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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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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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Ian Fusselman
USC Gould School of Law
- FACULTY DIRECTORY
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- FACULTY IN THE NEWS
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- SAKS INSTITUTE FOR MENTAL HEALTH LAW, POLICY, AND ETHICS
- + WORKSHOPS AND CONFERENCES

Lecturer in Law
699 Exposition Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90089-0074 USA
Last Updated: December 29, 2018
Ian Fusselman spent the first 20 years of his career as a litigator in state and federal court and is now a full-time mediator with ADR Services.
Fusselman began his career as a civil defense attorney, working for six years at the law firms of Belcher, Henzie & Biegenzahn, and Murchison & Cumming. He then joined the San Diego plaintiff’s law firm of Thorsnes Bartolotta McGuire in 2004 and was elevated to partner in 2012. His work over his entire career focused on catastrophic personal injury cases, aviation crashes, insurance bad faith litigation, construction litigation, landslide and flood litigation, employment law, real estate litigation, mass torts and other complex litigation.
As a defense attorney, his clients included Goodyear Tire & Rubber, Robinsons May, Cessna Aircraft Company and Progressive Insurance. Notably, he represented the target defendant in the litigation arising from the folk singer John Denver’s fatal plane crash. As a plaintiff’s attorney, he helped to recover more than $185 million in verdicts and settlements on behalf of his clients.
Fusselman has received several recognitions, including as a “San Diego Top Attorney” by the San Diego Daily Transcript in 2013, “Best of the Bar” by the San Diego Business Journal in 2014 and as a “Super Lawyer” by Thomson Reuters, 2014-2019. In 2016, he was listed in Top Verdict as having one of the top 50 personal injury settlements in California.
He has written extensively on issues relating to California evidence law and has a particular interest in the ongoing debate over changes to the mediation privilege.
Fusselman began serving as a mediator in 2014 and is a member of the San Diego County Superior Court Civil Mediation Panel and the Department of Fair Employment and Housing Volunteer Mediator Panel. He is a graduate of the USC Gould School of Law, earning his JD in 1998.
FACULTY IN THE NEWS
Law 360
May 20, 2022
Re: Thomas Lenz
Thomas Lenz was quoted in a story about Apple Store union organizers hoping to be as successful in unionizing as Starbucks workers. He said employers need to be aware of how fast news travels between different store locations. "It is completely foreseeable that employees in vastly different locations will be in touch and tracking what's going on and perhaps trying to coordinate their efforts in the best way to get a win if they're seeking representation," Lenz said. Story is behind paywall.
RECENT SCHOLARSHIP
Ariela Gross
March, 2022
“Becoming Free, Becoming Black: Race, Freedom, and Law in Cuba, Virginia, and Louisiana,” Centre International de Recherches sur les Esclavages at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris, France.
Camille Gear Rich
March, 2022
“No More Boxes to Check: Imagining The Anti-Racist Law Firm,” NALP Annual Education Conference, New Orleans, LA.
Thomas D. Lyon
March, 2022
“Disclosure Among Child Abuse Victims” (with K. London and M. Eisen), Fourth Zoom Psychology and Law Symposium: Children in Legal Settings, Maastrict University, Maastricht, Netherlands.