Kimberly West-Faulcon
Professor of Law, William M. Rains Fellow and James P. Bradley Chair in Constitutional Law
Contact Information
919 Albany St.
Los Angeles, CA 90015-1211
(213) 736-8172
FAX: 380-3769
E-mail: kimberly.west-faulcon@lls.edu
Educational and Professional Background
BA, Duke University, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa
JD, Yale Law School
Professor Kimberly West-Faulcon teaches Constitutional Law I, Constitutional Law II, Intelligence, Testing and the Law and Employment Discrimination Law.She researches the legal implications of theories of intelligence and fair and proper use of standardized tests, antidiscrimination and constitutional law. Her work seeks to expose the theoretical and legal implications of modern research from the fields of psychology, statistics and psychometrics and bridge science and law to offer new insights into the study of intelligence. Her academic articles, which have been the subject of scholarly responses, news articles and opinion commentary, appear in highly regarded law journals, including the Journal of Constitutional Law, University of Pennsylvania Law Review, UCLA Law Review, Wake Forest Law Review and the Yale Law Journal.
Professor West-Faulcon graduated from Yale Law School where she was a senior editor of the Yale Law Journal. After law school, she clerked for the Honorable Stephen R. Reinhardt on the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals and was one of twenty-five law students selected annually from across the nation by the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, LLP to pursue a social justice legal project in the organization of her choice. Beginning as a Skadden Fellow in the New York office of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc (“LDF”) in 1996, she went on to direct the Los Angeles office of the LDF from 1998 until 2005 as Western Regional Counsel and Director. Professor West-Faulcon obtained her undergraduate degree Phi Beta Kappa from Duke University, where she graduated summa cum laude, receiving numerous academic honors including the Duke University Faculty Scholar Award and the University Rankin Award for Constitutional Law. While an undergraduate, she studied the Political Economy and Economic History of Great Britain at Oxford University in Oxford, England.
Professor West-Faulcon’s scholarship and teaching are grounded in her cutting edge career as a civil rights attorney and litigator, where her work focused on the legal standard for proper use of standardized tests in elementary, secondary and higher education. Her cases include representation of African-American, Latino and Caucasian elementary and high school students in a legal challenge to a high stakes testing policy in Johnston County, North Carolina and African-American and Latino students asserting their interest in the test-based admissions policy of selective examination high schools in Boston, Massachusetts. On the higher education level, Professor West-Faulcon sued UC Berkeley for discrimination in admissions on behalf of African-American, Latino and Filipino students after the elimination of race-based affirmative action on the theory that the institution’s overreliance on the SAT violated the U.S. Constitution and federal civil rights law. In addition to these testing-related education cases, she also litigated employment discrimination issues. Professor West-Faulcon challenged discriminatory hiring and promotional practices as lead counsel for the African-American plaintiff classes in a successful multi-million dollar lawsuit against the clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch and represented African-American police officers in enforcement of the terms of a consent decree addressing race discrimination claims by African-American, Latino and Asian-American police officers challenging the promotion practices of the Los Angeles Police Department.
Featured in a 2011 exhibit at the Simon Wiesenthal Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles as a “Southern California Freedom’s Sister,” Professor West-Faulcon’s significant accomplishments have also been praised in the company of other successful lawyers and professionals. In addition to her selection as a “Southern California Super Lawyer” in 2004, 2005, and 2006 and a “Rising Star Lawyer Under 40” in 2004 by Los Angeles Magazine, she was recognized In 1999 by the Los Angeles Daily Journal as one of the top lawyers under the age of 40 “making their mark in the legal world” and in the 1999 millennial issue of Ebony magazine as one of Ebony’s “Ten for Tomorrow” (along with Jesse Jackson, Jr., Lauryn Hill, Serena Williams, and Sean Combs) “who will almost certainly redefine their fields in the next millennium.” Professor West-Faulcon has also been featured, quoted and interviewed extensively by national media such as CNN, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Chronicle of Higher Education and NPR and provided legal commentary in national media publications across the nation.
* Although established by the NAACP, the LDF has been a separate and independent entity since 1940. LDF's founder and first Director-Counsel was the late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.
"Fairness Feuds: Competing Conceptions of Title VII Discriminatory Testing," 46 Wake Forest L. Rev. 1035 (2011).
"More Intelligent Design: Testing Measures of Merit," 13 U. Pa. J. Const. L. 1235 (2011).
"Reading Ricci: Whitening Discrimination, Racing Test Fairness," (with Cheryl I. Harris), 58 UCLA L. Rev. 73 (2010).
"Testing the Master Tools," 158 U. Pa. L. Rev. PENNumbra 305 (2010).
"The River Runs Dry: When Title VI Trumps State Anti-Affirmative Action Laws," 157 U. Pa. L. Rev. 1075 (2009).
