| University of Southern California Gould School of Law | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Motto | Palmam qui meruit ferat (Latin) He who deserves the palm should bear it |
| Parent school | University of Southern California |
| Established | 1900[1] |
| School type | Private |
| Dean | Franita Tolson |
| Location | Los Angeles,California,United States |
| Enrollment | 644[2] |
| Faculty | 59 (full-time) 127 (part-time)[2] |
| USNWR ranking | 26th (tie) (2025)[3] |
| Bar pass rate | 82.42% (2023 1st time takers)[4] |
| Website | gould |
| ABA profile | Standard 509 Report |
TheUniversity of Southern California Gould School of Law located inLos Angeles,California, is thelaw school of theUniversity of Southern California. The oldest law school in theSouthwestern United States, USC Law traces its beginnings to 1896 and became affiliated with USC in 1900.[5] It was named in honor of JudgeJames Gould in the mid-1960s.
On March 12, 1890, theLos Angeles Times declared in an editorial: "It is time that a law school should be established in Los Angeles."[6] During the 1890s, there were several false starts at founding the first law school inSouthern California.[6] At its founding in 1891, Throop University (better known today as theCalifornia Institute of Technology) announced its intent to include a college of law among its various planned components, but never actually started one.[6] The Southern California College of Law was founded in 1892 and operated until 1894.[6]
In the absence of a formal law school, young men interested in careers in law (female lawyers were extremely rare at the time) formed several law student associations over the years which organized lectures by local attorneys as well as quiz sessions in which the students orally quizzed each other or were quizzed by an attorney.[7] At the time, the term "law student" simply meant anyone who was actively studying law, eitherin an attorney's office, or bycorrespondence, or on their own.[8] Law student associations were tiny, informal, fluid, and unstable, since individual students' level of interest in helping to run the associations tended to evaporate once they became members of the California bar and needed to focus on the actualpractice of law.[7] The common objective of students participating in such associations was to develop an understanding ofCalifornia law strong enough to survive thebar examination of that era: oralcross-examination on various legal subjects by the members of theSupreme Court of California.[8]
USC Gould School of Law was born out of one of these associations. On the evening of November 17, 1896, 36 law students gathered in the courtroom of Judge David C. Morrison to form the Law Students' Association of Los Angeles.[8] They selected James B. Scott as the firstpreceptor (equivalent to a modern instructor).[8] An informal course of instruction began two weeks later in Judge Morrison's courtroom.[8] The students of the Association recognized that a more permanent arrangement was needed, and on June 12, 1897, the Los Angeles Law School was incorporated.[8] Its first formal lecture was held at 7:30 p.m. on September 13, 1897.[9] As head of the new law school, Scott preferred the new interactive style of teaching law pioneered byChristopher Columbus Langdell atHarvard Law School: thecasebook method combined with theSocratic method.[9]
In 1899, Scott became dean of theUniversity of Illinois College of Law.[9] The Los Angeles Law School became affiliated with USC in 1900, and on June 6, 1901, its first class of seven graduates received theirBachelor of Laws degrees at USC's commencement exercises.[9] Without Scott around to enforce the Harvard method, the Los Angeles Law School collapsed that same year amidst bickering over pedagogical methods; some of the instructors preferred to teach law through the traditional lecture method in which students were expected to be much more passive.[9] Several instructors who preferred the Harvard method immediately organized the Los Angeles College of Law, which was officially launched on September 30, 1901 with a new board of trustees, a different address, and 10 students.[9] Although the two law schools were entirely distinct legal entities, the students of the old law school regarded the new law school as a continuation of their program and immediately enrolled in the new one.[9] In 1904, USC took over the Los Angeles College of Law, then set about acquiring the remaining assets of the now-dormant Los Angeles Law School (namely, alaw library and $200 in cash), which took two more years.[9]
USC Law joined theAssociation of American Law Schools (AALS) in 1907.[10] It has been anAmerican Bar Association (ABA) approved law school since 1924.[11]
By the mid-1940s, young people inSouthern California who wished to obtain a high-quality legal education faced a difficult choice: they had to find some way to pay the USC School of Law's expensive tuition, settle for a lesser program, or move north to attend the state's existing public law schools atBerkeley Law orHastings. TheCalifornia State Legislature responded to this problem in 1947 by creating the first public law school in the Southland (and USC's crosstown rival): theUCLA School of Law.[12][13][14] UCLA Law graduateDorothy Wright Nelson served as dean of USC Law from 1969 to 1980, before becoming a judge on theUnited States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
2002 saw the beginning of the USC Law Graduate and International Programs.
For the class entering in 2023, the school accepted 607 applicants (12.52%), with 178 of those accepted enrolling, a 29.32% yield rate. Eleven students were not included in the acceptance statistics. The class consists of 189 students. The medianLSAT score was 169 and the median undergraduateGPA was 3.88. Ten students were not included in the LSAT calculation and four not included in the GPA calculation. Its 25th/75th percentile LSAT scores and GPA were 165/169 and 3.77/3.96.[15]
USC Gould awards theJ.D.,LL.M., andM.C.L.law degrees. It currently has about 600 J.D. students (200 per year) and a 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.[16]
In 2025, USC Gould was ranked tied for 26th by theU.S. News & World Report list of "America's Best Graduate Schools".[17]
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 theReview of Law and Women's Studies),Interdisciplinary Law Journal, and the Hale Moot Court Honors Program.[18] Selected law students can participate in one honors program in an academic year.[19]
The school has a chapter of theOrder of the Coif, a national law school honorary society.[20]
USC Gould maintains six client clinics to provide students experience with lawyering skills.[21]
USC Gould offers international study abroad programs, providing credit to J.D. students. Students may spend a semester abroad at theUniversity of Hong Kong Faculty of Law,Bocconi University,Jean Moulin University Lyon 3,Bond University andFundação Getúlio Vargas.[22] Previously, students could pursue a J.D./LL.M dual degree with theLondon School of Economics.[23]
USC Gould maintains dual degree programs with theMarshall School of Business, the Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, thePrice School of Public Policy, the School of Social Work, theDavis School of Gerontology, and theAnnenberg School of Communication. Dual degree programs are accelerated. If the non-law 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, a total of four years is necessary.
USC Gould also maintains two other dual degree programs. A program with theCalifornia 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 with the USC School of Pharmacy enables a qualified student to earn a J.D. and aPharm.D. degree.[24]
In 2023, the overall bar examination passage rate for the law school's first-time examination takers was 82.42%. The Ultimate Bar Pass Rate, which theABA defines as the passage rate for graduates who sat for bar examinations within two years of graduating, was 97.87% for the class of 2021.[4]
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 (i.e. as attorneys) nine months after graduation.[25] USC Gould'sLaw 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.[26]
The total cost of attendance (indicating the cost of tuition, fees, and living expenses) at USC Gould for the 2024-2025 academic year is $109,558 if living on campus and $110,368 if living off campus.[27] TheLaw School Transparency estimated cost for three years at USC Gould is $414,611.[28]
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34°01′05″N118°17′01″W / 34.01806°N 118.28361°W /34.01806; -118.28361
