Richard and Karla Chernick are so grateful to have had USC and the Trojan Family in their lives that they made the largest single gift ever to the 122-year-old USC Gould School of Law: $13 million for the construction of a new, state-of-the-art building for USC Gould students and faculty.
“I owe my career to USC,” says Richard Chernick JD ‘70, a widely recognized trailblazer in the field of alternative dispute resolution (ADR). Chernick is vice president and managing director of the arbitration practice at Los Angeles-based Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services Inc. (JAMS)—the world’s largest private ADR provider.
Chernick credits Dorothy Nelson, the law school’s dean during his days as a USC student, for inspiring his interest in ADR. Nelson, now senior circuit judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, enabled Chernick to finish law school by securing him a scholarship (and even helping his wife Karla find a job on campus). With his degree and his focus on ADR, and after a clerkship on the California Supreme Court, Chernick was able to join Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in 1971. Just as important, the attorney who hired him at Gibson Dunn, fellow alum Bob Warren JD ’56, became his mentor—“a fabulous role model and a great teacher,” says Chernick, “and a die-hard Trojan to his last breath.”
Richard Chernick’s distinguished career has garnered him a long list of accomplishments and accolades, but through it all, his connection and commitment to USC has never flagged. Some of his closest friends were once his USC classmates; he has served as chair of the USC Gould Board of Councilors; and he’s been a steadfast participant in USC class reunions, Legion Lex (the law school’s volunteer fundraising support group), golf tournaments and other alumni activities.
Chernick didn’t stop there. Some years ago, he approached the then dean and vice dean at USC Gould about teaching an ADR class. “I had been teaching arbitration elsewhere,” he says, “but I wanted to teach at USC.” Once he began, the school received a major gift to start an ADR program. Chernick soon became the ad hoc director and eventually chair of the ADR Program Advisory Board.
“We have built an ADR program at USC,” he says, “that rivals the best in the nation.”
The truth of that statement, now and well into the future, rests on the passion, achievements and generosity of Richard and Karla Chernick.