Richard Peterson
USC Gould School of Law

Richard Peterson is the director of the USC Gould School of Law Center for Dispute Resolution and adjunct professor of law.

Previously at USC Gould, he served as a lecturer in law and also served briefly as senior director for experiential education.

Before coming to USC last fall, Peterson was on the faculty of the Pepperdine University School of Law, where he served for 15 years, including as a member of the faculty of the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution. While at Pepperdine, Peterson also served as director of the Special Education Advocacy Clinic and as director of externships. Peterson holds a BSL and a JD from Western State University, as well as an MDR and an LLM from Pepperdine.

Peterson has served as chair of the Disability Law Section and the Law and Mental Disability Section of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) as well as a member of the Board of Directors of a number of non-profit organizations including the Regional Center of Orange County, Down Syndrome Association of Orange County and as a member of the Professional Advisory Board of the Epilepsy Alliance of Orange County. His scholarly publications include articles on the topic of therapeutic jurisprudence.

Before beginning his teaching career in 2002, Peterson worked as a consultant to school districts and schools across the nation, teaching dispute resolution and anger management curriculum to K-12 teachers, administrator, and probation officers as part of gang violence prevention programs. He began practicing law in 1979 and has served as a private mediator and arbitrator for more than 35 years. Peterson has an AV rating with Martindale Hubbell. 

FACULTY IN THE NEWS

Bloomberg Government
June 22, 2022
Re: Franita Tolson

Franita Tolson was interviewed about how federal lawsuits from North Carolina, Alabama, and Arkansas test the limits of the Voting Rights Act, the boundaries of state government authority, and the ability of voting rights groups to file racial gerrymandering cases. “These doctrines and approaches in these cases fundamentally reset the rules of the game,” she said. “In 2030 we will live in a completely different world than we lived in in 2020, and 2020 was not favorable to minority voters at all.”

RECENT SCHOLARSHIP

Robin Craig
March, 2022

"Saltwater Sovereignty: Tribal Marine Management Authority Along the Pacific Coast.” Online Environmental Law Workshop. University of Maryland School of Law, Baltimore, MD.

Daniel Klerman
March, 2022

“Comment on Choi, Erickson, & Pritchard, ‘Coalitions among Plaintiffs’ Attorneys in Securities Class Actions’,” Conference on Empirical Legal Studies, Virtual, Toronto, ON, Canada.

Robin Craig
March, 2022

“Who’s on First? The Mind-Blowing Attempt to Conceptualize Deference in the Midst of Decision Delays and Agency Repeals,” J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Environmental Law Symposium for the George Washington University School of Law, Virtual, Washington, D.C.