California Apparel News

Attorney Staci Riordan is known for having a lot of energy and creative ideas swirling around in her head.

So when she suggested that Loyola Law School in downtown Los Angeles, her alma mater, should have a concentration of law classes that deal with the peculiarities of the fashion business, the dean of the law school immediately thought it was an excellent idea.

Riordan joined forces with Sean Scott, the law school’s associate dean for faculty, to develop a number of classes that start in 2015 in what is being called The Fashion Law Project.

This will make Loyola Law School only the second law school in the United States to have a major concentration of fashion law courses. Fordham Law School in New York was the first, opening its Fashion Law Institute in 2010 with six fashion law classes and a fashion law boot camp.

At Loyola Law School, a few fashion law classes already are being taught. In January, Riordan, now a partner with Nixon Peabody LLP, started teaching a class called “Fashion Law,” which focuses on brand building, fashion financing, import/export rules and celebrity endorsements.

Classes to be offered next year include “Fashion Modeling Law” as well as a “Fashion Law Clinic,” pairing law students with emerging designers for hands-on experience in running a company. A class in “Fashion Mergers and Acquisitions” as well as “Retail Law and Fashion” also will be part of the 2015 curriculum.