Janet Philibosian '04

Professor Janet Philibosian comes to Southwestern full-time after more than 16 years in private practice, where she represented a wide variety of clients, including large corporations, medical groups, property management companies, restaurant groups, and small business owners.  Appearing in both state and federal court, as well as before the Labor Commissioner and the State Board of Equalization, Professor Philibosian managed all aspects of her clients’ needs, whether in general legal consulting, employment counseling and litigation, business litigation, or regulatory matters.  In addition to her work in civil practice law firms, the majority of it as a partner (of Counsel) at Byrne & Associates, PLC, Professor Philibosian also served as a Staff Attorney at Children’s Law Center of Los Angeles, a nonprofit public interest firm representing the thousands of children in Los Angeles County’s Dependency Court.

Professor Philibosian joined Southwestern’s adjunct faculty in 2010, and taught a variety of courses, including 1L workshops in exam writing, Defenses in the Law, Bar Advantage, Selected Topics in American Law, and Practical Lawyering Skills.  In 2014, she was awarded the Adjunct Excellence in Teaching Award.

“I subscribe to the value of cura personalis, care of the whole person, wherein all aspects of a student’s life are looked after, not only so they are successful in law school and on the Bar exam, but in order for them to become the most effective and caring counselors they can be.  No matter how high-powered a client, at the end of the day they want to know that they are cared for and listened to, and that can be best accomplished by an attorney who attends to all the various important facets of their own life.  I model that behavior in the classroom and beyond every day by attending to the varied needs of my students—explanation, discussion, and analysis of the subject matter at hand, but also mastery of practical skills and general care of themselves.”  

While a student at Southwestern, Professor Philibosian served as an Executive Board Member and Lead Articles Editor for the Southwestern Law Review.  She worked as a teaching assistant for Professor Robert Pugsley, and as a research assistant for Professor Catherine Carpenter.  Professor Philibosian served as a judicial external to the Honorable Dickran Tevrizian (ret.), United States District Court for the Central District of California, and as a Certified Law Clerk for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office in the Central Trials Preliminary Hearing Unit.

Prior to becoming an attorney, Professor Philibosian taught English Language Arts at George Washington Preparatory High School in the Los Angeles Unified School District. While at Washington, Professor Philibosian was appointed by the California State Board of Education to serve a four-year term on the State Curriculum Development and Supplemental Materials Commission, where she oversaw the development and implementation of new state curricular frameworks, standards, and materials for Reading-Language Arts and Social Studies.  She also provided consulting services to Pearson Prentice Hall Publishers regarding middle and high school curriculum alignment and developed ancillary curriculum materials.

Professor Philibosian’s varied and substantial teaching and legal experience enable her to reach a variety of students and assist them to achieve success not only as law students, but as the attorneys they are training to become.