New faces at USC Law

Dean Rasmussen and several new professors join the law school

-By Lori Stuenkel

USC Law welcomed not only 300 new students this fall but also a new dean and several additions to the faculty.

Robert K. Rasmussen, a highly respected scholar and administrator from the Vanderbilt University Law School, has joined USC Law as dean and holder of the Carl Mason Franklin Dean’s Chair in Law. An expert on bankruptcy and corporate reorganizations, Rasmussen is one of the most celebrated teachers in the history of Vanderbilt Law and has received its outstanding teaching award six times.

Rasmussen succeeded longtime USC Law Professor Edward J. McCaffery, who served as interim dean during the 2006-07 school year.

Kim Shayo Buchanan joined the faculty as an assistant professor. Previously a teacher at York University in Toronto, Buchanan specializes in constitutional law, torts, prisoners’ rights, reproductive rights, race, gender and sexual regulation. She will teach a seminar on Prisoners’ Rights in the fall and Constitutional Law in the spring.

Camille Rich, most recently a summer associate with Debevoise & Plimpton in New York City, joined the faculty as an assistant professor. She specializes in feminist legal studies and anti-discrimination law, with a special emphasis on employment discrimination. She will teach a seminar on Anti-Discrimination Law in the fall and Legal Profession in the spring.

Clare Pastore, senior counsel at the ACLU Foundation of Southern California and previously a visiting professor at USC Law has recently been appointed Professor of Practice.

Mathew McCubbins, one the nation’s leading political scientists, received a joint appointment to the law faculty and will co-direct the USC-Caltech Center for the Study of Law and Politics.

Michael Chasalow, Jack Lerner and Heidi Rummel were named Visiting Clinical Assistant Professors of Law. Chasalow will direct the new USC Small Business Clinic, Lerner will direct the USC Intellectual Property and Technology Law Clinic while Professor Jennifer Urban is visiting at Stanford Law School, and Rummel is directing the Children’s Project.

Rebecca Lonergan, a former federal prosecutor and adjunct professor at USC Law, has been named associate director of legal writing and advocacy and adjunct associate professor of law.

Two scholars also have been named visiting professors: Stephen Rich, a civil procedure and constitutional law expert and associate professor from Rutgers University Law School, and Martin Stone, a legal philosopher from Cardozo Law School at Yeshiva University.