Above: USC Law LLM Class of 2005

1Ls, LL.M. candidates enhance diversity at USC Law

USC Law’s annual Orientation Day activities welcomed 204 first-year students who boast the highest median undergraduate GPA in USC Law history.

Chosen from more than 7,600 applicants — up from about 7,000 in 2003 and 5,700 in 2002 — this year’s incoming class also is a remarkably diverse group. Nearly half identify themselves as ethnic minority. And women are the majority in this year’s class — of 204 students, 103 are women. Moreover, 47 percent attended college outside of California. This year’s top feeder schools outside California were the University of Pennsylvania (six students), Georgetown (five students) and the University of Michigan (four students).

The Class of 2007 is diverse in other ways as well. An unusually large number of this year’s entering students were teachers. Many worked in the entertainment industry, politics and business. One incoming student owns a clothing company; another owns a cruise travel agency. And several have worked in service organizations and public interest positions. One student is a Red Cross disaster relief worker; another worked as an advocate in the Homeless Assistance Project of the Bar Association of San Francisco.

Associate Dean Bill Hoye helped introduce incoming students to each other during orientation day activities with an overview of students’ backgrounds. “Quite a number of you are openly gay or lesbian. Several of you are raising children. A few of you have disabilities. And many of you have overcome significant economic and social disadvantages to be here,” he said. “It is from this rich diversity that we derive our strength as a community.”

USC Law also welcomes one exchange student from the University of Hong Kong and a new class of 41 LL.M. students who come from 15 countries: Armenia, Austria, China, Czech Republic, Hong Kong, Germany, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Panama, Romania, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand and Uzbekistan.

This year marks the third anniversary of the LL.M. program, which welcomed just 12 students in 2002 and 29 in 2003. Twenty of this year’s LL.M. students also participated in the inaugural Southern California American Law and English (SCALE) program held July 12 to Aug. 6. Offered by USC Law in conjunction with the USC Rossier School of Education Language Academy, SCALE is a summer certificate program that helps prepare international students for LL.M. programs in American law.

“After launching the USC LL.M. program in fall 2002, we realized that many of our students were coming from summer English language programs offered at universities in other parts of the nation,” says Assistant Dean Deborah Call. “We quickly discovered that such programs are not consistently available in Los Angeles, and it became obvious that SCALE was worth developing. A wonderful benefit about being at USC is the access we have to so many wonderful resources. We have an excellent Language Academy, and it’s been helpful for us to work together.”