School of Law News

Chair Emeritus of the board and alumnus Stephen Hamill ’78 and wife Janice have pledged one million dollars to the University of San Francisco School of Law.

Mohammed Amin Mamnoon, a USF School of Law visiting scholar from Afghanistan, spoke to 25 students, faculty, and staff members March 28 and described the downfall of democracy in Afghanistan in August 2021.

Leon Benson spent more than half his life — 25 years — in an Indiana state prison. Eleven years in solitary confinement.

The road to graduating law school for Katiuska Pimentel JD ’23 has been filled with financial hardships and family losses, and that has fueled her commitment to use her USF law degree to support others.

The 2023 Law Review Symposium, titled The Future of Prosecution, brought together panels of distinguished experts to discuss the role of the prosecutor.

As labor and employment law Professor Maria Linda Ontiveros considers retirement in May, she points to her Mexican grandparents, Houston-born parents, and icons including farmworker advocates Dolores Huerta and Monica Ramirez as seminal influences leading her to hone in on immigrant workers' rights.

The ink is barely dry on paperwork to ensconce the Blockchain Law for Social Good Center within USF, and founder Professor Michele Neitz’s Spring 2023 class on Blockchain Technology and the Law is already at capacity, with 8 students on a waitlist.

As a young lawyer feeling the stress of competing client and senior attorneys’ demands, Professor Rhonda Magee recalls getting calls on a Thursday night with new deadlines that would upend her weekend. Add the fact she was one of only a handful of women and the only Black lawyer in the law office, plus the demands of a relationship. In this storm’s eye, Magee found mindfulness essential in prioritizing obligations, acknowledging when to demand more time or seek assistance.

There are law professors who identify as scholars first. Other professors identify as practitioners first. I identify as a teacher first. For me, teaching is the greatest job in the world. Nothing could have been more exhilarating.

The six USF Law alumni serving as chief public defenders in California are changing the system from the inside out.