Pepperdine Caruso Law Names First-Ever Associate Director for Advocacy, Empowerment, and Faith

Pepperdine University Caruso School of Law has named Professor Tiffany Williams as its inaugural Associate Director of Advocacy, Empowerment, and Faith. Williams was previously a professor of Legal Research and Writing. 

In her new role at Caruso Law, Professor Williams will lead advocacy, empowerment and faith programs and initiatives at the School of Law, in addition to teaching. "I am excited to retain the core role of still serving in the classroom as a faculty member as that is where my heart lies.," Williams said. "I love teaching and empowering students to prepare to launch their legal careers, particularly in alignment with their life purpose. That is why I came to Pepperdine, and I am excited that this role will allow me to use my ministry background as well as my legal and judicial background to teach students."

Professor Williams will also oversee initiatives to bring professional conferences to the law school, using Pepperdine's location as a host site and connecting our students, alumni and faculty to add value to those conferences. One of the ideas that she most eagerly anticipates is starting a women's initiative at the School of Law. Having served for the past year as the faculty advisor to the Women's Legal Association, Williams looks forward to expanding that work into community wide initiatives that connect law students to women in the profession. She also intends to emphasize the work of women on the Pepperdine faculty and staff in order to foster leadership development and contribute towards combating systemic issues that women face in the profession. First up on Williams' agenda–initiating a Black Women and the Law Conference proposed for later this fall. 

Williams will continue to teach several upper level courses, including Ethical Lawyering and Law and the Bible. In her courses, she explains, "My goal is that my students would emerge equipped to serve as ethical and professional lawyers that understand their potential to use their purpose to help others."

In addition, Williams is the Faculty Advisor for the Moot Court Board, which involves overseeing the academic components of the student moot court advocacy competitions hosted by the School of Law. Pepperdine maintains a tradition of hosting at least three annual competitions: the Arabian Oral Advocacy Tournament in the fall and the Dalsimer and Moriarity competitions in the spring.

Finally, in her role as Associate Director, Williams will bring additional faith initiatives to the community in order to foster faith-based and interfaith discussions. "My goal is to strengthen the spiritual core of our community. To that end, I will be launching a new initiative called the Esther Project Biblical Leadership Study, where participants will study the Biblical book of Esther and consider how the leadership lessons from Esther's story can empower us to live out our life purpose. Esther's story is also one of fighting against racial injustice, so there are valuable and timely lessons from her story."

Congratulations, Professor Williams, on your new role.