- Criminal Law
- Criminal Procedure
- White Collar Crime
- Ethical Lawyering
- Evidence
- Advanced Trial Advocacy
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Education
- AB, Stanford University
- JD, University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law
Background
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 joined the United States Attorney's Office for the Central District of California in Los Angeles, where she practiced as a trial and appellate lawyer and served as Assistant Chief of the Criminal Division. Levenson joined the Loyola faculty in 1989 and served as Loyola's Associate Dean for Academic Affairs from 1996 to 1999. She has been a visiting professor at UCLA School of Law and USC Law School, and a D&L Straus distinguished visiting professor at Pepperdine School of Law. In 2019, she co-founded (with Judge Sandra Klein) Girl Scout Troop 1085, a troop for girls experiencing homelessness. At Loyola, Professor Levenson is the Founding Director of the Loyola Project for the Innocent, the Loyola Center for Ethical Advocacy, and the Fidler Institute on Criminal Justice, and Senior Faculty for Loyola's Journalist Law School.
Selected Public Service
- Frequent lecturer for the Federal Judicial Center and State and Federal Bars regarding legal ethics, wrongful convictions, and criminal procedure
- Legal Commentator for CBS, CNN, ABC, NBC, BBC, and NPR
- Special Master, United States District Court (1995-present) and Los Angeles County Superior Court (1991-present)
- Member, Blue Ribbon Commission on Reforms for Los Angeles Police Department (2006)
- Special Advisory Counsel, Los Angeles District Attorney's Office (2004)
- Member, Special Independent Committee Investigating Civil Disorder in Los Angeles (the Rampart Scandal) (2001)
- Counsel, Webster Commission (1992)
Selected Scholarship
- Climate Change and the Threat to U.S. Jails and Prisons, 33 Vill. Envtl. L.J. __ (forthcoming 2022)
- Criminal Procedure (4th ed. Aspen, forthcoming 2022) (with Erwin Chemerinsky)
- Evidence (Aspen, forthcoming 2022) (with Justice Brian Hoffstadt)
- Climate Change And The Criminal Justice System, 51 Envtl. L. 333 (2021)
- California Criminal Law, (2021-22 ed. Thomson Reuters) (with Alex Ricciardulli)
- Whose Rights Matter More – Police Privacy or a Defendant’s Rights to a Fair Trial, 54 Loy. L.A. L. Rev. 495 (2021)
- Levenson on California Criminal Procedure, (2020 ed. Thomson Reuters)
- Do Prosecutors Really Represent the People? A New Proposal for Civilian Oversight of Prosecutors, 58 Duquesne L. Rev. 279 (2020)
- Judicial Ethics: Lessons from the Chicago Eight Trial, 50 Loy. U. Chi. L.J. 879 (2019)
- Politicization of Prosecutors, 16 Ohio St. J. Crim. Law (2019)
- Complex Criminal Litigation: Prosecuting Drug Enterprises and Organized Crime (4th ed. 2019) (with Jimmy Gurulé & Mark Bonner)
- Searching for Injustice: The Challenge of Post-Conviction Discovery, Investigation and Litigation, 87 S. Cal. L. Rev. 101 (2014)
- Courtroom Demeanor: The Theater of the Courtroom, 92 Minn. L. Rev. 573 (2008)