A Message from the Director

The Hugh and Hazel Darling Religious Liberty Clinic at Pepperdine Caruso Law was launched in spring 2022 and has helped score victories for religious liberty all the way up to the United States Supreme Court.

The Religious Liberty Clinic allows interested second and third-year students to get practical, hands-on experience working on religious liberty cases under the supervision of expert attorneys from global law firm Jones Day, including former Solicitor General of the United States Noel Francisco. The Clinic enrolls 8-10 students per semester in a seminar-style class that includes active, supervised practice in cases protecting religious liberty rights. Clinic students participate in amicus curiae briefs, appeals, and advocacy to advance religious liberty. Returning students can participate in the advanced seminar and also have the option of participating in an academic seminar to discuss current issues in religious liberty law with scholars from across the country. The Clinic explores enduring questions relating to how civil governments treat the religious beliefs, expressions, and institutions of their citizens and residents.

Since its inception in spring 2022, the Clinic has filed numerous amicus briefs at courts of many different levels, including federal district court, state appeals court, multiple federal courts of appeals, and thrice at the United States Supreme Court. In a recent decision from June 2023, the Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion in favor of a religious plaintiff who sought a work accommodation to observe his Sabbath. The Court created a new, more favorable standard for religious claimants, and in reaching its decision, the Supreme Court quoted the Clinic’s amicus brief by name and cited to cases found in the Clinic’s amicus brief.

The Clinic’s clients included various religious denominations, religious universities, and the American Legion. This year, the Clinic filed its first direct-representation lawsuit in a challenge to a county policy excluding houses of worship from historic preservation funds. 

Visiting professor Eric Rassbach, vice president and senior counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, serves as the inaugural faculty director of the clinic. The course is co-taught by Professor Rassbach and Caruso Law Professor Michael Helfand. In 2023 Daniel Chen, counsel at the Becket Fund, began teaching with the Clinic.

For more information, visit the Religious Liberty Clinic page.

The Pepperdine Legal Aid Clinic enters its 26th year, providing multi-site legal services to clients and guests of Union Rescue Mission and Covenant House California. Additionally, the Clinic receives referrals from a wide variety of government agencies and community programs, providing opportunities to serve clients representing a broad cross-section of those living in Los Angeles. The Clinic has trained hundreds of law students and provided free legal services to thousands of clients. Pepperdine law students serving in the clinic assist clients in a variety of civil matters, including family law, income tax, consumer law, benefit controversies and post-conviction re-entry. With intensive instruction and guidance, students perform client interviewing and counseling, legal research, and motion preparation. This year, students assisted approximately 150 new clients with over 600 matters. In addition, the Clinic provides legal education programs to various social service organizations and community groups all throughout Los Angeles. Professor Brittany Stringfellow-Otey has directed the clinic and overseen student work for over 20 years.

For video highlights, with client and student interviews, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kN_N5d-Wzc

For more information visit the Legal Aid Clinic web page. 

This year the Community Justice Clinic continued its service to nonprofits, NGOs, and community organizations devoted to human rights, economic development, and social justice in the US and abroad. The Clinic's mission is to empower its clients for creative, resilient, useful work as they promote human dignity and just, loving communities.

The clinic has represented nonprofits, farms, peacemakers, gardeners, teachers, physicians, artists, and organizers devoted to their neighbors and neighborhoods. For example, CJC students counseled a new nonprofit developing pathways and mentorship for underserved students in Los Angeles to translate artistic talent into design careers. They have advised a nonprofit providing pro bono mediation services in small claims court. They have worked with local-led NGOs advancing economic development in Uganda, Ghana, and The Gambia. They have served nonprofits devoted to women's health and justice in maternal medicine. They have advocated for a community organization providing dignified, safe work for migrant day-laborers. They have counseled after-school programs and community organizations devoted to access to education and social mobility. Students have prepared trademark applications for a nonprofit publishing house that is amplifying writers from often marginalized communities. Students are working with other partners to research human rights laws and government benefits for victims of human trafficking.  

Students and clients in the Community Justice Clinic work and learn with professionalism, creativity, and passion for justice.

