Vision Video: Dean Franita Tolson reflects on USC Gould’s 125-year legacy to chart the school’s bold, student-centric future.
Amid evolving shifts in legal education and the legal profession, Dean Franita Tolson says the USC Gould School of Law is not only embracing change, but setting the pace.
“We’ve done so much in the century-plus that we’ve been around to change the face of legal education,” Tolson says in her video message. “The 125th anniversary is an opportunity to not only reflect, but think about other ways that we will innovate moving forward — and we have been doing that.”
Building on a history of firsts
Tolson, installed as USC Gould’s dean and Carl Mason Franklin Chair in Law in December, is taking a cue from the school’s legacy of pioneering clinical and interdisciplinary legal education to envision a similarly innovative future.
Founded at the turn of the 20th century, USC Gould was among the first U.S. law schools to weave hands-on clinical work and cross-disciplinary study into its curriculum — approaches that are now mainstream nationwide. “Coupled with the fact that we are at one of the preeminent institutions in the world — USC — allows us to offer an education that you just can’t get anywhere else,” Tolson says.
Tolson’s big-picture vision is “customizable education.” The law school is focused on offering a diverse slate of academic degrees, certificates and programs that are tailored to students’ specialized interests in law as well their passions in other areas, ranging from entertainment to AI.
Furthering its tradition as a trendsetter, USC Gould is among the first law schools in the nation to offer a dedicated, multidisciplinary Bachelor of Science in Legal Studies. Given today’s rapid global, environmental and technological disruptions, USC Gould’s undergraduate major and seven minor programs are preparing young scholars to master legal concepts as they embark on leadership paths in their chosen fields.
Practice-ready from day one
While law schools have long prided themselves on teaching students to “think like lawyers,” Tolson argues that times have changed. One of her signature initiatives is to add more clinics, practicums and other skills-based courses so graduates “hit the ground running as soon as they graduate.” To keep pace with emergent fields and trends, USC Gould will continue to “attract the best and the brightest” legal scholars who can respond to market shifts and produce cutting-edge research that informs solutions, policies and the courts, Tolson says.
Acknowledging that the price tag of legal education can be “prohibitively expensive” for those from modest backgrounds, Tolson pledges to grow need-based aid both in the number of awards and their dollar value, aiming to reduce the financial challenges of pursuing law school.
She also credits USC’s famously tight-knit alumni community as a defining advantage, both professionally and personally, that she aims to continue to cultivate. “The Trojan network is not just something we say,” Tolson notes. It is “community in action,” with alumni returning to teach, serve on panels and recruit current students.
Looking Ahead
From expanded experiential offerings to deeper financial support, Tolson believes USC Gould’s next century hinges on meeting students where they are, while preparing them for a legal landscape in constant flux. She acknowledges not only the bravery of USC Gould’s many international students who make the momentous decision to live and learn in a different country, but also the courage it takes, “trusting someone else with altering your worldview and changing how you think.”
That trust pays dividends when you meet someone at USC Gould who will change your life — an ethos Tolson wants embedded in every aspect of the law school’s future.
“You never know when you are the person who provides help that changes someone’s life,” she says. “That just seems to be something that is the hallmark of going to this law school.”
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