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2nd and 3rd YearsWith your first-year foundation firmlyin place, you’re ready to develop andpursue your personal interest in the law.Your coursework is entirely up to you.Choose from USC Law’s broadcurriculum of courses, seminars, clinicalinstruction, and supervised writingprograms. Some upper-division coursesexplore basic subjects, such as taxation,evidence, and criminal procedure.Others provide advanced instructionthat assumes knowledge of basicsubjects. Upper-level courses andseminars are small, and instruction isintensive. Seminars are offered on manytopics and are designed to facilitate indepth,small-group discussion.In your second and third years,you can earn academic credit by servingas an editor or staff member for one ofUSC Law’s scholarly journals. Facultymembers will review and evaluateyour written work. You also can earnacademic credit by writing a dissertationunder faculty supervision, or byassisting on directed research projects.Interdisciplinary EducationAt USC Law, we believe thatknowledge of legal rules alone does notequip students to excel in the law. Manyof our professors hold advanced degreesin economics, history, philosophy,political science, or psychology.In addition to imparting their legalexpertise, they reveal how diverse forcesbeyond the law affect legal decisionmaking.Interdisciplinary teachingdeepens students’ understanding ofthe law and opens doors to uniqueopportunities. Outside the classroom,students can get involved with sixinterdisciplinary centers that exploreand shape the law in a larger context.In addition, you may earn as many as12 credits for graduate-level courses thatare related to law and offered by otheracademic departments at the Universityof Southern California—an excellentchance to complement your legaltraining with relevant courses.Center for Law, History, and Culture:Encourages the study of law as a historicaland cultural institution with USC DornsifeCollege of Letters, Arts and Sciences.Center for Law and Social Sciences:Investigates the relationship between lawand the social sciences, spanning the fieldsof economics, political science, psychology,sociology and more. The Center seeks toexpand our understanding of how law andlegal institutions work and to develop soundpolicies to achieve goals such as a fair socialorder and a productive economy.Center for the Study of Law and Politics:Explores the intersection of law, institutions,and citizens as part of a broader politicalsystem in partnership with the CaliforniaInstitute of Technology (Caltech).Pacific Center for Health Policy and Ethics:Works to improve the quality of the healthcaresystem by focusing on traditional andemerging ethical dimensions of health care,biomedical research, and medical education.Center on Law and Philosophy:Promotes interdisciplinary scholarshipin legal, moral, and political philosophy,and publishes the online Journal of Ethicsand Social Philosophy (JESP).Saks Institute for Mental Health Law,Policy, and Ethics:Allows law students to work collaborativelywith faculty members across seven USCdepartments: law, psychiatry, psychology,social work, gerontology, philosophy andengineering to affect important mental healthpolicy issues.Legal ClinicsBy the time you’ve finished your firstyear of the USC Law curriculum, you’velearned that lawyers do not live bytheory alone. To instill lawyering skillsof the highest quality—and to steepstudents in real experience of the law—USC Law maintains seven client clinics(six of which are live client clinicsand not simulated) that give you theopportunity to put theory into practice.Los Angeles itself allows USC Lawto offer an incredible diversity of legalclinics with exposure to both litigationand transactional work.The clinical program offers two kindsof training. Through classroom exercisesthat simulate real-life law practice,you’ll use hypothetical case materialsto study a case and take it to court,with actors serving as clients andwitnesses. And in the clinics, underthe supervision of faculty members andpracticing attorneys, you’ll work withactual clients—sharpening your skillswhile experiencing the impact yourlegal education can have on real peoplein the community.Housing Clinic: USC Gould’s newest clinicprovides professional training in localaffordable housing issues, landlord-tenantdispute resolution and housing discriminationlaw. Under the direction of a supervisingattorney, law students in the Housing Clinicprovide legal representation to affordablehousing tenants. Clients are assisted in avariety of ways including free tenantrepresentation in administrative hearings,landlord-tenant litigation services, housinginformation and social services referrals.12 law.usc.eduUSC Gould School of Law13