- 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.
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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.
- 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.
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- 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.
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Lena Afary
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

Lecturer in Law
Email: lafary@law.usc.edu699 Exposition Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90089-0074 USA
Last Updated: December 7, 2020
Lena Afary teaches the fundamentals of objective legal writing and analysis to international Master of Laws (LLM) students at USC’s Gould School of Law. This course is an exercise in cross-cultural communication and writing techniques, using both on-site and on-line resources.
Since 2018, Afary has served as a temporary judge with the Los Angeles Superior Court, presiding and adjudicating over hundreds of cases as a pro tem traffic court judge in arraignment and trial traffic courts. She currently works as the in-house counsel and property manager for a local commercial real estate shopping center.
Afary emigrated to the United States with her family as a child at the start of the Iranian Revolution. Her background as a member of a religious minority in Iran, inspired her to pursue social and gender justice issues, first as a documentary filmmaker and journalist, and later as an attorney in California. Throughout the years, she volunteered with different community service organizations, such as a battered women’s shelter and the ACLU, and expanded her awareness of her community of origin through extensive travels in the Middle East, including Egypt, Turkey and the Republic of Azerbaijan.
After graduating from Lake Forest College with a degree in philosophy and women’s studies, Afary worked for various local and national news agencies such as Reuters, NBC and PBS, where she focused on youth and gender issues and while completing her MFA in film, with an emphasis in documentary production. As an associate producer of the Emmy Award-winning reality television series American High, she and colleagues spent a year documenting life in a suburban American high school in Illinois, focusing on challenges that young, minority, disadvantaged and LBGTQ students faced.
Afary attended the University of Minnesota Law School, where she was the managing editor of the Journal of Law and Inequality and the student clinic director of the Civil Practice Clinic which handled family law, housing and social security cases for impoverished community members. She externed with the Hon. Janet N. Poston in the Hennepin County District Courts, working on family and criminal law matters, and was also a student clinic member of the Minnesota Immigration Clinic, working on asylum matters of African refugees.
After moving to Los Angeles, she worked as a law clerk for the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office. She then worked as Deputy Attorney General at the California Department of Justice for seven years, focusing on civil rights and disability issues as counsel for the State of California.
Afary returned to her social justice work by externing with the Hon. Suzanne Bruguera of the Los Angeles Superior Court. She later became social services staff attorney at Pars Equality Center, a legal aid organization in Los Angeles dedicated to assisting low-income clients from Iran, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Afghanistan and Turkey. Afary has been an active member of the State Bar of California since 2005.
FACULTY IN THE NEWS
Bloomberg Tax
January 18, 2023
Re: Michael Simkovic
Michael Simkovic recently discussed how many crypto firms are working to reorganize after the economic market downturns. “Cryptocurrency firms basically have to answer the question, ‘What is the value that they provide that existing financial institutions cannot provide just as well,’” Simkovic said.
RECENT SCHOLARSHIP
Robin Craig
December, 2022
"Climate Adaptation in the United States," 9 Frontiers in Marine Science, Special Topic: Ocean Governance and Climate Adaptation: Comparing Responses, Charting Future Courses (2022).
Scott Altman
December, 2022
"Why Parents' Interests Matter," 133 Ethics 271 (Forthcoming 2023).
Jonathan Barnett
December, 2022
"The China Innovation Challenge," Center for Strategic & International Studies, Washington, D.C., December 9, 2022.