Professor Jeff Baker directs the Community Justice Clinic and supervises students' work.

For more information, visit the Community Justic Clinic web page.

In 2024, the Ninth Circuit Appellate Advocacy Clinic represented clients in two civil rights cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

In the spring semester, graduating 3Ls Ellie Ritter and Mary Trotter completed briefing and presented oral argument on behalf of Sandy Eulitt, a plaintiff pursuing civil rights claims against the City of San Diego.

Ms. Eulitt brought a pro se lawsuit to challenge the City’s policy of evicting RV park residents after six months. Eulitt had received a disability accommodation from her landlord, permitting her to stay more than six months. But she alleged that the City nevertheless forced her landlord to evict her under the six-month policy. Her lawsuit claimed that the City’s policy violates both the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Fair Housing Act.

The district court dismissed Eulitt’s complaint for failure to state a claim. She appealed to the Ninth Circuit, which appointed the Pepperdine Caruso Law Ninth Circuit Appellate Advocacy Clinic to represent her on appeal. After briefing and argument, the Ninth Circuit ruled in favor of Eulitt and reversed the district court’s order of dismissal. The court also directed the district court to permit Eulitt to amend her complaint if necessary to address new factual claims that the City tried to raise for the first time on appeal.  

In the fall semester, 3Ls Kristin O’Bryan and Rachel Trauner completed briefing and presented oral argument on behalf of Jerry Lee King, who is incarcerated in a California state prison. King is a plaintiff in a lawsuit alleging that he was beaten by prison guards shortly after he arrived at the prison. The guards persuaded the district court to dismiss King’s lawsuit on the ground that he had pleaded no contest to a charge of resisting arrest arising out of the same incident, and that if King succeeded in his civil lawsuit, it would imply that his criminal conviction was invalid.

King, who represented himself in the district court, appealed to the Ninth Circuit, which appointed the Pepperdine Caruso Law Ninth Circuit Appellate Advocacy clinic to represent him on appeal. O’Bryan and Trauner briefed the case and presented oral argument in November 2024 and the court is expected to issue its decision in 2025.

Professors Curt Cutting and Rebecca Powell direct the Ninth Circuit Appellate Advocacy Clinic and supervise students' work.

For more information, visit the Ninth Circuit Appellate Advocacy Clinic page. 

The Restoration and Justice Clinic (RJC) remains committed to serving victims of domestic violence and human trafficking in Los Angeles and nationwide, and in the past year, the Restoration and Justice Clinic helped many survivors escape harm and begin anew. 

RJC students engaged in a variety of advocacy from obtaining domestic violence restraining orders for victims after trials in Los Angeles County to defending victims at trial against retaliatory restraining orders filed against them, counseling sex trafficking victims, and clearing their records from the periods of their life when they were subject to forced criminalization.  

The clinic maintained current partnerships with L.A.-based legal organizations and forged new relationships with legal service providers. RJC is a member of the LA-based working group of advocates, law clinics, courts, legal services organizations, prosecutors, and public defenders practicing California vacatur (expungement plus sealing) laws for human trafficking victims. 

This year, the RJC collaborated with its Michigan-based legal partner, The Joseph Project, to raise awareness about forced criminalization, sex trafficking, and the power of legal organization-law clinic partnerships in this short video. 

Clinical Professor of Law Tanya Asim Cooper directs the Restoration and Justice Clinic.

For more information, visit the Restoration and Justice Clinic page.

The Pepperdine Low Income Taxpayer Clinic (PLITC) continues its steadfast commitment to providing vital tax controversy assistance to low-income individuals. As we address the challenges of a dynamic tax environment, our tax clinic enables us to serve clients effectively while offering students hands-on opportunities to grow as skilled advocates.

Over the past year, the PLITC achieved a major milestone by successfully resolving complex IRS cases. One case that we just resolved took over 5 years. Our client, initially informed us they owed a significant amount to the IRS and struggled to navigate the intricacies of tax law. Through our advocacy, and persistence, our students uncovered that the client did not owe as much in taxes as the IRS stated. At the end we were able to secure an $18,000 refund to our client. This victory not only exemplifies the clinic's dedication to its clients but also demonstrates the transformative impact of empowering students to tackle real-world cases.

