FE ATURED ART ICLES From the Dean by - USC Gould School of ...

the Law School retains the feeling of a tightknit
scholarly community where students,
faculty and graduates build lifelong bonds
of personal and professional loyalty.
Gone are the peripatetic, makeshift
q u a rters (which early in the school’s history
had ranged from rented offices to an
autopsy room in the USC Medical
College). To d a y, the Law School’s spacious
facilities do much to advance the legal
l e a rning process and promote intellectual
i n q u i ry. Besides plentiful classrooms and
l e c t u re halls, the school’s five-level Elvon
and Mabel Musick Building encompasses
a moot court room, a state-of-the-art law
l i b r a ry, information technology and online
re s e a rch centers, clinical and journ a l
o ffices, lounges and a cafeteria.
P h i l a n t h ropy – much of it from alumni
– has lifted the school to new heights.
With a market value now exceeding $100
million, its endowment ranks among the
n a t i o n ’s 10 largest private law school
endowments. Another key indicator of
academic competitiveness is the number
of chairs and professorships which now
total 29.
Also driving the school’s reputation are
its graduates. Today as in years past, the
accomplishments of USC Law alumni in
private practice, public service, government,
teaching, the judiciary and business
add luster to USC’s name.
Over time, Scott’s words – “a law school
of permanent character” – have taken on
weightier meaning. When he spoke them
in 1896, the school’s founder was invoking
the idea of a properly chart e red school, in
contrast to the prevailing “study associations”
that periodically formed and
disbanded when apprentices were
cramming for the state bar exam. A
c e n t u ry later, the USC Law School has
p roven to be far more than just “perm anent”:
the emphasis now falls on the
w o rd “character. ”
In honor of the centennial
celebration, the Law School
p resents this brief history in
photos, highlighting the
events and individuals that
elevated USC into the top
echelon of American legal
e d u c a t i o n .
Y E A R S O F U S C L AW
B E G I N N I N G S
1 8 9 6
Los Angeles Law Students Association is
f o rmed. Eager law apprentices took the lead
in promoting “organized” legal education in
Los Angeles. In 1896, Judge David C.
M o rrison “threw open the doors of his
c o u rt room” for 36 law apprentices – five of
them women – to hear prominent local
a t t o rneys praise the concept of a formal law
school. James Brown Scott, who was to head
the nascent institution, exhorted the students
to create a “law school of perm a n e n t
c h a r a c t e r.”
Founding dean James Brown Scott in 1898.
Pa triotism pro m p te d him to resign and serve in
the Spanish-Am eri can Wa r
1898
The Los Angeles Law School is incorporated.
Its 11-member board of tru s t e e s
included a woman, self-made agricultural
magnate Harriett W.R. Strong.
1900
P rogram becomes affiliated with USC;
the university awards degrees for
study completed at the Los
Angeles Law School. As early as
1885, USC officials had contemplated
forming a law
school. This affiliation re a l i z e d
the dream of early advocates
R o b e rt Widney (left) and
G e o rge I. Cochran, both Los
The first Law School grad u a te s :Class of 1 9 0 1
Angeles attorneys and USC trustees.
James Brown Scott’s pre m a t u re re s i g n ation
put the new law school’s “perm a n e n t
character” to the test. There followed a succession
of “annual deans”: Lewis A. Gro ff
(1900-01), George L. Sanders (1901-02) and
Daniel M. Hammack (1902-04). Starting in
1900, the school moved six times in as many
years.
The police court (center ) , b i rt h p l ace of the
L aw Sch o o l , and the Tajo Building (far lef t ) ,
an early home
USC LAW • FALL 2000 9
1901
USC begins awarding law degrees. Gavin
W. Craig receives the first diploma.
B U I L D I N G P E R M A N E N C E
1904
University of Wisconsin-educated contracts
e x p e rt Frank M. Porter LLM ’10 is
appointed dean. In his 23 years at the helm,
P o rter struggled to bring permanence to all
aspects of law school life. He stabilized the
f a c u l t y, strengthened academic standard s
and promoted a diverse student body.
1 9 0 6
F rederick W. Houser ’00, one of the school’s
first graduates, becomes the first alumnus to