The University of San Francisco School of Law
Encyclopedia
The University of San Francisco School of Law (USF Law) is the American Bar Association (ABA) approved law school
of the private University of San Francisco
, California
. Established in 1912, the law school has approximately 700 students. It received ABA approval in 1935. It joined the Association of American Law Schools
(AALS) in 1937.
, the Pacific Ocean and downtown San Francisco.
Kendrick Hall recently completed a thorough renovation which included modernized classrooms, a new 70-seat moot court
room, additional space for signature programs such as trial advocacy and dispute resolution, brand-new faculty offices and expanded administrative offices. Also added was a new café, student lounge, a student boulevard with lockers, mail boxes and e-mail stations, and numerous areas for students to gather.
The Dorraine Zief Law Library is a modern, technologically advanced building that features a comfortable, flexible, fully accessible and fully wired research and study environment. Opened in 2000, the library is fully equipped with the latest technological infrastructure.
scores in the 80th percentile or higher. J.D. students can also receive certificates at graduation in Public Interest Law, Intellectual Property and International Law.
USF also offers a Master of Laws
(LL.M.) degree program in Comparative Law and International Transactions for foreign lawyers who have first degrees in law from a non-American university as well as an LL.M. in Intellectual Property and Technology law for foreign and American lawyers.
The 2010 Super Lawyers U.S. Law School Rankings placed USF Law 62nd in the United States.
The National Jurist and Princeton Review rank USF Law 32nd based on the average starting salaries of graduates.
It was listed with a "B+" in the March 2011 "Diversity Honor Roll" by The National Jurist: The Magazine for Law Students.
According to the Princeton Review, the average starting salary for USF Law graduates is $90,000. The median LSAT scores and GPA for entering students were 159 and 3.32, respectively.
USF is also home to the McCarthy Institute for Intellectual Property and Technology Law, the Internet and Intellectual Property Justice Project, which provides legal assistance to those in need of intellectual property advice, and Picturing Justice, which focuses on images of law in film and television.
In addition, USF hosts programs designed specifically for students such as the Keta Taylor Colby Death Penalty Project, which places students in the South working on death penalty appeals. Students can also participate in the Intensive Advocacy Program, which brings students from a variety of law schools and places them in an intensive trial advocacy class featuring notable local practitioners as teachers.
The school also provides ongoing mentoring through its chapter of Inn of Court. The USF chapter is the American Inn.
37°46′29.37"N 122°27′9.81"W
Law school in the United States
In the United States, a law school is an institution where students obtain a professional education in law after first obtaining an undergraduate degree.Law schools in the U.S...
of the private University of San Francisco
University of San Francisco
The University of San Francisco , is a private, Jesuit/Catholic university located in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1855, USF was established as the first university in San Francisco. It is the second oldest institution for higher learning in California and the tenth-oldest university of...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. Established in 1912, the law school has approximately 700 students. It received ABA approval in 1935. It joined the Association of American Law Schools
Association of American Law Schools
The Association of American Law Schools is a non-profit organization of 170 law schools in the United States. Another 25 schools are "non-member fee paid" schools, which are not members but choose to pay AALS dues. Its purpose is to improve the legal profession through the improvement of legal...
(AALS) in 1937.
Campus
The University of San Francisco School of Law's Koret Law Center occupies two buildings on the 55 acres (222,577.3 m²) hilltop USF campus overlooking Golden Gate ParkGolden Gate Park
Golden Gate Park, located in San Francisco, California, is a large urban park consisting of of public grounds. Configured as a rectangle, it is similar in shape but 20% larger than Central Park in New York, to which it is often compared. It is over three miles long east to west, and about half a...
, the Pacific Ocean and downtown San Francisco.
Kendrick Hall recently completed a thorough renovation which included modernized classrooms, a new 70-seat moot court
Moot court
A moot court is an extracurricular activity at many law schools in which participants take part in simulated court proceedings, usually to include drafting briefs and participating in oral argument. The term derives from Anglo Saxon times, when a moot was a gathering of prominent men in a...
room, additional space for signature programs such as trial advocacy and dispute resolution, brand-new faculty offices and expanded administrative offices. Also added was a new café, student lounge, a student boulevard with lockers, mail boxes and e-mail stations, and numerous areas for students to gather.
