Judge Gregory W. Alarcon presented with David McKibben Excellence in Teaching Award

Adjunct professor, Judge Gregory W. Alarcon, of the Los Angeles Superior Court, has been awarded with the David McKibben Excellence in Teaching Award, which is given each year to an adjunct faculty member who exemplifies excellence in teaching and devotion to Pepperdine Law students. The award is named after a beloved former Pepperdine Law tax professor. Judge Alacon was presented his award by Dean Paul L. Caron.

Judge Alarcon has been a judge for 24 years and has been teaching at Pepperdine Law for 27 years. Prior to his judicial career, he was a Deputy Attorney General, a Deputy District Attorney, and an Assistant United States Attorney. While he has primarily taught Trial Practice, he has also taught at Pepperdine Trial Preparation and Settlement, Evidence, and Trial Skills and Landmark Cases, a course he created that discusses trials, techniques, and the development of legal systems from the trial of Socrates to the present. He is also active in judicial teaching, and has taught judicial ethics for over twenty years to judges throughout the state.

He is a frequent lecturer on various trial issues including subjects such as “Lessons from Landmark Trials,” “Judicial Personalities,” “Creative Solutions for Keeping and Motivating Jurors,” “Coping With Judicial and Lawyer Stress,” “Civility in the Courtroom,” “Hamlet for Lawyers,” and “Ideal Mentors for the Courtroom.” He has written numerous articles on legal issues for lawyers and judges, the last published this July titled “Winston Churchill: Ideal Mentor for Trial Lawyers.” He co-authored a Continuing Education of the Bar Action Guide: Laying a Foundation to Introduce Evidence. Judge Alarcon was given the 2013 Constitutional Rights Foundation “Judge of the Year” award. That same year, he was given the Carlos Moreno Judicial Excellence Award from the Mexican American Bar Association.

Though he presides over a court in Downtown Los Angeles and lives nearby in Mount Washington, he is always excited to make the sometimes two hour drive to teach at Pepperdine because of the high quality of the students and their genuine interest in mastering the law.