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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.
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Academics
Learn about our interdisciplinary curriculum, experiential learning opportunities and specialized areas.
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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.
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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
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.
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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.
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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.
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Amy Pellman
- FACULTY DIRECTORY
- LECTURERS IN LAW DIRECTORY
- EXPERTS DIRECTORY
- FACULTY IN THE NEWS
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Lecturer in Law
Email: apellman@law.usc.edu699 Exposition Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90089-0074 USA
Last Updated: July 27, 2019
Amy M. Pellman, is a Superior Court judge for the Los Angeles Superior Court. She was elected a commissioner in 2005 and appointed judge in 2008. She currently sits in a family law assignment.
Judge Pellman has spent the majority of time on the bench in family law assignments with a five-year hiatus at the Edelman’s Children’s Court with a specialized calendar that included dependency, ICWA, adoption and contested terminations for private adoption cases, surrogacy and emancipation. She continues to serve as the only Los Angeles Superior Judge for surrogacy cases.
She has recently been honored by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers as the Southern California Chapter’s Distinguished Jurist of the Year for 2019. Judge Pellman is a nationally recognized advocate for children’s rights and received the prestigious Child Advocacy Law Award in 2003 from the American Bar Association in recognition of her outstanding work and achievement on behalf of children.
Judge Pellman has numerous publications on issues related to children, ranging from a training manual for new judges and lawyers to law review articles. She is also a regular contributor to a treatise on juvenile dependency law, California Juvenile Dependency Practice, published by the CEB (California Educational Bar), which covers the nuts and bolts of dependency law practice in California.
Judge Pellman is also a featured speaker at numerous conferences and law schools, and is currently teaching classes at University of Southern California Gould School of Law and at Southwestern Law School. This year, she was honored by Southwestern Law School for her work on behalf of children as 2019 Judge of the Year along with two other judges; and received the Adjunct Excellence in Teaching Award in 2005.
Judge Pellman was also honored by LevittQuinn Family Law Center in 2019 with its Outstanding Community Service Award.
Prior to joining the bench, Judge Pellman served as the legal director for The Alliance for Children’s Rights, a non-profit legal organization devoted to providing free legal services to children living in poverty. While at The Alliance, she oversaw legal services, directing litigation and individual legal services for children in foster care, children requiring medical assistance, and children with physical, mental and educational disabilities. Before joining The Alliance, Judge Pellman spent seven years at Dependency Court Legal Services serving as senior trial attorney and appellate counsel representing children in foster care.
Judge Pellman also practiced civil litigation for three years, and served as a federal clerk for the Second Circuit of New York. She holds a JD from City University of New York Law School and a BA in Political Science from Mount Holyoke College. She was admitted to both the California and New York bars, and serves on numerous state and local judicial committees.
FACULTY IN THE NEWS
Daily Herald
November 20, 2020
Re: Susan Estrich
Susan Estrich wrote an op-ed criticizing Rudy Guiliani's handling of President Trump's post-election legal efforts. "Rudy was always an attention hog, taking credit for things he had nothing to do with," she wrote. "This time, as he himself has made clear, he has a great deal to do with everything that is slowing down the orderly transition of power, which is the hallmark of a democracy." The op-ed also appeared in The Joplin Globe.
RECENT SCHOLARSHIP
Jonathan Barnett
September, 2020
Jonathan Barnett participated on a panel discussion on “How to Improve Data Methodology and Communication Around Patent Licensing,” Innovation Alliance Webinar.
Dorothy S. Lund
September, 2020
"Corporate Finance for Social Good," Columbia Law Review (forthcoming 2021).
Thomas D. Lyon
September, 2020
"Adults' difficulties in identifying concealment among children interviewed with the putative confession instruction,” (with Jennifer Gongola, Jodi A. Quas, and Steven E. Clark) Applied Cognitive Psychology.