The dedication and excellence of our students remain at the heart of the PLITC. One notable success story involves a student who was weighing the choice between joining our clinic and accepting a paid externship. After opting for the clinic, they not only gained valuable experience but also secured a coveted summer internship with a Big 4 accounting firm. This achievement highlights how the clinic equips students with the skills and confidence to excel in their future careers.

The clinic continues to address a wide range of tax controversies, including audits, examinations, collection issues, and access to critical tax benefits like the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit. Our students’ work directly contributes to the financial stability of our clients and their families, fostering recovery and resilience within the community. Under the leadership of Professor Isai Cortez, the PLITC remains a cornerstone of Pepperdine’s mission to combine service, education, and advocacy. As we reflect on our accomplishments, we look forward to another year of empowering students and uplifting those most in need.

Over the last year, students in the clinic worked on 10 live mediations and effectuated 9 agreements that provided those families with peaceful resolutions to their end of marriage issues.

Prof. Sarah Nissel has published an article arising from the work of the clinic, "Execute Justice and Charity for Your People: Jewish Divorce Mediation as a Model for Intrareligious Peacekeeping," forthcoming in the upcoming edition of religions journal: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/16/1/45.

The Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine Caruso School of Law through the Mediation Clinic has continued its ongoing collaboration with the Center for Conflict Resolution providing day-of-hearing mediation services to litigants on the unlawful detainer, small claims, and civil harassment calendars at Los Angeles Superior Court. 

The Mediation Clinic includes students from the LLM and MDR programs, with seats for scores of students each year, serving in courts across Los Angeles County to provide pro bono mediation services to hundreds of pro per litigants. Students in the Mediation Clinic have the opportunity to mediate various types of cases including landlord/tenant, employment, and consumer cases.

Professor Stephanie Blondell directs the Mediation Clinic and supervises students' work.

For more information, visit the Mediation Law Clinic page.

The students at the Startup Law Clinic (SLC) continue to serve and represent entrepreneurs of technology startups with corporate formation, founders' stock issuances and capitalization, corporate governance, tech transactions, early stage angel investor financings and venture capital transactions. Each semester, the students are divided into teams advising a group of startups involved in various technology sectors. 

The Startup Law Clinic is going on its 7th year of representing startups primarily in the technology space.  Within the last few years, we have helped launch and incorporate over 60 startups.  Many of these startups have closed multiple rounds of early stage and venture capital financing, and a few have had exits via acquisition.  Some of our clients have received funding from some of the top venture capital firms in the country and have been accepted into Silicon Valley accelerators to continue to grow their startup.  The clients coming through our doors have spanned the technology sector including edtech, health technology, social community platforms, augmented reality, drone technology and countless other exciting areas.

The teams of students worked with the Delaware Secretary of State to successfully incorporate their clients. They also advised their clients and drafted the necessary documents to adopt bylaws, complete the board consent in lieu of initial meeting, and execute restricted stock purchase agreements. The students took the lead on conference calls with clients answering questions relating to the state of incorporation, issuance and sale of stock, composition of board of directors and executive officers, and establishing an advisory board. As part of the corporate formation, the students subsequently qualified their clients in various states in order to conduct business pursuant to state law. In addition, the students conducted blue sky state securities law research in each of those states to make the necessary state filings to obtain an exemption from securities registration. Finally, our SLC students provided guidance to the clients regarding early stage financing structure and strategy discussing (i) debt versus equity financings, (ii) convertible bridge note structures and (iii) startup valuation.  By coming through the clinic, our startups will have the foundation and structure to be venture capital funding-ready.

For our students, the Startup Law Clinic exists to bridge the gap from law student to a practicing transactional attorney in a law firm. As these students graduate and become attorneys, they will have to learn very quickly how to convert their head knowledge of legal concepts to the practical execution of representing technology clients, drafting documents, redlining agreements and closing transactions. The aim of the Startup Law Clinic is to give them a competitive advantage so that they can hit the ground running.

Professor Sam Wu directs the Startup Law Clinic and supervises students' work.

For more information, visit the Startup Law Clinic page.