USC Law Professor Appointed U.S. Magistrate Judge

USC Gould School of Law Clinical Professor Jean Rosenbluth has been appointed a U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Central District of California.

Rosenbluth, director of USC Law’s legal writing program since 2002, was appointed by U.S. District Court Chief Judge Audrey Collins. She takes the bench on September 26, after having been sworn in the week before.

USC Law Dean Robert K. Rasmussen said Rosenbluth will be sorely missed and declared the ’93 USC Law alum one of the school’s “most effective professors.”

“Jean has built our legal writing program into one of the best in the country,” said Rasmussen. “The ability to write clearly and concisely is of crucial importance to a lawyer. Jean revamped our program, and deserves credit for vast improvements that we have seen in this fundamental area. We will miss her enthusiasm, sense of humor and dedication. Still, it is always a point of pride when one your alums is called to the bench. She will be terrific in her new role.”

USC Law will conduct a national search to replace Rosenbluth, with Profs. Rebecca Lonergan and Julie Ryan, the legal writing and advocacy program’s current associate directors, leading the program during the 2011-12 academic year, Rasmussen said.

“I am very sad to be leaving an institution that has played such an important role in my life at two different points of it, as both a student and a professor,” Rosenbluth said.  “But I’m excited to begin a new professional challenge. And I can leave knowing that the program runs well and will continue to operate smoothly in the exceptionally competent hands of Rebecca and Julie.”

Rosenbluth has hired two law clerks, including Jessica Hardy, an ’06 USC Law graduate and associate at O’Melveny & Myers in Newport Beach, and Luke Kuo, a graduate of University of Pittsburgh Law School and a former staff attorney for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.

A former assistant U.S. attorney and senior litigation counsel for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles, Rosenbluth clerked for the Hon. Ferdinand F. Fernandez, judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and the Hon. Alicemarie H. Stotler, judge of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Before enrolling in law school at USC, Rosenbluth was a well-respected music industry reporter for the Los Angeles Times and Rolling Stone Magazine. She interviewed a variety of musicians, industry business titans, and songwriters, including Chrissie Hynde, Phil Collins, Carly Simon, Aimee Mann, Robyn Hitchcock, David Geffen and Richard Branson. As a reporter, she attended two of Phil Spector’s infamous invitation-only bowling parties.

The combination of former reporter and federal prosecutor made Rosenbluth a sought-after legal expert on topical criminal-law issues, including the death penalty and the latest Supreme Court opinions.

She has commented extensively on such high-profile celebrity trials as Michael Jackson, Phil Spector and O.J. Simpson.

“It was great fun to be able to watch some of the country’s most publicized criminal prosecutions, involving such colorful casts of characters, and get paid for it,” said Rosenbluth.  “I hope I was able to help educate the public a bit about the law through my commenting on these cases.”

While a student at USC Law, Rosenbluth was editor-in-chief of the Southern California Law Review and a member of the Order of the Coif. She has served on the Los Angeles County Bar Association’s committee on judicial evaluations for California Court of Appeal justices and is a member of the Association of Legal Writing Directors’ Survey Committee. She is an academic contributor, eighth edition, of Black’s Law Dictionary.

Rosenbluth taught Advanced Legal Writing and Advocacy and Appellate Advocacy and oversaw the JD and LL.M. legal writing and advocacy programs.

Contact: Gilien Silsby at (213) 740-9690 or gsilsby@usc.edu