Southwestern University School of Law
The Southwestern University School of Law (also known as
Southwestern Law School) is a private
ABA-accredited
law school located in
Los Angeles, California, with about 1000 students at a campus that includes the
Bullocks Wilshire building, an admired
art-deco landmark. Founded on
November 25,
1911 by
John J. Schumacher, the school offers four
J.D. programs of study as well as one
LL.M. program. The school should not be confused with
Southwestern University, a
liberal arts institution in
Texas.
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The Westmoreland building of the Southwestern University School of Law |
Southwestern University School of Law was founded on November 25, 1911 as the Southwestern College of Law.
John J. Schumacher, its founder, intended the nonprofit institution to be a law school that reached out to women and minorities. The school is one of the oldest law schools in the state of
California and the second oldest law school in
Los Angeles.
Southwestern received a
university charter in
1915 after it expanded to include a number of other disciplines including a
business school. Southwestern's first "home" was a small campus on South Hill Street, where it existed for the first five decades of its existence.
The
Great Depression and
Second World War took a severe toll on the school's enrollment, and by the end of the
1930s the law school was the only school that remained. However, as veterans returned home the school experienced a surge of interest, and by 1972 the decision was made to move to the school's current location on Westmoreland Avenue in the Wilshire Center area of Los Angeles. By that time, the school was ABA-accredited and interest was growing quickly.
In 1994, Southwestern acquired the adjacent
Bullocks Wilshire building, an historic landmark which was subsequently renovated to house the school's law library, classrooms, and faculty offices.
The current dean is
Bryant G. Garth. He succeeds
Leigh H. Taylor.
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The center of the Southwestern University School of Law campus in downtown LA |
The campus occupies over two city blocks in the
Mid-Wilshire district of
downtown Los Angeles known as
Korea Town. Currently the campus contains two buildings, the 6-story
Westmoreland Building and the 5-story
Bullocks Wilshire Building. Both buildings house classrooms, administrative offices, and faculty offices; the Bullocks Wilshire Building also houses the Taylor Law Library, the Dixon Courtroom and Advocacy Center, a fitness center, a dining center, and a number of student lounges.
The Westmoreland Building is a 6-story building typical of college and university campuses, but the Bullocks Wilshire Building is a fully restored landmark that pays tribute to its history in many ways. Every level of the building is painstakingly renovated down to the smallest details such as the clocks on the walls and the "show showcases" in the area now occupied by the library.
The school's location in
downtown Los Angeles creates a unique situation for students. Southwestern University School of Law has no on-campus housing, so the student body is composed entirely of
commuters. The current layout of the campus reflects this, with about one-third of the campus devoted to a dual-level parking facility.
The law school and its faculty is well known for their entertainment and media law programs.
In 2000, Southwestern launched the Donald E. Biederman Entertainment & Media Law Institute. The Institute provides students with the opportunity to work for leading entertainment companies and organizations such as the
Writers Guild of America, the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences,
Virgin Records, and
Lions Gate Entertainment.
Rankings
Rankings have been a source of controversy at the school. However, admissions standards have been consistently rising over the past few years. Generally, the school compares well with
ABA-accredited schools statewide. The school's admissions standards are currently comparable with those of
Pepperdine University but slightly less competitive than those of the
University of Southern California and the
University of California, Los Angeles.
The school has also been successful in recruiting highly qualified students from prominent California colleges and universities including the
University of California, Los Angeles, the
University of California, Berkeley, and even more geographically remote schools such as
Harvard,
Yale,
New York University,
Johns Hopkins University and the
Pennsylvania State University. Dean Bryant G. Garth has committed to improving the school's ranking during his tenure.
Politics & Government
*
Gordon Smith (US Senator from Oregon)*
Tom Bradley (former mayor of Los Angeles, CA)* Hon.
Julian Dixon (Member, U.S. House of Representatives, 32nd Congressional District (California) (former Chair, House Ethics Committee))* Hon.
Jim Gibbons (Member, U.S. House of Representatives, 2d Congressional District (Nevada))*
Edward M. Wolkowitz (Former Mayor of Culver City, CA)* Hon.
Stanley Mosk (former justice of California Supreme Court)*
Hon. Marshall McComb (former justice of California Supreme Court)* Hon.
Ronald S.W. Lew (federal district judge in Los Angeles)*
Hon. Arthur Greenwald (judge of U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Central District of California)*
Hon. J. Gary Hastings (Associate Justice, California Court of Appeal, Second District, Fourth Division)*
Hon. Scott M. Gordon (Commissioner, Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles)*
Marcia Clark (prosecutor in the OJ Simpson Trial)*
Matt Fong "(former
California state
treasurer)"
Sports
*
Donald Sterling (Los Angeles Clippers Owner)*
Roxanne Kosarzycki (General Counsel, Tampa Bay Buccaneers)*
Jeffrey Birren (General Counsel, Oakland Raiders)Entertainment
*
Howard Kurtzman (Executive Vice President, Business & Legal Affairs, Twentieth Century Fox Television)*
Joseph DeMarco (Executive Vice President, Fox Searchlight Pictures)*
Alan Duke (General Counsel, Miramax Studios)*
George Eichen (Former Senior Vice President & General Counsel MTV Networks)*
Martin Shafer (Partner, Castle Rock Entertainment)*
Jeffrey S. Weiss (Vice President, Business Affairs, Columbia TriStar T.V. Distribution)*
Glen A. Smith (Executive Counsel, ABC, Inc.)*
Wayne Levin (Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.)* Michael Moore
(Vice President, Intellectual Property Group, MGM)*
Stacey Gardner (Model on Deal or No Deal, case #2)Business
*
James D. Nichols (Founding Partner, Bonne Bridges Mueller O'Keefe & Nichols) Website*
Irwin R. Buchalter (Founding Partner, Buchalter Nemer Fields & Younger) Website*
Larry H. Parker (Southern California personal injury attorney well-known for his television commercials) Web Site*
Craig R. Breitman (Founding Partner, Selman & Breitman) Web SiteReligion
*
Howard W. Hunter (14th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints))*A scene in
The Aviator, a 2004 film starring Leonard DiCaprio, was filmed on campus near the entrance to the Bullocks Wilshire Building.
*The final scene in the film
Ghostbusters was filmed on top of the Bullocks Wilshire Building.
* Featured setting in
Topper, a 1937 film staring Carry Grant
* Also featured in: "
Dunston Checks In"; Areosmith's "Love in an Elevator"
*
Official website of the Southwestern University School of Law
