- 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.
Student Quick Links:
- 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.
Student Quick Links:
- 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
- Admissions

Marcela Prieto
USC Gould School of Law
- FACULTY DIRECTORY
- LECTURERS IN LAW DIRECTORY
- EXPERTS DIRECTORY
- FACULTY IN THE NEWS
- SCHOLARSHIP AND PUBLICATIONS
- DISTINCTIONS AND AWARDS
- + CENTERS AND INITIATIVES
- CENTER FOR DISPUTE RESOLUTION
- 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

Associate Professor of Law
Email: mprieto@law.usc.edu699 Exposition Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90089-0074 USA SSRN Author Page: Link
Last Updated: May 15, 2023
Marcela Prieto Rudolphy is an associate professor of law at the University of Southern California’s Gould School of Law. Her research areas include international law, the international laws of armed conflict, and political, moral and legal philosophy. She teaches public international law, criminal law and criminal procedure.
Prieto graduated summa cum laude from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. In 2015, she graduated from the LLM program at New York University, where she was an Arthur T. Vanderbilt Scholar and part of the Transitional Justice Leadership program. In 2020, she obtained her JSD degree from New York University.
Her dissertation, entitled "The Laws of War: The Fragility in Regulating Killing," won the 2021 NYU University-Wide Outstanding Dissertation Award in Social Sciences, and a revised version, entitled "The Morality of the Laws of War: War, Law, and Murder," is under contract with Oxford University Press.
From 2012-2014, Prieto worked at the Chilean Ministry of Interior (Human Rights Program) prosecuting crimes against humanity committed during Augusto Pinochet’s military dictatorship.
She is co-editor in chief of the Spanish issue of the International Journal of Constitutional Law.
Works in Progress
- "A World without Forfeiture" (in progress, final draft.)
- "War and Coercion" (in progress)
- "The Questions of Dignity" in Canons of Global Constitutional Law (Sujit Choudhry, Michaela Hailbronner & Mattias Kumm eds., forthcoming). (Invited book chapter.)
- "Engendering the Legal Academy." Co-authored with Gráinne de Búrca and Rosalind Dixon.
- Constitutional Heroines, or Constitutional Villains? The Role of Right-Wing Women in Chilean Authoritarian Constitutionalism, in Constitutional Heroines. Female Chief Justices and Constitutional Court Presidents in Comparative Perspective (Erin Delaney and Rosalind Dixon, eds., Elgar, forthcoming). Co-authored with Marianne González.
Publications
- The Morality of the Laws of War: War, Law, and Murder (forthcoming, 2023, Oxford University Press.) - (www)
- Who Is at War? On the Question of Co-belligerency, Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law (forthcoming, 2023).
- Populism’s Antagonism to International Law: Lessons from Latin America, AJIL UNBOUND 116 (2022): 346–51 - (www)
- Between Predictability and Perplexity, 20 International Journal of Constitutional Law (2022) - (www)
- Transitional Justice in the 21st Century: Its History, Challenges, and Effectiveness, in OXFORD HANDBOOK OF ATROCITY (Barbora Hola, Hollie Nyseth Brehm & Maartje Weerdesteijn eds., 2022). Co-authored with David Tolbert. - (www)
- "Populist Governments and International Law: A Reply to Heike Krieger," 30 European Journal of International Law 997 (2019). - (www)
- "How Political Narratives Affect the Self-enforcing Nature of Interim Constitutions" (with Sergio Verdugo), 13 Hague Journal on the Rule of Law (2021). - (PDF)
- "Right-wing Populism, the Reasonable, and the Limits of Ideal Theory: A Reply to Gila Stopler," 19 International Journal of Constitutional Law (2021). - (www)
- "The Dual Aversion of Chile’s Constitution-Making Process" (with Sergio Verdugo), 19 International Journal of Constitutional Law (2021). - (www)
- "Gender in Academic Publishing" (with Gráinne de Búrca & Michaela Hailbronner), 17 International Journal of Constitutional Law (2020). - (www)
- "Dignidad Animal y Dignidad Humana (Animal Dignity and Human Dignity)," in Derecho Animal: Teoría y Práctica (Javier Gallego Saade & María José Chible Villadangos eds., 2018).
Other Publications
- "A Feminist Rethinking of the Chilean Constitution?" International Constitutional Law Blog, November 5, 2020. - (www)
FACULTY IN THE NEWS
LLM Guide
June 5, 2023
Re: USC Gould School of Law
Law schools have been adapting to the increase in technological advancements, especially with the increased need for attorneys with the creation of AI. “Attorneys work on the front end, conducting threat assessments to ensure that their clients’ systems and data are protected, and on the back end, to navigate any legal issues that may arise as a result of the attacks," Gruzas said.
RECENT SCHOLARSHIP
Robin Craig
April, 2023
"Fish, Whales, and a Blue Ethics for the Anthropocene: How Do We Think About the Last Wild Food in the Twenty-First Century?," 95:6 Southern California Law Review 1307-1343 (April 2023).
Robin Craig
April, 2023
"California Exceptionalism in the Colorado River: A Brief History and Implications for the Future."
Robin Craig
April, 2023
"Toward a Global Sustainable Development Agenda Built on Resilience" (with Murray W. Scown, Craig R. Allen, Lance Gunderson, David G. Angeler, Jorge H. Garcia, & Ahjond Garmestani), Global Sustainability (online publication April 2023).