LAW PORTAL
- About
About USC Gould
USC Gould is a top-ranked law school with a 115-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 rigorous and interdisciplinary curriculum, our invaluable experiential learning opportunities, and the breadth and depth of our specialized areas of concentration and certificate offerings.
- 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.
- 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.
Amy Pellman
- 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)
- IMMIGRANTS AND GLOBAL MIGRATION INITIATIVE (IGMI)
- INITIATIVE AND REFERENDUM INSTITUTE (IRI)
- PACIFIC CENTER FOR HEALTH POLICY AND ETHICS
- SAKS INSTITUTE FOR MENTAL HEALTH LAW, POLICY, AND ETHICS
- WORKSHOPS AND CONFERENCES
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
Los Angeles Times
January 15, 2020
Re: Wayne Sandholtz
Wayne Sandholtz, a faculty member part of both USC Gould and USC Dornsife, wrote an op-ed discussing how Trump is “a few steps from becoming a new kind of autocrat –an elected one.” He analyzes how Trump’s strategies and actions mirror those of other elected autocrats, naming Viktor Orban, Vladimir Putin, and Rodrigo Duterte as examples.
RECENT SCHOLARSHIP
Ariela Gross
November, 2019
Ariela Gross has been elected as the new Chair of the Legal History Section of the American Association of Law Schools.
Daniel Klerman
November, 2019
“Legal Origin from Outer Space,” Conference on Empirical Legal Studies, Claremont-McKenna College, Claremont, CA.
Thomas D. Lyon
November, 2019
Thomas Lyon commented on Roseanna Sommers’, “Commonsense Consent,” at the 14th Annual Conference on Empirical Legal Studies, Claremont-McKenna College.
