Alumni on the Bench
USC Law has been producing some of our nation's brightest legal minds for over a century. To date, close to 500 USC Law graduates have held state and federal judgeships. Appointed or elected,
- Frederick W. Houser ’00, the first USC Law alumnus to serve as a judge.
- Georgia Bullock ’14, the first female judge in Southern California.
- Edwin Jefferson ’31, the first African American judge west of Chicago.
- John Aiso ’40, the first Asian judge in Southern California.
- Albert Armendariz ’50 and Arthur Alarcon ’51, who were among the earliest Hispanics to serve on the bench.
- In the late 1980s, the California Supreme Court was filled with USC Law graduates. Chief Justice Malcolm M. Lucas ’53, and Associate Justices Marcus Kaufman ’56, David Eagleson ’50, and Joyce Luther Kennard ’74 (who is still serving today) gave the seven-judge court a Trojan majority, a feat that had never before and has never since been matched by another law school.
- Judge Joseph Wapner ’48, served for two decades on the Los Angeles Superior Court before filming close to 2,500 episodes of the first syndicated courtroom-themed reality show, The People's Court, from 1981 to 1993.
