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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.
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Academics
Learn about our interdisciplinary curriculum, experiential learning opportunities and specialized areas.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Felipe Jiménez
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 DISPUTE RESOLUTION
- 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

Associate Professor of Law and Philosophy
Email: fjimenez@law.usc.eduTelephone: (213) 821- 2964
699 Exposition Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90089-0074 USA Room: 423
SSRN Author Page: Link
Last Updated: August 16, 2022
Felipe Jiménez works in the areas of private law, legal theory and comparative private law. He teaches contracts, and upper-level seminars and undergraduate courses on private law, legal reasoning and legal theory.
Jiménez graduated, summa cum laude, from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, and holds LLM (Legal Theory) and JSD degrees from New York University. He has also worked as a lawyer specialized in international arbitration and commercial litigation in Chile and the United States.
Jiménez has written articles on contract theory, the theory of adjudication and jurisprudence. His work in Spanish also includes articles and book chapters on Chilean private law and on legal theory. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in the Yale Journal of Law and the Humanities, the University of Chicago Law Review Online, the University of Toronto Law Journal, the Utah Law Review, the American Journal of Jurisprudence, and Ratio Juris, among others.
Works in Progress
- A book on contract theory
- A paper on the rule of law and legal obligation
- A paper on antitrust law, legal reasoning, and institutional design
Articles and Book Chapters
- "Legal Positivism for Legal Officials," Forthcoming in Canadian Journal of Law & Jurisprudence (2023). - (SSRN)
- "Private Law Legalism," Forthcoming in University of Toronto Law Journal (2023). - (SSRN)
- “The Limits of Experimental Jurisprudence,” Forthcoming in Cambridge Handbook of Experimental Jurisprudence (K. Tobia ed., 2023). - (SSRN)
- “Understanding Private Law,” Forthcoming in Methodology in Private Law (P. Miller & T. Kuntz eds., 2023).
- “Book Review: Paolo Sandro, The Making of Constitutional Democracy,” Forthcoming in 68 (1) American Journal of Jurisprudence (2023). - (SSRN)
- "Specific Performance," Forthcoming in Research Handbook in the Philosophy of Contract Law (M. Chen-Wishart & P. Saprai eds., Edward Elgar, 2023).
- "Justifying Private Law," Forthcoming in Oxford Studies in Private Law Theory, Vol. II (P. Miller & J. Oberdick eds., 2023). - (SSRN)
- "Legal Principles, Law, and Tradition," 33 (1) Yale Journal of Law and The Humanities (2022). - (SSRN)
- "The Grounds of Arbitral Authority," 96 (4) Tulane Law Review (2022). - (SSRN)
- “Rethinking Contract Remedies,” 53 (4) Arizona State Law Journal (2021). - (www)
- "Some Doubts about Folk Jurisprudence: The Case of Proximate Cause," The University of Chicago Law Review Online (2021). - (www) - (SSRN)
- "Law, Morality, and the One-System View: A Response to T.R.S. Allan," The American Journal of Jurisprudence (2021).
- "Two Questions for Private Law Theory," Jurisprudence (2021). - (SSRN)
- "Contracts, Markets, and Justice," 71 (1) University of Toronto Law Journal 144 (2021). - (www) - (SSRN)
- "A Formalist Theory of Contract Law Adjudication," 2020 (5) Utah Law Review 1121 (2020). - (PDF)
- "Against Parochialism in Contract Theory: A Response to Brian Bix," 32 (2) Ratio Juris 233 (2019). - (SSRN) - (www)
- Book Review: "La Forma del Derecho," (with Martin Hevia) 15 (2) International Journal of Constitutional Law 578 (2017). - (www)
- "Ni Función ni Estructura: Una respuesta a la idea de justicia constitucional de Fernando Atria," (with Sergio Verdugo) in Comentarios a La Forma del Derecho (J. Gallego ed., 2020). - (SSRN)
- "¿Es el enriquecimiento injustificado un principio de justicia?," in Fundamentos Filosóficos del Derecho Civil Chileno (E. Pereira ed., Rubicon, 2019).
- "Una crítica a la idea de incumplimiento eficiente desde el Derecho de Contratos," 29 Revista Chilena De Derecho Privado 99 (2017). - (Hein)
- "Comentario a la sentencia de Corte de Apelaciones de Santiago Rol No. 2259-2010, 6 de mayo de 2011," in Contratos: Jurisprudencia Civil Comentada (P. Cornejo and J. Larrocau eds., 2017).
- "La Teoría del Derecho de Contratos y su Relación con la Dogmática," 44 (2) Revista Chilena De Derecho 395 (2017). - (Hein) - (www)
- "Dos implicancias de la igualdad relacional," 144 Estudios Públicos 31 (2017). - (www)
- Book Review: "¿Por qué obligan los contratos?," 22 (2) Ius Et Praxis 531 (2016). - (www)
FACULTY IN THE NEWS
Politi Fact
May 23, 2023
Re: David B. Cruz
Professor David Cruz was recently interviewed about a controversial bill that was passed in Connecticut. "Paying even modest attention to the bill’s definitions should make it clear beyond doubt that it will not be the source of protections based upon the age of people to whom one is attracted or with whom one has sex," Cruz said.
RECENT SCHOLARSHIP
Jonathan Barnett
April, 2023
Comment Letter from Law Professors, Economists, and Business School Professors to the Federal Trade Commission on Proposed Non-Compete Clause Rule, Jonathan Barnett (co-lead author, with Adam Mossoff and Ted Sichelman), April 19, 2023.
Robin Craig
April, 2023
"Survival Equity and Climate Change Triage: How to Decide Who Lives and Who Dies," presentation as part of Adapting to a Warming World: Perspectives from the Environmental Law Collaborative, Hubbell Environmental Law Initiative, University of Iowa School of Law, Iowa City, IA, April 14, 2023.
Robin Craig
April, 2023
Robin Craig's recent research on tribal water rights and COVID-19, comparing the Navajo Nation and the Klamath Tribes, was featured on NPR's "Academic Minute" on Monday, April 17, 2023.