Scott Altman

Scott Altman is an expert in jurisprudence, property and family law. In his role as professor at USC Gould School of Law, he teaches Family Law, Property, Jurisprudence and Community Property. He joined the USC Gould faculty in 1988, served as associate dean from 1995 to 2006 and as vice dean from 2007 to 2016.

Altman’s recent research focuses on child custody and divorce issues. He has published articles on judicial candor, commodification, coercion, blackmail, threats to litigate child custody, and equality norms applied to child custody. His publications include “A Theory of Child Support” (International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family, 2003); “Divorcing Threats and Offers” (Law & Philosophy, 1996); and “Beyond Candor” (Michigan Law Review, 1990).

Altman earned his BA’s degree from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and a JD, cum laude, from Harvard Law School, where he served as developments chair for the Harvard Law Review. He was a clerk to Judge Dorothy Nelson of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals from 1987 to 1988, and he joined the USC Law faculty as assistant professor in 1988. He was named the Virginia S. and Fred H. Bice Professor of Law in 1997.

See Altman’s working papers on the Social Science Research Network http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=17336

Articles and Book Chapters

• "Taking Precautions when Shaping a Child's Future," 87 UMKC Law Review 245 (2019). - (SSRN) - (Hein)
• "Reinterpreting the Right to an Open Future: From Autonomy to Authenticity," 37 Law and Philosophy 415 (2018). - (SSRN) - (www)
• "Parental Control Rights," in Philosophical Foundations of Children’s and Family Law, Lucinda Fergusun & Elizabeth Brake, eds, (Oxford University Press, 2018).
    - (SSRN)
• "The Pursuit of Intimacy and Parental Rights," in The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Law (Andrei Marmor, ed., Routledge, 2012). - (PDF)
• "A Theory of Child Support," 17 Int’l J.L. Pol’y & Fam. 173 (2003). - (Hein)
• "Grateful Victims" (draft)
• "Should Child Custody Rules be Fair?," 35 U. Louisville Journal Family Law 325 (1996). - (Hein)
• "Divorcing Threats and Offers," 15 Law & Phil. 209 (1997).
• "Lurking in the Shadow," 68 Southern California Law Review 493 (1995). - (Hein)
• "A Patchwork Theory of Blackmail," 141 U. Pennsylvania Law Review 1639 (1993). - (Hein)
• "(Com)Modifying Experience," 65 Southern California Law Review 293 (1991). - (Hein)
• "Beyond Candor," 89 Michigan Law Review 296 (1990). - (Hein)
• "Case Comment, Posadas v. Tourism Co.," 100 Harvard Law Review 172 (1987). - (Hein)
• "Note, The Inalienable Rights of Surrogate Mothers," 99 Harvard Law Review 1936 (1986). - (Hein)

FACULTY IN THE NEWS

KPCC Take Two
January 13, 2021
Re: Franita Tolson

Franita Tolson was interviewed about Donald Trump's second impeachment proceedings. "Impeaching this quickly is a message that as a democracy, we cannot stand for what happened last week," she said.

RECENT SCHOLARSHIP

Felipe Jiménez
November, 2020

"Rethinking Contract Remedies," Oxford Jurisprudence Discussion Group, Oxford University, Oxford, UK.

Ariela Gross
November, 2020

“Mourning, Memory, and Metahistory,” English Language Notes (forthcoming 2021).

Ariela Gross
November, 2020

“Becoming Free, Becoming Black: Race, Freedom, and Law in Cuba, Virginia, and Louisiana,” Gilder Lehrman Center at Yale University Annual Conference on Cuban Slavery, Yale University, New Haven, CT.