New Dean Leads USC Law

-By Darren Schenck

Robert K. Rasmussen, a highly regarded scholar and administrator from the Vanderbilt University Law School, has joined the USC Gould School of Law as its new dean effective August 1. He holds the Carl Mason Franklin Dean’s Chair in Law.

Rasmussen succeeds longtime USC Law Professor Edward J. McCaffery, who served as interim dean from July 2006 through June 30, 2007.

USC Law Dean Robert K. Rasmussen

“Rasmussen has developed a reputation as one of the nation’s outstanding legal scholars in the fields of bankruptcy and corporate reorganizations and as a strong administrator during nearly two decades at Vanderbilt,” Nikias said. “Rasmussen is also one of the most celebrated teachers in the 125-year history of the Vanderbilt Law School, having received its outstanding teaching award six times.”

Rasmussen, who earned his J.D. cum laude in 1985 from the University of Chicago Law School, said he is excited to join a top law school that he believes has the potential to ascend even higher in the ranks.

 “USC Law has it all,” he said. “World-class faculty who are interdisciplinary in nature, and for whom all questions are on the table; a student body whose diversity reflects the profession; and alumni who are incredibly supportive of the school.”

Although he is new to USC, Rasmussen holds fond—if somewhat distant—memories of Los Angeles.

“I lived in Los Angeles until I was 11 years old, so I’m comfortable with the L.A. attitude,” he said. “My wife grew up in Santa Fe, so L.A. feels like home to both of us. It’s great to be in one of the world’s great cities—a city that’s a model for how diverse communities can operate together.”

Rasmussen made the move from Nashville to Los Angeles sans family, but he will be joined next fall by his wife, renowned constitutional law scholar Rebecca Brown, and their 11-year-old daughter Megan.

Brown will be appointed holder of the Richard B. Newton Professorship of Constitutional Law at USC Law. She has served on the Vanderbilt faculty since 1988 and holds the Allen Chair in Law. Brown previously worked in the Office of Legal Counsel in the U.S. Department of Justice, and she clerked for Justice Thurgood Marshall on the Supreme Court.

For her part, Megan totally plans to continue her educational career as a middle-school student.

Rasmussen and Brown’s three other children range in age from 15 to 19 and will be off to college or finishing high school in Tennessee. No doubt they will visit their parents in L.A., where Rasmussen can indulge in his primary hobby: driving his children around.

Although he was happy at Vanderbilt, Rasmussen said that the opportunity to lead the USC Gould School of Law was impossible to turn down.

“I loved being a law professor. But when this opportunity came up, it was amazing—it fit with what I believe law schools should be about,” he said. “It’s also interesting to become dean at the same time that USC has a number of new deans. Together with Provost Nikias, we are taking a fresh look at approaches to education, research, and scholarship.”