LAW PORTAL
- About
About USC Gould
USC Gould is a top-ranked law school with a 120-year history and reputation for academic excellence. We are located on the beautiful 228-acre USC University Park Campus, just south of downtown Los Angeles.
- Academics
Academics
Learn about our interdisciplinary curriculum, experiential learning opportunities and specialized areas.
Student Quick Links:
- Admissions
Admissions
USC Gould helps prepare you for a stellar legal career. You can pursue a JD degree, one of our numerous graduate and international offerings, or an online degree or certificate.
- Students
Students
Participate in an unparalleled learning experience with diversity of people and thought. Get involved in the law school community and participate in activities that enhance your studies.
Student Quick Links:
- Careers
Careers
We work closely with students, graduates and employers to support successful career goals and outcomes. Our overall placement rate is consistently strong, with 94 percent of our JD class employed within 10 months after graduation.
- Faculty
Faculty
Our faculty is distinguished for its scholarship, as well as for its commitment to teaching. Our 12:1 student-to-faculty ratio creates an intimate and collegial learning environment.
- Alumni and Giving
- Admissions
Sarah Gruzas
USC Gould School of Law
- FACULTY DIRECTORY
- LECTURERS IN LAW DIRECTORY
- EXPERTS DIRECTORY
- FACULTY IN THE NEWS
- SCHOLARSHIP AND PUBLICATIONS
- DISTINCTIONS AND AWARDS
- + CENTERS AND INITIATIVES
- CENTER FOR LAW AND PHILOSOPHY (CLP)
- CENTER FOR LAW AND SOCIAL SCIENCE (CLASS)
- CENTER FOR LAW, HISTORY AND CULTURE (CLHC)
- CENTER FOR TRANSNATIONAL LAW AND BUSINESS (CTLB)
- INITIATIVE AND REFERENDUM INSTITUTE (IRI)
- PACIFIC CENTER FOR HEALTH POLICY AND ETHICS
- SAKS INSTITUTE FOR MENTAL HEALTH LAW, POLICY, AND ETHICS
- + WORKSHOPS AND CONFERENCES
Director of Graduate & International Programs and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Law
Email: sgruzas@law.usc.eduTelephone: (213) 740-9868
Fax: (213) 821-5915
699 Exposition Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90089-0074 USA Room: 16
Last Updated: January 28, 2019
Sarah Hall is director of the Graduate & International Programs office. She also teaches Presentation Skills for International Lawyers and Academic and Professional Skills for U.S. Law Studies II as part of the Two-Year LLM. Hall earned her JD degree from USC Gould in 2010, where she served as a board member on the Southern California Interdisciplinary Law Journal. She previously earned her BA in Economics from Swarthmore College.
Hall also manages the career development program for the LLM, MDR, and MSL students. In this role, she counsels current students and alumni on how to navigate the U.S. legal market, as well as how to prepare for and apply to a U.S. bar exam. She holds several workshops over the course of the year to teach students how to create a U.S.-style resume and cover letter, as well as how to effectively present themselves in interviews and networking events. In addition to her work with current students, Hall is involved with the planning, development, marketing, and recruiting process for other graduate law programs.
Prior to returning to USC, Hall practiced securities litigation at O’Melveny and Myers LLP for almost four years. In her time at O’Melveny, Hall handled a variety of complex civil litigation matters, focusing on securities, class actions, and breach of contract claims. As an associate, she gained experience in developing case strategies, drafting motions, attending depositions, and preparing matters for trial and mediation.
FACULTY IN THE NEWS
CNN
September 22, 2021
Re: Franita Tolson
Franita Tolson was mentioned as a participant in a Senate hearing on voting rights. "Apologies Mr. Cruz, your state of Texas, perhaps," she said, when Cruz asked which voter ID laws are racist. "The fact that the voter ID law was put into place to diminish the political power of Latinos with racist intent." Tolson was also quoted in The Washington Post, USA TODAY, Independant, The Hill and Yahoo! News.
RECENT SCHOLARSHIP
Thomas D. Lyon
July, 2021
“Use of global trait cues helps to explain older adults’ decrements in detecting children’s lies” (with Alison O’Connor, Micaela Wiens, & Angela D. Evans) (in press), Legal and Criminological Psychology.
Thomas D. Lyon
July, 2021
“Causal indicators for assessing the truthfulness of child speech in forensic interviews” (with Zane Durante, Victor Ardulov, Manoj Kumar, Jennifer Gongola, & Shrikanth Narayanan) (in press), Computer Speech & Language.
Thomas D. Lyon
July, 2021
“The difficulty of teaching adults to recognize referential ambiguity in children's testimony: The influence of explicit instruction and sample questions” (with Breanne Wylie, Jennifer Gongola, & Angela D. Evans) (in press), Applied Cognitive Psychology.