The Dorraine Zief Law Library is a modern, technologically advanced building that features a comfortable, flexible, fully accessible and fully wired research and study environment. Opened in 2000, the library is fully equipped with the latest technological infrastructure.
Academics
USF offers full and part-time programs leading to the J.D. degree. Students can also enroll in the J.D./M.B.A. program which takes four years of study. The majority of the student body has LSATLaw School Admission Test
The Law School Admission Test is a half-day standardized test administered four times each year at designated testing centers throughout the world. Administered by the Law School Admission Council for prospective law school candidates, the LSAT is designed to assess Reading Comprehension,...
scores in the 80th percentile or higher. J.D. students can also receive certificates at graduation in Public Interest Law, Intellectual Property and International Law.
USF also offers a Master of Laws
Master of Laws
The Master of Laws is an advanced academic degree, pursued by those holding a professional law degree, and is commonly abbreviated LL.M. from its Latin name, Legum Magister. The University of Oxford names its taught masters of laws B.C.L...
(LL.M.) degree program in Comparative Law and International Transactions for foreign lawyers who have first degrees in law from a non-American university as well as an LL.M. in Intellectual Property and Technology law for foreign and American lawyers.
Rankings
The US News & World Report ranked USF Law 100th in 2010 and its' part-time program was ranked 20th.The 2010 Super Lawyers U.S. Law School Rankings placed USF Law 62nd in the United States.
The National Jurist and Princeton Review rank USF Law 32nd based on the average starting salaries of graduates.
It was listed with a "B+" in the March 2011 "Diversity Honor Roll" by The National Jurist: The Magazine for Law Students.
Bar passage rates
Based on a 2001-2007 6 year average, 70.3% of University of San Francisco Law graduates passed the California State Bar.Post-graduation employment
Based on a 2001-2007 6 year average, 92.3% of University of San Francisco Law graduates were employed 9 months after graduation.Publications
The Law School has several school-sponsored publications in which students can participate. The Maritime Law Journal is one of two journals devoted to maritime law in the country and is subscribed to by the United States Supreme Court.- University of San Francisco Law Review
- Intellectual Property Law Bulletin
- USF Maritime Law Journal
- Journal of Law and Social Challenges
Student life
USF sponsors student groups encompassing a wide range of interests, which reflects the diversity and drive of the student body. The various organizations sponsor lectures from notable attorneys and judges as well as a Last Lecture series highlighting the outstanding scholarship of the faculty. In addition, the Public Interest Law Foundation holds an annual auction, drawing lawyers, judges and other community members in support of the school's commitment to public service.According to the Princeton Review, the average starting salary for USF Law graduates is $90,000. The median LSAT scores and GPA for entering students were 159 and 3.32, respectively.
Institutes, centers and special projects
USF sponsors a range of institutes, centers and special projects. Those with an international focus include the Center for Law and Global Justice which develops and implements international rule of law projects. In addition USF sponsors study abroad programs for its students in Prague, Dublin and Budapest. The exchange programs include instruction at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland and Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic. Relevant international coursework includes the study of European Community Law, International Business Transactions, and European Constitutionalism. The latter has been taught by the late prof. Vojtech Cepl, the principal drafter of the post-communist Constitution of the Czech Republic. Following his role in the Velvet Revolution of 1989, Mr. Cepl was nominated a justice of the Czech Constitutional Court and briefly participated as an advisor in post-war Iraq.USF is also home to the McCarthy Institute for Intellectual Property and Technology Law, the Internet and Intellectual Property Justice Project, which provides legal assistance to those in need of intellectual property advice, and Picturing Justice, which focuses on images of law in film and television.
In addition, USF hosts programs designed specifically for students such as the Keta Taylor Colby Death Penalty Project, which places students in the South working on death penalty appeals. Students can also participate in the Intensive Advocacy Program, which brings students from a variety of law schools and places them in an intensive trial advocacy class featuring notable local practitioners as teachers.
The school also provides ongoing mentoring through its chapter of Inn of Court. The USF chapter is the American Inn.
