Scholars in voting rights, corporate law join USC Law faculty

New hires strengthen school’s leadership in interdisciplinary studies

Two rising scholars will join the USC Gould School of Law faculty in the coming months.

Kareem Crayton (below left), an authority on election law, voting rights and politics, and James Spindler (below right), an expert on securities laws, disclosure and corporations, will join USC Law in July and September, respectively.

USC Law Dean Matthew L. Spitzer said Crayton and Spindler will enhance scholarly life at USC Law and further elevate the school’s national stature and reputation for academic excellence.

“We couldn’t be more pleased that Kareem and James have accepted our offers, especially because they each had very attractive opportunities at other top law schools,” said Spitzer. “Kareem’s expertise in race and politics will certainly enhance the work of our Center for the Study of Law and Politics, and James’ expertise in securities and corporations will further amplify our strength in corporate law. We are confident both Kareem and James will emerge as leading scholars in their fields.”

Crayton, who earned his bachelor’s degree in government from Harvard and his law degree and Ph.D. in political science from Stanford University, said he chose USC Law because of its high-quality faculty, its tradition of interdisciplinary work, and its location.

“The faculty here is quite distinctive in their level of interdisciplinary training and talent,” said Crayton, who was a fellow and instructor of law at Vanderbilt University Law School before accepting USC’s offer.

“There are precious few schools that take interdisciplinary work as seriously and fewer still that actually have the personnel who can really bridge the law with other fields,” said Crayton. “I also found this law school and Los Angeles as a whole are culturally and socially rich places to conduct research on the intersection between race and politics.”

Crayton has studied congressional elections, legislative decision-making and political representation. His dissertation, “What's New about the ‘New South’?” examines problems with various empirical assumptions about the effect of the 1965 Voting Rights Act on congressional redistricting. His current research considers some of the political and constitutional questions related to possible amendments of the Voting Rights Act when it is considered for reauthorization soon.

Spindler, who earned his law degree from Harvard and his bachelor’s degree from Princeton University, comes from the University of Chicago Law School, where he was a visiting assistant professor.

He said USC was his top choice. “I chose USC because of its outstanding faculty and its reputation for producing quality interdisciplinary work,” Spindler said. “It’s also a very supportive environment for research, which is especially important for junior faculty like me.”

Spindler’s specialty is in regulation of securities and capital markets.He’s particularly interested in how legal rules affect the ability of parties to communicate information to one another, and how those rules affect the way parties strategically structure their transactions.

Spindler has taught courses on federal securities regulation, commercial law and corporate and securities law. He has studied how corporate perks play a role in employee misbehavior and trends in underperformance in the IPO market.