Career Counseling
USC Gould School of Law

Our JD career counselors are available to meet with you to discuss issues such as:

• Self-assessment/career exploration
• Résumé and cover letters
• Job search strategy
• Interview preparation
• Mock interviews
• Decision-making and negotiation

Career Counselor Profiles

Robin Apodaca
Associate Dean and Dean of Career Services

Robin Apodaca is the Associate Dean and Dean of Career Services. With over 18 years of industry experience, Dean Apodaca has extensive knowledge of law school career and professional development. Prior to joining the USC Gould School of Law, she provided invaluable career planning assistance to law students at Southwestern Law School, the University of La Verne College of Law, and at Chapman University Fowler School of Law. In addition to her leadership positions at several law school career services offices, she is also an active member of the National Association of Law Placement where she is an elected member of the Regional Leadership Council. Though born in Germany, Dean Apodaca has spent the majority of her life in sunny Southern California and holds a BA from California State University, Fullerton.

Rachel Kronick Rothbart, Esq.
Director

Rachel Kronick Rothbart joined the Career Services Office at the end of 2009. She is responsible for counseling students, administers the office's rich array of educational programming, and is the USC Gould's public sector careers specialist. Admitted to the state bars of Florida and California, she practiced family law at the Legal Aid Society in Miami and the Harriett Buhai Center for Family Law in Los Angeles. While at the Harriett Buhai Center, she served as an attorney and director of Legal Services, supervised volunteers and staff, revised the center's handbook on domestic violence, gave presentations and conducted trainings, worked with public interest groups, and participated in the planning of local and statewide legal trainings. She served on the executive committee for the Family Law Section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association. Although a military brat during the early part of her life, she calls Charleston, South Carolina, her hometown because of her family's strong roots to the community. She earned a BA in politics and history from Brandeis University and her JD from University of Miami School of Law.

Ronald Han, Esq.
Assistant Director

Ron Han graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, and earned his JD from the Georgetown University Law Center. He is responsible for counseling students and alumni in career planning and job search strategies, with an emphasis on small & mid-sized law firms, the Orange County & San Diego legal markets and diversity, equity & inclusion programming. He also recently served as the Vice-President of the Los Angeles Area Legal Recruitment Association. Han joined the Career Services Office in 2011 after working in the Career Development Office at Pepperdine University School of Law. Prior to that, he practiced as a litigation attorney representing a broad range of clients in state and federal court in the areas of intellectual property, complex commercial litigation, real estate, and labor and employment.

Lynn Yang, Esq.
Assistant Director

A native of Southern California, Lynn Yang graduated as a Phi Beta Kappa member from Brown University with a degree in Economics and was selected as a Fulbright Scholar. She then went on to earn her JD from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Prior to joining USC Gould in 2014, she was an estate planning attorney assisting clients with estate planning, asset protection, probate and estate administration and, more recently, worked in-house with the real estate law department for the parent company of a premier restaurant group.

Andrea Chen Ayvazian, Esq.
Assistant Director

An alumna of USC Gould, Andrea Chen Ayvazian returned to the law school in March 2016 to join the Career Services Office. She counsels students in all aspects of career development and job searches, and also advises candidates with their judicial clerkship applications. Prior to joining USC Gould, she counseled students at Southwestern Law School and previously handled legal placement for the Los Angeles office of a national legal recruiting agency. She has also practiced family law for a nonprofit law firm and represented small businesses in various civil litigation matters for a boutique law firm. She received her BA in English from Pomona College in Claremont, California, where she fell in love with Southern California after having grown up in Saudi Arabia.

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