EmmaElizabeth Gonzalez
USC Gould School of Law

In her role as directing attorney for the Consumer Unit at the Public Law Center, EmmaElizabeth Gonzalez focuses on areas of consumer and elder law, and directs three of PLC’s courthouse-based self-help clinics. She oversees PLC’s Federal Pro Se, Chapter 7 Bankruptcy and Bankruptcy Reaffirmation clinics for unrepresented individuals. Through her consumer work, Gonzalez litigates debt collection defense cases, student loan matters, elder financial abuse matters and various civil matters involving unfair business practices and fraud. Through her bankruptcy work, she prepares and files Chapter 7 bankruptcies for low-income debtors, and worked with pro bono counsel to litigate and obtain a published decision in Rivera v. Orange Cnty. Prob. Dep’t ((In re Rivera) (9th Cir. 2016) 832 F.3d 1103, 1104), which held that a debt arising out of the involuntary incarceration of a debtor’s minor child was not a domestic support obligation and thus was not excepted from discharge.

Prior to joining PLC, Gonzalez practiced labor and employment litigation at Loeb & Loeb LLP for three years. While at Loeb & Loeb, Gonzalez was a member of the team that was awarded the State Bar of California’s 2011 President’s Pro Bono Service Award for their work securing asylum for several clients.

Gonzalez graduated from the USC Gould School of Law in 2009, and was involved with PILF, LAAB, LLSA, and the Immigration Clinic while attending Gould. Since graduating, Gonzalez has been involved with PILF and Gould’s C. David Molina First Generation Professionals Program.

Before attending law school, Gonzalez spent five years working in development at the ACLU of Southern California and Manhattan Theatre Club, and two years working as a community organizer with Cornerstone Theater Company. Gonzalez completed her undergraduate degrees in philosophy and theater from the University of Southern California, where she was a member of the USC Trojan Marching Band and a McNair Scholar.  

FACULTY IN THE NEWS

Los Angeles Times
May 11, 2022
Re: Emily Ryo

Emily Ryo was interviewed about how immigration shortfalls, like soaring housing prices, are fueling California’s population drop. “A whole assortment of the service sector area has been tremendously affected by a lack of immigrant labor that we haven’t really seen and is just really unprecedented,” she said. “Immigrant labor has been a huge part of the long-term home care sector, and a decline in the population in California has had a significant effect.”

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.