“A Desegregation Tool that Backfired: Magnet Schools and Classroom Segregation,”103 Yale Law Journal 2567 (1994).
AIDS and the Anti-Gay Crusade,” 9 Duke Journal of Politics 75 (Spring 1991).
"The Real Cheating Scandal of Standardized Tests," Miller-McCune, August 22, 2011
"Reverse or Rehearsed Discrimination in College Admissions," Los Angeles Daily News, June 29, 2009.
"Weighing in on Test Score Equality," Los Angeles Daily Journal, May 13, 2009.
"Ricci v. DeStefano: A test on race," Los Angeles Times, April 24, 2009.
“Looking Beyond the Numbers,” Los Angeles Daily Journal, Nov. 4, 2003.
“Stop Playing the SAT Numbers Game,” Philadelphia Tribune, May 8, 2001 (with Elaine R. Jones).
Legal Instruction
“Randolph County: A Game of Discovery,” Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction (CCALI), Copyright 2003 (civil procedure instructional computer game) (with Owen M. Fiss and Ronald F. Wright).
Roundtable on Intersection of Critical Race Theory and Employment
Panelist
Sixth Annual Labor and Employment Law Colloquium
Southwestern Law School, Loyola Law School, and UCLA’s Downtown Labor Center
Los Angeles, CA (Sept. 16, 2011)
Civil Rights and the K through 12 Education Reform Agenda
Panelist
Curricular Development Workshop
Southeastern Association of Law Schools (SEALS)
Hilton Head, SC (July 26, 2011)
Civil Rights Law
Instructor
Journalist Law School
Loyola Law School
Los Angeles, CA (June 16, 2011)
More Intelligent Design: Testing Measures of Merit
Colloquium Speaker
Re-envisioning Law Colloquium
University of Houston Law Center
Houston, TX (March 3, 2011)
Beyond the Movies: What is Really Happening in Public Schools
Moderator
St. Thomas More Law Honor Society Speaker Series
Loyola Law School
Los Angeles, CA (February 17, 2011)
Teaching in a Transformative Era: The Law School of the Future
Law School Admissions and Exclusion
Bi-Annual Teaching Conference
Society of American Law Teachers
Honolulu, HI (December 11, 2010)
Twenty Years After the 1991 Civil Rights Act: What Does the Future Hold?
Symposium Speaker
Wake Forest Law Review
Wake Forest University Law School
Winston-Salem, NC (November 5, 2010)
Where Are We Now After Ricci v. DeStefano
Labor & Employment Law Workshop
Southeastern Association of Law Schools
Palm Beach, FL (August 4, 2010)
Civil Rights Implications of High Stakes Testing
Journalist Law School
Loyola Law School
Los Angeles, CA (June 17, 2010)
Interventions: The Possibilities of Law
Workshop on “Post-Racial” Civil Rights Law
2010 Mid-Year Meeting
American Association of Law Schools
New York, NY (June 10, 2010)
Black Los Angeles: American Dreams and Racial Realities
Symposium Moderator
Bunche Center for African American Studies
UCLA
Los Angeles, CA (May 25, 2010)
High Stakes Testing: The Erik V. v. Causby Litigation
Doctoral Course: Legal and Policy Issues in Education
Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership for Social Justice
School of Education
Loyola Marymount University
Los Angeles, CA (March 22, 2010)
Civil Rights
Black History Month Panel
Black Law Students Association
Pepperdine Law School
Malibu, CA (February 25, 2010)
Lessons From Little Rock
Keynote Presentation (with Terrence Roberts, one of the “Little Rock Nine”)
Simon Wiesenthal Center Museum of Tolerance
Los Angeles, CA (February 1, 2010)
Reading Ricci: The New Haven Firefighters’ Case
AALS Hot Topics Panel Colorblind Disciplining of Race-Conscious Work: Critical Interventions Across the Academy
2010 Annual Meeting of American Association of Law Schools (AALS)
New Orleans, LA (January 8, 2010)
Intelligence, Testing and the Law
Colorblind Disciplining of Race-Conscious Work: Critical Interventions Across the Academy
Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS)
Stanford University
Palo Alto, CA (June 2, 2009)
Reaching Forward: A Discussion between Academics and Advocacy Organizations
Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality
Seattle University School of Law
Seattle, WA (April 18, 2009)
Obama's Education Reform Agenda and No Child Left Behind
Forum on National Education Reform
Thomas Jefferson School of Law
San Diego, CA (April 1, 2009)
More Intelligent Design
Race in Colorblind Spaces
Critical Race Studies Symposium
UCLA School of Law
Los Angeles, CA (Mar. 7, 2009)
Employing Tests: Practical Value vs. Psychometric Validity in Ricci v. DeStefano
Civil Rights and the Roberts Court
American Constitution Society
UCLA School of Law
Los Angeles, CA (Feb. 25, 2009)
