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Victoria L. Schwartz

Professor of Law
Director of the Entertainment Media and Sports Law Program
Caruso School of Law

Biography

Professor Schwartz's research examines the complex interactions between privacy law and the private sector. Her Boston College Law Review article, "Corporate Privacy Failures Start at the Top", was selected for the prestigious Harvard/Stanford/Yale Junior Faculty Forum. Professor Schwartz received the 2015-2016 Dean's Award for Excellence in Scholarship for her Hastings Law Journal article "Overcoming the Public-Private Divide in Privacy Analogies." Her most recent article, "The Celebrity Stock Market" will be published in the UC Davis Law Review in 2019. Her scholarship has received recognition in a wide variety of fields and has been selected for inclusion in the Securities Law Review, an annual anthology of the best securities law articles, as well as awarded the competitive Dukeminier Award, annually recognizing the best legal scholarship published on the topics of sexual orientation and gender identity.

At Pepperdine, Professor Schwartz teaches intellectual property law, copyright law, entertainment law, and a unique experiential learning seminar called "Business Perspectives on Workplace Privacy," which is designed to help students learn to advise a client in rapidly evolving fields. Professor Schwartz was the proud recipient of Pepperdine University's 2017 Howard A. White Award for Teaching Excellence.

Professor Schwartz joined the Pepperdine faculty in 2013 from the University of Chicago Law School where she was a Bigelow Teaching Fellow and Lecturer in Law. Professor Schwartz previously practiced law as part of the Business Trial and Litigation practice of O'Melveny & Myers LLP. Her practice included complex and appellate litigation, contract law, entertainment law, and intellectual property. While at O'Melveny, Professor Schwartz taught at the UCLA Ninth Circuit Appellate Clinic and co-authored an article about areas of uncertainty in trademark law. Professor Schwartz graduated in 2004 from Stanford University where she received a BA in Political Science with departmental honors and distinction, a BA in Slavic Languages and Literatures with distinction, and a BS in Mathematics with distinction. She graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School in 2007. Following graduation, Professor Schwartz clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit for the Honorable Jay S. Bybee.

Education

  • J.D., Harvard University, 2007, cum laude
  • B.A., B.A., B.S., Stanford University, 2004, with departmental honors and distinction

 

Articles

Media Appearances

Professor Schwartz joined the Pepperdine faculty in 2013 from the University of Chicago Law School where she was a Bigelow Teaching Fellow and Lecturer in Law. Prior to her time at the University of Chicago, Professor Schwartz practiced as a litigation associate as part of the Business Trial and Litigation practice of the Century City, California office of O'Melveny & Myers LLP. Professor Schwartz's practice focused on complex and appellate litigation, contract law, entertainment law, and intellectual property. While at O'Melveny, Professor Schwartz taught at the UCLA Ninth Circuit Appellate Clinic and co-authored an article about areas of uncertainty in trademark law.

Before becoming an attorney, Professor Schwartz graduated in 2004 from Stanford University where she received a BA in Political Science with honors and distinction, a BA in Slavic Languages and Literatures with distinction, and a BS in Mathematics with distinction, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and the Dobro Slovo National Slavic Honors Society. She then graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School in 2007, where she was the senior editor of the Harvard International Law Journal. Following graduation, Professor Schwartz clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit for the Honorable Jay S. Bybee.

At Pepperdine, Professor Schwartz teaches intellectual property, entertainment law, and a unique practice-oriented experiential learning seminar called "Business Perspectives on Workplace Privacy", which is designed to help students obtain the valuable skill of effectively advising a client in areas that are not yet clear under the existing law. Professor Schwartz's research interests and past publications include contract and business law, employment law and discrimination, privacy law and intellectual property. Her most recent article, Disclosing Corporate Disclosure Policies, was selected for inclusion in Securities Law Review 2014, an anthology of the best securities law articles published during 2013. Her 2012 article, Title VII: A Shift from Sex to Relationships, was awarded the Dukeminier Award recognizing the best sexual orientation and gender identity law review articles of 2012, as well as the 2012 Stu Walter Prize.

Areas of Expertise

  • Entertainment law
  • Privacy law
  • Intellectual property
  • Employment law and discrimination
  • Contract law

Topics

  • Entertainment Law
  • Intellectual Property
  • Privacy Law
  • Workplace Privacy