USD School of Law

USD School of Law
Name	USD School of Law
Established	1952
Type	Private
Parent	University of San Diego
City	San Diego
State	California
Country	United States

USD School of Law

The USD School of Law is the professional graduate law school of the University of San Diego located in San Diego, California. The law school offers Juris Doctor and advanced law degrees with programs in appellate litigation, business law, international law, and public interest law. USD’s law curriculum connects students with legal practice in Southern California, linking to courts, firms, nonprofits, and government institutions.

History

The law school was founded in 1952 during the postwar expansion of American legal education alongside institutions such as Stanford Law School, University of California, Berkeley School of Law, Harvard Law School, Yale Law School, and Columbia Law School. Early leaders engaged with regional leaders including Cesar Chavez, Pete Wilson, Earl Warren, Warren Christopher, and Sandra Day O'Connor through speaker series and alumni networks. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s the school expanded programs in maritime litigation connected to cases before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the United States Supreme Court, and practice areas shaped by events like the Vietnam War and legislation such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The 1980s and 1990s saw the law school respond to shifts in corporate regulation exemplified by responses to rulings from the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and reforms following the Tax Reform Act of 1986. In the 21st century, USD engaged with global issues linked to the North American Free Trade Agreement, immigration cases originating near the United States District Court for the Southern District of California, and collaborations with programs at Georgetown University Law Center, New York University School of Law, University of Cambridge Faculty of Law, and Oxford Faculty of Law.

Campus and Facilities

The law school occupies facilities on the University of San Diego campus near the San Diego International Airport and the San Diego Bay, adjacent to landmarks like Balboa Park and the USS Midway Museum. Campus infrastructure includes law classrooms, moot courtrooms modeled on venues such as the United States Supreme Court Building and the International Court of Justice, legal research libraries with collections comparable to holdings at Library of Congress and archives connected to regional collections like the San Diego Historical Society. Facilities support student groups that engage with entities including American Bar Association, Federal Bar Association, California Lawyers Association, and student-run journals similar to Harvard Law Review and Yale Law Journal. The law school's technology and simulation spaces mirror innovations at institutions such as Stanford Law School’s Knight Law Center and University of Chicago Law School clinics.

Academics and Programs

USD offers a Juris Doctor program, an LL.M. in International Law, a Master of Laws in Real Estate, and joint degrees with schools similar to collaborations at Columbia Business School, Georgetown University Law Center, and Johns Hopkins University. Course offerings cover appellate advocacy influenced by precedents from the United States Supreme Court, international arbitration linked to frameworks like the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, and taxation courses engaging with statutes such as the Internal Revenue Code. The curriculum includes seminars on issues raised by cases such as Roe v. Wade, Brown v. Board of Education, and Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, and comparative law study drawing on legal systems from United Kingdom, Mexico, China, and Germany. Students publish in law journals modeled after scholarship appearing in The Yale Law Journal, Harvard Law Review, The Stanford Law Review, and specialized reviews addressing topics found in publications like The Journal of International Economic Law.

Admissions and Student Body

Admissions consider applicants with academic records referencing institutions such as Princeton University, University of California, Los Angeles, University of Southern California, University of California, Berkeley, and Pomona College among others in applicant pools. The entering class includes students who participated in undergraduate programs like Peace Corps, Teach For America, and internships at organizations such as American Civil Liberties Union, Human Rights Watch, U.S. Department of State, and local offices of representatives like Nancy Pelosi and Kevin McCarthy. The student body participates in externships with courthouses including the United States District Court for the Southern District of California and public interest placements with groups like La Raza, Southern Poverty Law Center, and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

Clinical Programs and Centers

Clinical offerings include a civil litigation clinic working on matters analogous to cases in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and an immigration clinic handling proceedings before Executive Office for Immigration Review and advocacy with American Immigration Lawyers Association. The law school houses centers focusing on issues comparable to work at the Korematsu Center for Law and Equality, local projects coordinated with San Diego County Bar Association, and institutes addressing cross-border trade aligned with initiatives around the San Diego–Tijuana region and North American Free Trade Agreement impacts. Clinics collaborate with nonprofits such as Public Counsel, Legal Aid Foundation, Pro Bono Institute, and advocacy organizations like Human Rights Watch and International Rescue Committee.

Faculty and Administration

Faculty include scholars publishing in venues like The Yale Law Journal, Harvard Law Review, The Georgetown Law Journal, and speakers who have clerked for judges on the United States Supreme Court, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the California Supreme Court. Administrators have backgrounds that intersect with service in offices such as the California Attorney General, the U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Trade Commission, and diplomacy through the U.S. Department of State. Visiting scholars and lecturers have come from institutions like Oxford University, Cambridge University, Harvard University, Stanford University, Yale University, University of Chicago, and international courts including the European Court of Human Rights.

Employment and Rankings

Graduates pursue careers at law firms comparable to Latham & Watkins, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Munger, Tolles & Olson, Sidley Austin, and regional firms in the San Diego County market, and clerkships with judges from the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the United States District Court for the Southern District of California, and state appellate courts like the California Court of Appeal. Alumni have entered public service with offices such as the California State Senate, United States Congress, San Diego City Council, and agencies including the Federal Trade Commission and Securities and Exchange Commission. Rankings by outlets similar to U.S. News & World Report, The Princeton Review, and Above the Law have periodically placed the school among regional and specialty lists for programs in trial advocacy, international law, and tax law.

Category:University of San Diego