Dorraine Zief Law Library
In 2000, the law school doubled in size when the new Dorraine Zief Law Library opened. Three years later, the law school's main classroom and administration building, Kendrick Hall, reopened after an extensive renovation. The library is also frequented by students of other local law schools, attesting to its comfort and functionality. The staff of the law library maintain a web site with useful information tailored to the needs of law students, practitioners and other legal researchers at http://www.usfca.edu/law_library.Notable faculty
- William Bassett, author of California Community Property Law hornbook
- Carlos Castresana Fernandez, prosecutor of former Chilean dictator Augusto PinochetAugusto PinochetAugusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte, more commonly known as Augusto Pinochet , was a Chilean army general and dictator who assumed power in a coup d'état on 11 September 1973...
- Eugene Crew, of Townsend and Townsend and Crew
- Peter Jan Honigsberg, author of Our Nation Unhinged: The Human Consequences of the War on Terror, Crossing Border Street: A Civil Rights Memoir, the Gilbert Textbook Legal Research, Writing and Analysis and instructor for BarBriBarBriBarBri is a company in the United States that offers a widely used bar exam preparation course. A majority of American recipients of a Juris Doctor degree attend a six-week BarBri course, which features lectures by law professors on the six major areas covered on the Multistate Bar Examination —...
Bar Review - Richard Leo, author of Police Interrogation and American Justice (Harvard University Press, 2008) and many other texts and articles on coerced confessions and police interrogation
- J. Thomas McCarthyJ. Thomas McCarthyJ. Thomas McCarthy is a Senior Professor at the University of San Francisco School of Law, where he been on the faculty for over forty years. He is the Founding Director of the located at the University of San Francisco. He has practiced, written and taught in the field of trademarks and unfair...
, author of McCarthy on Trademarks and Unfair Competition - Thomas A. Nazario, author of In Defense of Children
- John Jay Osborn, Jr.John Jay Osborn, Jr.John Jay Osborn, Jr. is the author of the bestselling novel, The Paper Chase, a fictional account of one Harvard Law School student's battles with the imperious Professor Charles Kingsfield. The book was made into a movie starring John Houseman and Timothy Bottoms. Houseman won an Oscar for his...
, author of The Paper Chase - Steven Shatz, author of California Criminal Law: Cases and Problems and Cases and Materials on the Death Penalty
- Robert Talbot, national commentator for CBS NewsCBS NewsCBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. The current chairman is Jeff Fager who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, while the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes. CBS News' flagship program is the CBS Evening News, hosted by the network's main...
and Court TVCourt TVtruTV is an American cable television network owned by Turner Broadcasting, a subsidiary of Time Warner. The network launched as Court TV in 1991, changing to truTV in 2008... - Richard A. Zitrin, co-author of Legal Ethics: Rules, Statutes, and Comparisons textbook, and The Moral Compass of the American Lawyer
Notable faculty sitting judges
- Teri Jackson, San Francisco Superior Court
- María Elena James, Magistrate Judge, US District Court, Northern District of California
- Gary Nadler, Sonoma County Superior Court
Notable alumni
- Angela AliotoAngela AliotoAngela Alioto is an attorney, a politician, and a member of the Secular Franciscan order and Democratic Party. She is a member of one of the best known political families in San Francisco, and her family is generally associated with the liberal democratic side of the city's...
('83), civil rights attorney and former President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors - Edward Berberian, District Attorney of Marin County, CaliforniaMarin County, CaliforniaMarin County is a county located in the North San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. As of 2010, the population was 252,409. The county seat is San Rafael and the largest employer is the county government. Marin County is well...
- Jeffery A. Blair, Acting General Counsel for the University of California system
- Douglas Boxer ('91), founder of Douglas Boxer & Associates and son of Sen. Barbara BoxerBarbara BoxerBarbara Levy Boxer is the junior United States Senator from California . A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives ....
- John BurtonJohn L. BurtonJohn Lowell Burton is the current Chairman of the California Democratic Party. He is an American politician who served as a Democratic California State Senator from 1996 until 2004, representing the 3rd district. From 1998 until he was forced out of office by term limits in 2004, he served as the...
, former Member of Congress and former California Senate Majority Leader, current chairman of the California Democratic Party - Cupcake BrownCupcake BrownCupcake Brown is an American author and a lawyer.-Biography:Cupcake Brown was erroneously named when a nurse misunderstood her mother's post-delivery request. She remembers a happy childhood until the age of eleven when her mother died of a seizure...
