Attorney named assistant writing director

Rebecca S. Lonergan joins USC Law from the U.S. Attorney's Office

The USC Gould School of Law has attracted another former federal prosecutor to help direct its Legal Writing and Advocacy program. Rebecca S. Lonergan, who worked with the United States Attorney’s Office (USAO) for 16 years, joins USC Law this summer as the new associate director of legal writing and advocacy, and adjunct associate professor of law. She will work with the program’s director, Jean Rosenbluth, who joined the law school from the USAO five years ago.

Rebecca S. Lonergan

Prof. Lonergan will teach Legal Writing and Advocacy, and be the faculty advisor to the Hale Moot Court Honors Program. USC’s Legal Writing and Advocacy program trains first-year law students in objective and persuasive legal writing and oral advocacy. In the Moot Court program, a select group of second-year law students participate in a year-long series of competitions designed to develop appellate advocacy skills.

“I am extremely excited to be working full-time at a wonderful institution like USC Law, where the faculty and students not only excel at academic pursuits, but also know how to be friendly and have fun,” said Lonergan, who also was an adjunct professor of trial advocacy at the law school from 2001-04.

Lonergan is an experienced trial attorney, with expertise in public corruption, corporate fraud, government fraud, health care fraud, real estate fraud, and offenses involving national security. As a federal prosecutor, she tried numerous complex cases involving corrupt federal agents, classified information, and espionage. Her work allowed her to develop extensive knowledge of the organization and policies of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, including the U.S. Department of Justice, the USAO, the FBI, the DEA, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Los Angeles Police Department and others.

“We’re thrilled to have Rebecca on board,” Rosenbluth said. “Her wealth of courtroom and writing experience and her three-year stint here as an adjunct professor make her the perfect candidate to lead the Hale Moot Court Honors Program students and to assist with the Legal Writing and Advocacy program.”

A graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara, with highest honors, Lonergan received her J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law in 1987. She worked briefly as a deputy district attorney in Los Angeles and then as a trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice, Environmental Crimes Section, before going to work at the Los Angeles USAO in 1991. During her 16 years at the USAO for the Central District of California, she was the deputy chief of the Public Corruption and Government Fraud Section, and later, the deputy chief of the Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section. She worked as a pro tem judge for the Los Angeles Superior Court from 2001-04.