The River Runs Dry: When Title VI Trumps State Anti-Affirmative Action Laws
UCLA School of Law Faculty Colloquium
UCLA School of Law
Los Angeles, CA (October 10, 2008)
The River Runs Dry: When Title VI Trumps State Anti-Affirmative Action Laws
Loyola Law School Faculty Workshop
Loyola Law School
Los Angeles, CA (September 18, 2008)
France’s Statistical Color-Blindness in Question: Statistical Analysis as Proof of Racial “Effect” Discrimination
Perspectives on Anti-Discrimination and Affirmative Action Policies in the United States and France Bi-National Colloque
Center d’etudes de recherces interionales
Paris, France (May 20, 2008)
The River Runs Dry: When Title VI Trumps State Anti-Affirmative Action Laws
Conference of Asian Pacfic American Law Faculty (CAPALF) and Western Law Teachers of Color Conference
University of Denver Sturm College of Law
Denver, CO (April 25, 2008)
Gender and Racial Diversity in the Legal Profession
American Bar Association Law Loyola Law Student Division
Diversity Day
Loyola Law School
Los Angeles, CA (March 26, 2008)
Return of a Civil Rights Hero from Little Rock to Los Angeles
(with Dr. Terrance Roberts, one of the “Little Rock Nine” Cooper v. Aaron plaintiffs)
Simon Wiesenthal Center Museum of Tolerance
Los Angeles, CA (February 18, 2008)
The River Runs Dry: When Title VI Trumps State Anti-Affirmative Action Laws
UCLA Critical Race Studies Workshop
UCLA School of Law
Los Angeles, CA (February 4, 2008)
What Can We Do, Post-Michigan Proposal 2?
National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) 63rd National Conference
Austin, TX (September 27, 2007)
More Intelligent Design
Southeastern Association of Law Schools New Scholars Presentation
Amelia Island, FL (August 2, 2007)
From Race Preference to Race Discrimination: Examining the Federal Obligation to Use Race After Proposition 209
Southeast/Southwest People of Color Legal Scholarship Conference
Florida A&M University College of Law
Orlando, FL (March 17, 2007)
From Race Preference to Race Discrimination: Does Proposition 209 Permit Remedial Affirmative Action?
Boalt Hall Earl Warren Institute Equal Opportunity in Higher Education: The Past and Future of Proposition 209” Conference
UC Berkeley Boalt Hall School of Law
Berkeley, CA (October 28, 2006)
Supreme Court Justice
Meredith v. Jefferson County Board of Education Supreme Court Moot
UCLA American Constitution Society
UCLA School of Law
Los Angeles, CA (October 24, 2006).
Legal Significance of California Proposition 209
African-American Attorneys in Downtown Firms “Tenth Anniversary of California Proposition 209”
Loyola Law School
Los Angeles, CA (May 25, 2006)
Multi-Racial Litigation as Civil Rights Strategy in Abercrombie v. Gonzalez
Loyola Law School Asian Pacific American Law Students Association (APALSA)
Loyola Law School
Los Angeles, CA (February 2006)
More Intelligent Design
National Black Law Journal 35th Anniversary Symposium
“Regression Analysis: The Status of African Americans in American Legal Education”
UCLA School of Law
Los Angeles, CA (November 18, 2005)
Using Casteneda v. UC Regents to Show How Post-Affirmative Action Schools Can Do More
UCLA Chicano-Latino Law Review Symposium “Proposition 209: Ten Years Later”
UCLA School of Law
Los Angeles, CA (November 1, 2005)
Distinguishing Corporate Social Justice as Profit Maximization
Center on Corporations, Law & Society at Seattle University School of Law
Fourth Annual Conference of the Equal Justice Society
“New Strategies for Justice: Linking Corporate Law with Progressive Social Movements”
UCLA School of Law
Los Angeles, CA (April 9, 2005)
Promoting Equal Opportunity Post-Grutter
African American Policy Forum & The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights
"A Strategy Summit on Affirmative Action: Reclaiming the High Ground 50 Years After Brown"
Washington, DC (October 14, 2004)
Reform in the Los Angeles Police Department: Where do we go from here?
Keynote Address
The Urban Issues Breakfast Forum of Greater Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA (July 30, 2004)
Bar Admissions:
States: New York (1997), California (1998)
United States District Courts: Southern District of New York (1997), Central District of California (1998), Northern District of California (1999)
United States Courts of Appeal: First Circuit (2000), Ninth Circuit (2005)
Constitutional Law I, Constitutional Law II, Social Justice Lawyering, Principles of Social Justice, and Intelligence, Testing, and the Law.