The Polymathic Lawyer

Robert K. Rasmussen was named dean of the USC Gould School of Law and Carl Mason Franklin Chair in Law in August 2007. Dean Rasmussen's scholarly expertise is focused on the interaction of market forces and corporate reorganization law, and his most recent work addresses fundamental changes in corporate reorganization practice. He has played a role in shaping the jurisprudence in his field as the principal author of an amicus curiae brief on behalf of nine law professors in the 1999 U.S. Supreme Court case Bank of America v. 203 North LaSalle Street Partnership; was the principal author of an amicus curiae brief in Integrated Telecom Express, Inc., a 2004 case decided by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals; and was the principal author of an amicus curiae brief in Owens Corning, a 2005 case also decided by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. He is a member of the American Law Institute.

Alison Dundes Renteln is professor of political science, anthropology, and public policy, and chair of the department of political science. Renteln specializes in international law, human rights, comparative law, constitutional law, political and legal theory, integrating all of these legal arenas as they illuminate the relationship between the legal system and cultural rights. In addition to her polymathic work that applies the questions of anthropology to the concerns of legal scholars, Renteln has used her expertise for the public good, working with the California Bar Association and the California Attorney General's Commission on hate-crimes.

Rebecca Latham Brown, Newton Professor of Constitutional Law, is a nationally recognized constitutional law theorist who joined the USC Gould School of Law in August 2008. Brown’s scholarship focuses on judicial review and its relationship to individual liberty under the U.S. Constitution. She clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and U.S. Court of Appeals Chief Judge Spottswood W. Robinson III. Professor Brown also worked in the Office of Legal Counsel in the U.S. Department of Justice and practiced with Onek, Klein & Farr in Washington, D.C. Professor Brown recently published “How Constitutional Theory Found Its Soul: The Contributions of Ronald Dworkin,” in Exploring Law’s Empire, “The Logic of Majority Rule” in the Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law 2006, and “Confessions of a Flawed Liberal” in The Good Society 2005. She serves as co-chair of the American Constitution Society’s Constitution in the 21st Century Project.