, author of A Piece of Cake, - Eugene Crew, founding partner of Townsend Townsend and Crew
- Lisa Dickinson, President of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Legal Career Professionals and former Director of USF Office of Career Planning
- Jean Afterman, Assistant General Manager for the New York YankeesNew York YankeesThe New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
- Paulino Duran, Public Defender of Sacramento County, California
- Peter Folger, founding partner of Folger Levin and Kahn
- Alice Fredricks, former Mayor of Tiburon, CaliforniaTiburon, CaliforniaTiburon is an incorporated town in Marin County, California. It occupies most of the Tiburon Peninsula, which reaches south into the San Francisco Bay. The smaller city of Belvedere occupies the south-east part of the peninsula and is contiguous with Tiburon...
- Joseph Freitas, Jr. ('67) former San Francisco District Attorney
- Jessica Grant ('95), California Lawyer Attorney of the Year (CLAY) for employment law; obtained $172 million verdict in a wage and hour class action case against Wal-Mart
- Kimberly GuilfoyleKimberly GuilfoyleKimberly Guilfoyle is an American cable news personality and is currently one of the rotating co-hosts on The Five on Fox News Channel at 5 pm EST , as well as the host of an Internet-only crime-related program for Fox News...
, former assistant San Francisco district attorneyDistrict attorneyIn many jurisdictions in the United States, a District Attorney is an elected or appointed government official who represents the government in the prosecution of criminal offenses. The district attorney is the highest officeholder in the jurisdiction's legal department and supervises a staff of...
, Fox News television personality - Michael HennesseyMichael HennesseyMichael Hennessey is the longest serving Sheriff in the history of San Francisco and is currently the longest tenured Sheriff in the State of California. Hennessey was elected in a run-off election in December of 1979 and has been reelected in seven subsequent elections...
('73), long-serving Sheriff of the City and County of San Francisco (1980–present) - Edward ImwinkelriedEdward Imwinkelried|birth_place =|death_date =|death_place =|nationality = United States|ethnicity =|fields = Evidence, Scientific Evidence|workplaces = University of California, Davis School of Law...
, Evidence Scholar and Professor at UC Davis School of LawUC Davis School of LawThe University of California Davis School of Law , referred to as UC Davis School of Law and commonly known as King Hall and UC Davis Law, is an American Bar Association approved law school located in Davis, California on the campus of the University of California, Davis. The school received ABA... - Nicholas Jellins, Mayor of Menlo Park, CaliforniaMenlo Park, CaliforniaMenlo Park, California is a city at the eastern edge of San Mateo County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, in the United States. It is bordered by San Francisco Bay on the north and east; East Palo Alto, Palo Alto, and Stanford to the south; Atherton, North Fair Oaks, and Redwood City...
- Christopher Krueger ('94), Deputy Legal Affairs Secretary for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
- Susan C. Lee, Deputy Majority Whip of the Maryland House of Delegates
- Mark MassaraMark MassaraMark Massara, a surfer and attorney, is the former Director of the . Massara gained a reputation in the surfing and environmental communities when, as counsel for in 1991, he against two pulp mill companies near Eureka, California that were dumping of toxic effluents per day into the ocean...
, Director of The Sierra Club Coastal Programs - Robert McCarthy, former California State Senator and Assemblyman
- Chris Moscone, son of former Mayor George MosconeGeorge MosconeGeorge Richard Moscone was an American attorney and Democratic politician. He was the 37th mayor of San Francisco, California, US from January 1976 until his assassination in November 1978. Moscone served in the California State Senate from 1967 until becoming Mayor. In the Senate, he served as...
and founder of Moscone, Emblidge, and Quadra LLP - Benjamin Reyes, City Attorney for Pinole, CaliforniaPinole, CaliforniaPinole is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States. The population was 18,390 at the 2010 census. It is one of many small “bedroom communities” along the I-80 corridor in Western Contra Costa County. It is located about northeast of San Francisco, and approximately a half-hour...
- Kevin V. Ryan, former United States Attorney for the Northern District of California
- Marjorie ScardinoMarjorie ScardinoDame Marjorie Morris Scardino, DBE, FRSA is the CEO of Pearson PLC. She became the first female Chief Executive of a FTSE 100 company when she was appointed CEO of Pearson in 1997...
