Download Viewbook - USC Gould School of Law - University of ...

1900Program becomes affiliatedwith USC; the universityawards degrees for studycompleted at the Los AngelesLaw School. As early as 1885,USC officials had contemplatedforming a law school. Thisaffiliation realized the dreamof early advocates RobertWidney and George I. Cochran,both Los Angeles attorneysand USC trustees.1911USC Law moves to the TajoBuilding (below). After 15 yearsof changing headquarters,USC Law found stability in thisdowntown building, at thecorner of First Street andBroadway. The schoolremained at this site until 1925.1924You Chung Hong ’24, LLM ’25(below) graduates. Hong wasthe first Chinese Americanadmitted to practice inCalifornia and became thenation’s foremost Chinese civilrights attorney.1927Southern California LawReview is first published.Edited and managed by lawstudents, this flagship USCLaw journal is known forpublishing high quality,cutting-edge scholarship bynationally known academics.Today, the Review’scirculation is among thelargest in the nation, and itsarticles among the mostfrequently cited.1930Manuel Ruiz Jr., USC Law’sfirst known Latino alumnus,graduates. Ruiz wasconsidered the “Californiadean of Mexican Americanlawyers.” He was appointedby President Nixon to the U.S.Commission of Civil Rights,and he authored numerousworks, including the seminalMexican American LegalHeritage in the Southwest.1949First William Green Hale MootCourt competition.1896Year established. Judge DavidC. Morrison “threw open thedoors of his courtroom” for36 law apprentices—fiveof them women—to hearprominent local attorneyspraise the concept of a formallaw school. James BrownScott (above), who was tohead the nascent institution,exhorted the students tocreate a “law school ofpermanent character.”1901USC begins awarding lawdegrees. Gavin W. Craigreceives the first diploma.1907USC Law gains membershipinto the Association ofAmerican Law Schools.1912Stare Decisis—the school’syearbook—reflects anincreasingly diverse andinternational student body.Japanese, Filipino, Armenianand Russian Jewish studentsare represented inphotographs, along withwomen and the school’ssecond black student. Theyearbook includes a section(above) devoted exclusively to“co-education.” A year earlier,students had founded PhiDelta Delta, the nation’s firstwomen’s law student sorority.1925USC Law moves to theUniversity Park campus.1928Among the first publicinterest law clinics inAmerica. Students pioneeredthe practice of providing probono legal advice to the poorthrough the USC Legal Clinic.1931African American, EdwinJefferson graduates (above).He rose to leadershippositions in Los Angeles, andwas appointed to the bench in1940. Other early outstandingAfrican-American alumniinclude David Williams ’37,who became a federal judge;Bert McDonald ’23, the firstblack lawyer in the LosAngeles City Attorney’s office;and Crispus Attucks Wright’38, who together withMcDonald, Williams andothers founded the John M.Langston Bar Association in1943 (other bar associationshad racial restrictions).1948The first USC Institute onFederal Taxation is held.The flagship of USC Law’scontinuing legal educationprograms, the Institute onFederal Taxation is one ofonly three such lawschool-sponsored institutesin the country today.40law.usc.eduUSC Gould School of Law 41