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Laurie Levenson

Laurie-Levenson
Laurie L. Levenson, Professor of Law, David W. Burcham Chair in Ethical Advocacy

Expertise

Criminal Law & Procedure, Federal Prosecutorial Conduct, High-Profile Criminal Trials, Judicial & Legal Ethics

Biography

While in law school, Laurie Levenson was chief articles editor of the UCLA Law Review. After graduation, she served as law clerk to the Honorable James Hunter III of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. In 1981, she was appointed assistant United States Attorney, Criminal Section, in Los Angeles, where she was a trial and appellate lawyer for eight years and attained the position of senior trial attorney and assistant division chief. Levenson was a member of the adjunct faculty of Southwestern University Law School from 1982-89. She joined the Loyola faculty in 1989 and served as Loyola’s associate dean for academic affairs from 1996-99. She has been a visiting professor at UCLA School of Law and a D&L Straus distinguished visiting professor at Pepperdine University School of Law.  Professor Levenson currently leads the following programs at Loyola Law School:  Capital Habeas Litigation Clinic, The Fidler Institute annual symposium, and the Project for the Innocent.

Publications, Research and Related Material

Courses Taught

  • Criminal Law
  • Criminal Procedure
  • White Collar Crime
  • Ethical Lawyering
  • Evidence
  • Advanced Trial Advocacy

Education

  • AB, Stanford University 
  • JD, University of California Los Angeles 

Links

 

Public Service

  • Attorney Representative to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the United States District Court for the Central District of California
  • LA County Bar Assoc. Judiciary and Judicial Appointments Committees
  • Bet Tzedek Legal Services
  • Board Member, UCLA Hillel Council
  • Special Master, Los Angeles County Superior Court and United States District Court

Selected Scholarship

  • The Problem with Cynical Prosecutor’s Syndrome:  Rethinking a Prosecutor’s Role in Post-Conviction Cases,20 Berk. J. Crim. L. 335 (2015).
  • Searching for Injustice: The Challenge of Post-Conviction Discovery, Investigation and Litigation, Southern California Law Review (forthcoming 2014)
  • The Glannon Guide to Criminal Law:  Learning Criminal Law Through Multiple-Choice Questions (3rd Edition 2012)
  • Federal Criminal Rules Handbook (2012 ed. Thomson West)
  • Roadmap on Criminal Law (4th Edition) 
  • California Criminal Law (2011-2012 Edition) 
  • California Criminal Procedure (2011-2012 Edition)
  • “Conflicts Over Conflicts:  Challenges in Redrafting the ABA Standards for Criminal Justice on Conflicts of Interest,” 38 Hastings Const. L.Q. 879 (2011)
  • “Essay:  Post-Conviction Death Penalty Investigations:  The Need for Independent Investigators,” 44 Loy. L.A. L. Rev. S225 (2011)
  • “Strict Liability Offenses:  Are they Real Crimes?” 25-SPG Crim. Just. 13 (2010)
  • “Prosecutorial Sound Bites:  When Do They Cross the Line?” 44 Ga. L. Rev. 1021 (2010)
  • “On One Foot” Book Review of In the Name of Justice, 43 Loy. L.A. L. Rev. 627 (2010)
  • “A Guide to Negotiating Federal Guilty Pleas in a Post-Gall Sentencing World,” 23-FALL Crim. Just. 40 (2008)
  • Federal Criminal Rules of Procedure Handbook (2008 Edition)
  • Criminal Procedure (Aspen Publishers 2008)
  • “Courtroom Demeanor: The Theater of the Courtroom,” 92 Minn. L. Rev. 573 (2008)
  • “Live and Learn: Depoliticizing the Interim Appointments of U.S. Attorneys,” 31 Seattle L. Rev. 297 (2008)
  • “Ex Post Facto Law,” Nat’l L. J. 20 (Mar. 17, 2008)
  • “Privacy Rights,” Nat’l L.J. 20 (Jan. 7, 2008)
  • “The Dirty Little Secrets About Pay-to-Stay,” 106 Michigan L. Rev. 67 (2007)
  • “Reopening Closing Arguments,” L.A. Daily J. 7 (Dec. 26, 2007)
  • “O.J. and Kidnapping Return,” Nat’l L.J. 18 (Oct. 16, 2007)
  • “Defining Kidnapping,” L.A. Daily J. 7 (Sept. 28, 2007)
  • “Trigger Finger,” L.A. Daily J. 7 (Aug. 16, 2007)
  • “Grand Defense,” L.A. Daily J. 7 (July 24, 2007)
  • “Forfeiture by Wrongdoing,” Nat’l L.J. 18 (July 23, 2007)
  • “RICO Gangs,” Nat’l L. J. (July 2006)
  • “A Delicate Balance:  The Exigent-Cricumstances Exception,” L.A. Daily J. A9 (June 20, 2006)
  • “Rebirth of the Polygraph,” Nat’l L. J. A 9 (June 5, 2006)
  • “Criminal Searches at Work, L.A. Daily J. 6 (June 4, 2007)
  • “False Declarations Grow,” Nat’l L.J. 18 (May 7, 2007)
  • “Out of the Question,” L.A. Daily J. 7 (Feb. 21, 2007)
  • California Criminal Procedure (2003)
  • Handbook On Federal Criminal Rules (2003)
  • Detention, Material Witnesses & the War on Terrorism, 35 Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review 1217 (2002)
  • “Drug Experts,” National Law Journal at B11 (June 10, 2002)
  • “Stun Belts,” National Law Journal at B11 (September 9, 2002)
  • “Character Evidence,” National Law Journal at B11(November 2002)
  • “Unconscionable Searches,” LA Daily Journal at A7 (December 23, 2002)
  • “Searches 2002,” 24 National Law Journal at B10 (January 21, 2002)
  • “Native Son: Prosecution of John Walker Lindh,” LA Daily Journal at A7 (January 28, 2002)
  • “Guilty Plea Advice & Ineffective Assistance of Counsel,” LA Daily Journal at A7 (April 22, 2002)
  • “Prison Rehabilitation Program Can Require Confession,” LA Daily Journal at A7 (August 26, 2002)
  • “Police Corruption and New Models for Reform,” 35 Suffolk Law Review 1 (2001)
  • “Unnerving the Judges: Judicial Responsibility for the Rampart Scandal,” 34 Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review 787 (2001)
  • “Executive Summary: An Independent Analysis of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Board of Inquiry Report on the Rampart Scandal,” 666 PLI/Lit 169 (2001)
  • “Cases of the Century,” 33 Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review 585 (2000)
  • “Working Outside the Rules: The Undefined Responsibilities of Federal Prosecutors,” 26 Fordham Urban Law Journal 553 (1999)
  • “The Ethics of Legal Commentators III,I 50 Mercer Law Review 737 (Spring 1999)
  • “Sentencing,” National Law Journal B21 (December 7, 1998)
  • “Redefining the Way Grand Juries Work,” LA Daily Journal 7 (August 28, 1998)
  • “Battered Woman’s Syndrome Used to Argue Traditional Defenses,” LA Daily Journal 7 (June 26, 1998)
  • Free Press/Fair Trial, Chapter in Supplement II of the Encyclopedia of the American Constitution (1998)
  • 1998 Treatise Updates, Levenson on California Criminal Procedure
  • Roadmap Of Criminal Law (Aspen 1997) 

 

Contact

Burns 226
919 Albany St.
Los Angeles, CA 90015
(o) 213.736.1149
(f) 213.380.3769

laurie.levenson@lls.edu