- About
About USC Gould
USC Gould is a top-ranked law school with a 120-year history and reputation for academic excellence. We are located on the beautiful 228-acre USC University Park Campus, just south of downtown Los Angeles.
- Academics
Academics
Learn about our interdisciplinary curriculum, experiential learning opportunities and specialized areas.
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- Admissions
Admissions
USC Gould helps prepare you for a stellar legal career. You can pursue a JD degree, one of our numerous graduate and international offerings, or an online degree or certificate.
- Students
Students
Participate in an unparalleled learning experience with diversity of people and thought. Get involved in the law school community and participate in activities that enhance your studies.
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- Careers
Careers
We work closely with students, graduates and employers to support successful career goals and outcomes. Our overall placement rate is consistently strong, with 94 percent of our JD class employed within 10 months after graduation.
- Faculty
Faculty
Our faculty is distinguished for its scholarship, as well as for its commitment to teaching. Our 12:1 student-to-faculty ratio creates an intimate and collegial learning environment.
- Alumni and Giving
Alumni and Giving
The global Trojan network of more than 10,000 law alumni and donors include recognized leaders in numerous fields who are deeply committed to supporting student and law school success.
- Admissions

Pauline Aranas
- FACULTY DIRECTORY
- LECTURERS IN LAW DIRECTORY
- EXPERTS DIRECTORY
- FACULTY IN THE NEWS
- SCHOLARSHIP AND PUBLICATIONS
- DISTINCTIONS AND AWARDS
- + CENTERS AND INITIATIVES
- CENTER FOR LAW AND PHILOSOPHY (CLP)
- CENTER FOR LAW AND SOCIAL SCIENCE (CLASS)
- CENTER FOR LAW, HISTORY AND CULTURE (CLHC)
- CENTER FOR TRANSNATIONAL LAW AND BUSINESS (CTLB)
- INITIATIVE AND REFERENDUM INSTITUTE (IRI)
- PACIFIC CENTER FOR HEALTH POLICY AND ETHICS
- SAKS INSTITUTE FOR MENTAL HEALTH LAW, POLICY, AND ETHICS
- + WORKSHOPS AND CONFERENCES

John Stauffer Charitable Trust Chief Information Officer, Emeritus and Law Librarian Emerita
Email: paranas@law.usc.edu699 Exposition Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90089-0074 USA
Last Updated: November 13, 2020
Pauline Aranas is the John Stauffer Charitable Trust Chief Information Officer, Emeritus and Law Librarian Emerita.
A 1981 graduate of USC Gould School of Law, Aranas is a past Chair of the Association of American Law School's Section on Law Libraries and Legal Information, a past president of the Southern California Association of Law Libraries and a member of the American Association of Law Libraries and the State Bar of California.
Aranas holds a BA from the UCLA; a JD from USC Gould School of Law; and an MLIS from the UC Berkeley. She joined USC’s law library as a reference librarian in 1984 and served in a number of roles before being named associate director of the law library and adjunct associate professor of law in 1992. From 1994 to 2002, she served as director of Vanderbilt University Law School’s Alyne Queener Massey Law Library — later assistant dean for library and information technology — and associate professor of law. From 2002 to 2004, she was associate law librarian at the UCLA School of Law. From 2004 to 2006, she served as associate dean, chief operating officer for USC Gould. From 2007 to 2009, she served as associate dean, deputy director of the law library and adjunct professor of law. From 2009-2012, she was appointed associate dean, acting dean of library and information technology and adjunct professor of law. In 2013, she was appointed associate dean, John Stauffer Charitable Trust Chief Information Officer and director of the law library.
Articles
- “AALL Gallagher Award Celebrates Outstanding Achievement,” 20 AALL Spectrum 36 (May/June 2016)
- “Nowhere to Run; Nowhere to Hide”: The Reality of Being a Law Library Director in Times of Great Opportunity and Significant Challenges,” 107 Law Library Journal 79 (2015) (with Steven M. Barkan, Barbara Bintliff, Darin K. Fox, Penny A. Hazelton, Joan Howland, Spencer L. Simons, Keith Ann Stiverson and Michelle Wu)
- “Welcome to the Hall of Fame,” 19 AALL Spectrum 29 (June 2015)
- “Library Director as Opportunity Identifier Analysis One,” in Academic Law Library Director Perspectives: Case Studies and Insights. pp.187-194 (Michelle Wu, ed., Buffalo, NY: W.S. Hein & Co., 2015)
- “Introducing the 2014 Hall of Fame Inductees,” 18 AALL Spectrum 34 (June 2014)
- “Who Should Teach CALR - Vendors, Librarians or Both?” 8 Perspectives: Teaching Legal Research and Writing 85 (Winter 2000).
- “New Horizons Meet Lost Horizons.” 3 AALL Spectrum 20 (September 1998).
- “Teaching Legal Research Redux.” 2 AALL Spectrum 20 (September 1997).
- “B.1. Future Libraries: Reality and Law Librarians.” 1 AALL Spectrum 20 (September 1996).
- “Accelerated Legal Research at the University of Southern California Law Center.” 2 Integrated Legal Research 8 (Summer 1989).
Book Reviews
- Legal Writing: Getting It Right and Getting It Written, by Mary Bernard Ray and Jill J. Ramsfield. 8 Legal Reference Services Quarterly 291 (January 1988).
FACULTY IN THE NEWS
The Guardian
March 3, 2021
Re: Jody David Armour
Jody Armour was interviewed about the lack of change in the LAPD thirty years after the savage assault on Rodney King. "So many activists are calling for defunding the police because the changes that have occurred in cosmetics have not made real changes in how many Angelenos and marginalized communities are experiencing policing," he said.
RECENT SCHOLARSHIP
Thomas D. Lyon
January, 2021
“Understanding expert testimony on child sexual abuse denial after New Jersey v. J.L.G.: Ground truth, disclosure suspicion bias, and disclosure substantiation bias,” (with Shanna Williams & Stacia N. Stolzenberg) Behavioral Sciences & the Law 38 (2020).
Daniel Klerman
January, 2021
“Choice of Law and the Art World” (with Anja Shortland), The Global Law Market (conference), CEGLA Center, Tel Aviv University.
Daniel Klerman
January, 2021
“Art Theft and the Art Loss Register: Law, Norms & Institutions” (with Anja Shortland), Departmental Seminar, Economics Subject Group, Management School, Queens University Belfast.