Trope and Trope Fellowship celebrates 30 years of hands-on training for young attorneys
A law student’s first time in the courtroom is an unforgettable experience – one that the Hon. Joshlyn Pulliam (JD 2005), a recipient of the Trope Fellowship, recalls with gratitude.
“I was assisting an attorney at a family court hearing — it was just a simple hearing, but the awe of going into the courtroom and the nervousness … just sitting there made it so real,” says Pulliam, a judge in Riverside County Superior Court since 2022.
“Through the fellowship, I got to see the faces behind the motion. It solidified what I wanted to do. I really cherish that experience.”
The Trope and Trope Fellowship at the Harriett Buhai Center for Family Law in Los Angeles was established 30 years ago by legendary family law attorney Sorrell Trope (JD 1949) and his wife Linda. Though Trope passed away in 2020, the fellowship continues to pave the way for USC Gould School of Law students, giving them a summer of learning the ropes outside the classroom, working on actual cases and, in many instances, affirming their career choice of public service.
The fellowship, open to one USC Gould student a year, gives fellows a chance to work on marriage dissolutions, domestic violence cases, paternity cases and in other aspects of family law, all pro bono.
The fellowship was established both to benefit Trope’s alma mater and the Buhai Center, launched in the early 1980s by the Black Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles with a goal of offering affordable legal counsel — something that meant a great deal to Sorrell Trope.
“My dad, even though he had great success in his career, came from humble beginnings,” says Alison Trope, clinical professor at the USC Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism. “He always thought about the underdog.”
For Linda Trope, seeing her husband’s legacy living through law students is its own reward.
“I receive letters from the students through the course of each summer, and they are all thrilled to be able to help people,” she says. “So many of them tell me they are going into public service.”
Judge Pulliam’s time in the Trope and Trope fellowship was so remarkable that she continued to volunteer at the Buhai Center after her fellowship was over. Through the numerous interactions with people from different backgrounds as part of the fellowship, she realized the wide reach of family law and came to value that experience as a deputy district attorney at Riverside County, then later as a judge.
“(The fellowship was) my first opportunity to really see the legal world outside of the classroom in law school,” she says. “I was a first-generation student and had no experience with the law. When I received the fellowship, it was an opportunity to do legal work and put the theories and things I learned in school to use. It had a big impact on me.”
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