('75), CEO of Pearson PLCPearson PLCPearson plc is a global media and education company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is both the largest education company and the largest book publisher in the world, with consumer imprints including Penguin, Dorling Kindersley and Ladybird...
, and the first woman to head a top 100 firm on the London Stock Exchange - John F. Shelley, former Mayor of San Francisco, and member of U.S. House of Representatives
- Paul S. Speranza ('71), Chairman of the Board of Directors of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Vice Chairman and General Counsel for Wegmans
- Francis George Toldi, senior counsel for Hewlett-PackardHewlett-PackardHewlett-Packard Company or HP is an American multinational information technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA that provides products, technologies, softwares, solutions and services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises, including...
- Sal TorresSal TorresSal Torres is an American politician from California. He has been elected to the city council of Daly City, California several times. He has also served as mayor and vice mayor.- References :...
('88), Councilman and Mayor of Daly City, CaliforniaDaly City, CaliforniaDaly City is the largest city in San Mateo County, California, United States, with a 2010 population of 101,123. Located immediately south of San Francisco, it is named in honor of businessman and landowner John Daly.-History:...
(1996 - ), former host of "El Amanecer (Daybreak)", KBHK-TV, and Managing Corporate Counsel & Director at Marvell Technology GroupMarvell Technology GroupMarvell is an American producer of storage, communications and consumer semiconductor products.Founded in 1995, Marvell Technology Group Ltd. has operations worldwide and approximately 5,700 employees. Marvell’s U.S. operating subsidiary is based in Santa Clara, California and Marvell has... - Joe Alioto Veronese, San Francisco Police Commissioner and candidate for state Senate
- Martha Whetstone, Executive Director of the S.F. Bar Association and former senior aide to President Bill ClintonBill ClintonWilliam Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
Notable alumni sitting judges
- Ming ChinMing ChinMing William Chin is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of California. He was appointed to the California Supreme Court by Governor Pete Wilson on January 25, 1996, and confirmed by the Commission on Judicial Appointments and sworn in on March 1, 1996...
, Supreme Court Justice of the California Supreme Court - Mary Jane Theis, Supreme Court Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court
- Saundra Armstrong, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California
- Michael Candela, Butte County Superior Court
- James G. Conway, Jr., Circuit Court of Illinois
- M. Lynn Duryee, Marin Superior Court
- Roger Garety, former District Attorney of Marin County and Superior Court Judge (Ret.)
- Paul Haakenson, Marin Superior Court
- Daniel 'Mike' Hanlon (Ret.), former Presiding Justice of the California Court of Appeal and former Presiding Judge of the San Francisco Superior Court
- Brian Hill, Superior Court Judge, County of Santa Barbara, California
- Martin JenkinsMartin JenkinsMartin J. Jenkins is a justice of the California Court of Appeal for the First District, located in San Francisco, and a former federal judge in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.-Early life:...
, First District Court of Appeal (formerly of the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California) - Barbara J.R. Jones, First District Court of Appeal
- Roger Kosel, Superior Court of Siskiyou County
- William R. McGuiness, Presiding Judge, 1st District Court of Appeal
- Barbara J. Miller, former Presiding Judge of Alameda Superior Court
- Cynthia L. Muniz, District Judge, Texas
- Joanne C. Parrilli, First District Court of Appeal
- James A. Richman, First District Court of Appeal
- Maria P. Rivera, First District Court of Appeal
- Roger Ross, Superior Court of San Joaquin County, California
- Bill SchuetteBill SchuetteWilliam Duncan "Bill" Schuette is an American Republican politician and the current Attorney General of the U.S. state of Michigan.-Early life:...
, former Member of Congress and current Michigan Attorney General, former Judge of the Michigan Court of Appeals - Vernon F. Smith, Marin Superior Court
- Raymond L. Sullivan, former Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court and California Court of Appeal
- Ronald I. Toff, Superior Court of Santa Clara County
- James D. Ward, former Justice, First District California Court of Appeal
External links
- USF Law Review
- Dorraine Zief Law Library
- McCarthy Institute for Intellectual Property and Technology Law
- Keta Taylor Colby Death Penalty Project
37°46′29.37"N 122°27′9.81"W