Adjunct Lecturer in Law - Cybersecurity and Cybercrime

Cybersecurity and Cybercrime (4 units)

USC Gould School of Law is seeking an adjunct lecturer to teach an undergraduate law class, Cybersecurity and Cybercrime. The instructor will begin work this summer 2025 to develop the course. The instructor will then teach the course during the fall 2025 semester from August 26 to December 6, 2024 (final exam period from Wed-Wed, Dec 11-18). The class is scheduled to be held on campus on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10:00AM to 11:50AM.  

Candidates must have a JD and strong legal professional backgrounds in the relevant subject matter, preferably with teaching experience. The course will be taught exclusively to enrolled undergraduate students.

Cybersecurity & Cybercrime is an undergraduate law course that studies the growing sophistication cyberattacks against individuals, companies, cities, and even entire countries, and the emerging policies addressing cybercrime. Through analyzing existing laws and case studies, and creating hypotheticals in class, students will emerge from the course understanding the difficulty of regulating computer crime(s) on the internet and how these crimes affect society as a whole.

Topics throughout the semester include how lawmakers and prosecutors define cybercrime, notorious instances of system hacks, digital forensics, jurisdictional issues in prosecuting cybercrime, and punishment for virtual actions, among other topics. The course will also ask students to consider these issues from the perspective of law enforcement, and study the logistics of how evidence of cybercrime is collected, and how authorities track down, or fail to find, virtual presences linked to major cybercrimes.

Upon completion of this course, students will understand how cybercrime impacts different organizations, society and various fields of study; from the value of employee training measures to combat phishing in large companies, to working in law enforcement with an informed understanding of systems that enable human trafficking for example. Ultimately, students will strive to understand justice and ethics in the context of changing technology.

This class may be postponed to a later semester if there are fewer than 6 students enrolled.

Undergraduate Academic Calendar for Fall 2025:

68 instructional days

Classes Begin: Mon, August 25

Labor Day: Mon, September 1

Fall Recess: Thu-Fri, October 9-10

Veterans Day: Fri, November 11

Thanksgiving Holiday: Wed-Sun, November 26-November 30

Classes End: Fri, December 5

Study Days: Sat-Wed, December 6-9

Exams: Wed-Wed, December 10-17

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USC reserves the “Adjunct” appointment for faculty teaching less than full-time at USC, who are employed full-time in a primary profession or career elsewhere. Adjunct faculty typically teach only one course per year but, in exceptional cases, may teach one course per semester, if approved by the dean.

To ensure compliance with federal, state or local regulatory requirements as well as university policy and procedures, Adjunct Lecturers are required to complete specific training requirements as a condition of employment. Adjuncts Lecturers must complete mandated training by a required deadline. Failure to do so may result in disciplinary action up to and including termination, in accordance with the Faculty Handbook. Trainings that are required for all faculty and staff include USC’s Harassment Prevention Training at the time of hire and every two years thereafter, USC’s Integrity and Accountability Code Training at the time of hire, Information Security training annually, and Workplace Violence Prevention Plan training annually. A variety of other trainings may be required based on specific job responsibilities.

https://policy.usc.edu/training-requirements-and-opportunities/

https://employees.usc.edu/learn-grow/learning-and-professional-development/required-training/

The base salary range for this position is $2,376 - $9,754 per semester. When extending an offer of employment, the University of Southern California considers factors such as (but not limited to) the scope and responsibilities of the position, the number of units per course, the candidate’s work experience, education/training, key skills, internal peer equity, federal, state and local laws, contractual stipulations, grant funding, as well as external market and organizational considerations.

The Gould School of Law (Gould) considers candidates that demonstrate, through ideas, words and actions, a strong commitment to USC’s Unifying Values (link). Gould holds a unique position in society, and within the university, as every aspect of these principles are influenced by and can be protected through legal rules and institutions.  At Gould, we are proudly committed to maintaining a community in which each person respects the rights of others to live, work, and learn in peace and dignity, to be proud of who and what they are, and to have equal opportunity to realize their full potential as individuals and members of society.