USD Law Faculty Share Expertise on Legal Ethics at AALS Clinical Conference
The University of San Diego School of Law is proud to announce that three of its outstanding clinical faculty members, Professors Ali Brown, Meredith Levin, and Katie Parker '02 (JD), presented at the AALS Conference on Clinical Legal Education in Portland, Oregon on May 1-5.
Professor Brown, who leads the USD Law Veterans Legal Clinic, represents veterans and their families before the Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense, with a particular focus on clients affected by Military Sexual Trauma, traumatic brain injury, and post-traumatic stress disorder. She also brings a unique interdisciplinary perspective through her teaching in ethics and critical thinking.
Professor Levin directs the USD Law Women’s Legal Clinic, where she represents clients in family law matters, with an emphasis on advocating for survivors of domestic violence. A Certified Family Law Specialist, she is widely recognized for her thoughtful, client-centered approach and her dynamic teaching style.
Professor Parker co-teaches the USD Law Civil Clinic, representing consumers in debt collection and other disputes in both state and federal court. She contributes deep expertise from her 17-year tenure with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Diego, where she served as Civil Chief through mid-2025.
Their session, “Zealous Advocacy: Modeling and Teaching Legal Ethics in a Climate of Fear,” brought together insights from USD Law’s Veterans Legal Clinic, Women’s Legal Clinic, and Civil Clinic to address the evolving ethical challenges facing clinicians, law students, and vulnerable client populations. Drawing on experience across state courts, federal courts, and federal administrative systems, including the Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense, the professors will offer practical strategies for navigating complex ethical dilemmas while maintaining the highest standards of professional responsibility.
The presentation explored the application of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct in clinical settings, with a focus on competencies such as client communication, confidentiality, and ethical decision-making in an increasingly complex legal landscape. Attendees gained tools to better prepare law students to identify and resolve difficult ethical issues, think critically about collateral consequences for clients, and deliver client-centered advocacy in high-stakes environments.
This recognition highlights USD Law’s leadership in clinical legal education and its ongoing commitment to preparing the next generation of lawyers to serve with integrity, skill, and compassion.
About the School of Law
Each year, USD Law educates approximately 800 Juris Doctor and graduate law students from throughout the United States and around the world. The law school is best known for its offerings in the areas of business and corporate law, constitutional law, intellectual property, international and comparative law, public interest law and taxation.
USD School of Law is one of the 88 law schools elected to the Order of the Coif, a national honor society for law school graduates. The law school’s faculty is a strong group of outstanding scholars and teachers with national and international reputations and currently ranks 34th nationally among U.S. law faculties in scholarly impact and 35th nationally in past-year faculty downloads on the Social Sciences Research Network (SSRN). The school is accredited by the American Bar Association and is a member of the Association of American Law Schools. Founded in 1954, the law school is part of the University of San Diego, a private, independent, Roman Catholic university chartered in 1949.