Leon S. Kaplan

Lecturer in Law

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Room: 306

Judge Leon S. Kaplan sits on the Los Angeles Superior Court, where he has presided over juvenile, criminal and civil proceedings. He is an advanced candidate in the Research Psychoanalyst Program of the Los Angeles Psychoanalytic Institute (New Center for Psychoanalysis). At USC Law, he is an adjunct professor of Juvenile Justice.

Judge Kaplan started his legal career as a Vista Volunteer Attorney in San Francisco Neighborhood Legal Services and as a Reginald Heber Smith Community Lawyer assigned to the San Francisco Youth Law Center. With a grant from the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, he founded and directed programs to represent minors in Juvenile Court and to provide neighborhood based alternatives to arrest, detention, and imprisonment of juveniles. As a staff attorney at the Youth Law Center, he participated in seminal litigation seeking and obtaining injunctive relief to implement the right to counsel in juvenile courts.

As a Jerry Brown appointee to the Youth Authority Parole Board, Judge Kaplan presided over many Initial, annual review, parole-granting and parole revocation hearings. He was instrumental in shaping California Administrative Regulations determining sentencing practices for juveniles committed to the state.

Judge Kaplan sits on the Advisory Boards of the Children’s Advocacy Institute, Fielding Graduate University and the Los Angeles Child Development Center.