- 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

Robert Fairbank
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)
- SAKS INSTITUTE FOR MENTAL HEALTH LAW, POLICY, AND ETHICS
- + WORKSHOPS AND CONFERENCES

Lecturer in Law
Email: bfairbank@law.usc.eduTelephone: (213) 891-9010
Direct Line: (213) 891-9010
Fax: (213) 891-9011
699 Exposition Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90089-0074 USA Personal Website: Link
Last Updated: April 11, 2018
Robert H. Fairbank established Fairbank ADR in 2014 as an Alternative Dispute Resolution entity that specializes in the mediation of high stakes, complex civil matters. Fairbank ADR is the successor to Fairbank & Vincent, which Fairbank co-founded in 1996 after beginning his career as an associate and partner of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher (1977-96)
From 2002-09, Fairbank served as an independent consultant for the Regents of the University of California in the Enron, WorldCom, AOL Time Warner, and Dynegy federal securities cases. He has also acted as counsel for Boards or independent committees of Boards of Mattel, Semtech, and Techniclone in the investigation or defense of threatened or filed derivative actions. His individual Director and Officer representations have included the Chief Financial Officers of IndyMac Bank, PFF Bank, Homestore.com, and Tenet Healthcare Corporation; Board members of La Jolla Bank, Vineyard Bank, and MetroPacific Bank; and officers of New Century Financial and Fidelity Federal Bank.
As an associate (1977-84) and then partner (1984-96) at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, Fairbank had extensive experience in “bet-the-company” cases, including a successful antitrust jury trial for defendant National Gypsum, the successful defense of the first two nationwide conspiracy/medical malpractice trials involving National Medical Enterprises (now Tenet Healthcare Corporation), and a series of successful trials throughout the country in defense of Farmers Insurance Company in one of the first insurance industry hostile takeovers.
Fairbank has been an adjunct professor at Stanford Law and Business Schools (2007) and a lecturer in law at USC Gould School of Law since 2004, teaching a seminar titled “Corporate Fraud.” He is also the co-author of California Practice Guide – Civil Trials and Evidence (The Rutter Group), the leading treatise on California civil trial practice.
Fairbank has served as the co-chair of the Lawyer Representatives to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference (2001-02), and the past president of the Association of Business Trial Lawyers (1989-90). He was also a member of the Judicial Council’s Bench and Bar Committee on Local Rules and served as chair of the Civil Trials Subcommittee (1990-92).
Fairbank received his AB from Stanford University, his MLS from the University of California, Berkeley, and his JD from New York University, where he served on the law review. In 1995, he was recognized by the first “Law Who’s Who” in Los Angeles Business Journal, which features the 100 most prominent business attorneys in Los Angeles.
FACULTY IN THE NEWS
Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance
September 25, 2023
Re: Jonathan Barnett
Jonathan Barnett wrote an op-ed piece, based on his forthcoming paper to be published in the University of Chicago Business Law Review, about antitrust regulations and the effects it has on merger review processes. "This inquiry raises serious concerns that legislators and regulators have embarked on a course of action that has an insufficient factual foundation in the digital markets on which competition policymakers have focused," Barnett wrote.
RECENT SCHOLARSHIP
Jonathan Barnett
August, 2023
"Killer Acquisitions Reexamined: Economic Hyperbole in the Age of Populist Antitrust," University of Chicago Business Law Review.
Robin Craig
August, 2023
Robin Craig's article, "The Regulatory Shifting Baseline Syndrome: Vaccines, Generational Amnesia, and the Shifting Perception of Risk in Public Law Regimes," 21 Yale Journal of Health Policy, Law, and Ethics 1-60 (July 2022), was featured in The Regulatory Review on August 31, 2023.
Edward McCaffery
August, 2023
"The Paradox of Taxing the Rich," Florida Tax Review (Forthcoming, Fall 2023).