Terry Allen is an education law scholar who researches and writes about the relationship between law and inequality, particularly in educational environments. Before joining the USC Gould School of Law faculty, Allen taught at the University of Virginia School of Law, where he was a Research Assistant Professor of Law and the Inaugural Race, Place, and Equity Fellow.

Allen received his BA in rhetoric from University of California, Berkeley; his MA in education policy from Columbia University; his PhD in education from University of California Los Angeles; and his law degree from UCLA School of Law, where he was editor-in-chief of UCLA Law Review. After law school, Allen worked as an associate at Baker McKenzie in Washington, D.C. and New York.

Allen teaches and writes in the areas of education law. This work builds on his practice experience as well as his doctoral work on how educational inequality is affected by law and legal doctrine. Central to this work is the use of empirical social science methodologies such as interviews and the use of maps as storytelling tools. His articles use these methods to push scholars, policymakers and practitioners to think differently about the law and its potential for reform, in ways that are both data-driven and data informed. They have appeared or is forthcoming in law journals including New York University Law Review, Georgetown Law Journal, and UCLA Law Review.