highlighted in our publications. We particularly emphasize the value of diversity in official communications to students and employers involved in our on-campus recruiting programs. Rather than assign one department or committee to the task of building an environment that is encouraging and support- ive of diversity, we view that effort as part of every department and administrator's responsibilities.