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Rebecca Delfino

Clinical Law Professor Rebecca Delfino
Associate Professor of Law

Associate Professor of Law

Courses Taught

  • Civil Procedure
  • Professional Responsibility 
  • Generative AI and Legal Practice 
  • Appellate Advocacy
  • Advanced Writing & Revision
  • Appellate Practice of the Judicial Clerk

Links

Education

  • BA, magna cum laude, University of California, Los Angeles, Phi Beta Kappa
  • JD, University of California Davis School of Law, Order of the Coif, Order of the Barristers

Background

Professor Delfino joined the tenure-track research faculty after more than two decades of service in various academic and administrative leadership roles at LMU Loyola Law School. Her professional journey reflects a deep commitment to teaching excellence, institutional service, and scholarly inquiry that bridges doctrine, practice, and public relevance.

From 2022 to 2025, Professor Delfino served as Associate Dean for Clinical Programs and Experiential Learning. In that capacity, she oversaw the law school’s 21 live-client clinics, its robust array of legal skills courses, and its extensive experiential learning programs, including trial and appellate advocacy, field placements, public interest and entertainment law programs, practicums, and academic centers. As Associate Dean, she worked closely with the LLS and LMU administrations on curricular design, academic policy, faculty development, and strategic budgetary planning. She also led initiatives to support teaching excellence, particularly in clinical pedagogy and professional skills instruction.

Prior to her tenure as Associate Dean, Professor Delfino served for a decade as a Clinical Professor of Law and Director of Loyola’s Field Placement Program. From 2006 to 2025, she served as the Faculty Director of Loyola’s nationally ranked Moot Court Program, where she developed and taught an intensive summer “boot camp” for advanced legal writing and oral advocacy students. Under her leadership, Loyola teams achieved consistent national recognition for excellence in brief writing and oral advocacy.

Professor Delfino teaches both doctrinal and experiential courses in civil procedure, appellate law, professional responsibility, civil procedure, and judicial process. In addition, she teaches a seminar on generative AI and the future of legal practice, exploring how emerging technologies are reshaping the legal profession, legal reasoning, and access to justice. She is also a faculty member in Loyola’s innovative part-time evening hybrid J.D. program, where she designed and teaches core courses tailored to the program’s distinctive pedagogical format, including ethical lawyering, appellate advocacy, and moot court.

Her research lies at the intersection of law, current events, and systemic disruptions—examining how the legal system responds to emergent threats such as the opioid epidemic, synthetic media and deepfake technologies, and mass migration. Her scholarship draws from multiple disciplines to address institutional design, risk allocation, and access to justice, with an emphasis on how law can offer redress, deterrence, and resilience in the face of unfolding societal challenges. She advocates for scholarship that engages across disciplines—connecting legal inquiry with fields such as business, humanities, public health, engineering, and the social sciences.

Before transitioning to full-time academia, Professor Delfino served for 17 years as a Lead Senior Appellate Attorney at the California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, Division Seven. There, she researched and drafted over 900 bench memoranda and legal opinions across a broad range of subject areas, including complex civil litigation, felony criminal appeals, dependency and delinquency matters, probate, and family law. She joined Loyola’s adjunct faculty in 1999 and began teaching while maintaining her full-time role at the court.

In addition to her work at Loyola, Professor Delfino is a longtime member of the adjunct faculty at Glendale Community College, where she has taught courses in California State and Local Government and political science. From 1999 to 2014, she served as a volunteer neutral for the Los Angeles County Superior Court, presiding as a mediator, arbitrator, and judge pro tem in more than 100 limited civil and small claims matters.

Earlier in her legal career, Professor Delfino practiced complex business litigation at Kirkland & Ellis and later at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, where she handled a wide range of civil matters, including intellectual property disputes, construction defect litigation, white-collar criminal defense, and employment law.

She began her legal career with judicial clerkships for the Honorable Cliff Young of the Nevada Supreme Court and the Honorable William Shubb of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California. Before attending law school, Professor Delfino served as an elementary school teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District, working in schools in South Central Los Angeles.

 

Selected Scholarship

OTHER PUBLICATIONS:

Deepfake Defense Emergence Needs Ethical Oversight, Los Angeles Daily Journal, Guest Column (February 10, 2023).

The Dangers of Deepfakes, Los Angeles Daily Journal, Guest Column, (May 1, 2019).

“Frequent Failings and Fatal Flaws in Briefs Filed in The California Court of Appeal,”

Journal of Consumer Attorneys Associations of Southern California, December 2008

“Your First Appeal in a California Court of Appeal,” article written for LACBA’s website as part of “Your First Series” – www.lacba.org/barristers/yourfirst, May 2008

“Going Beyond Traditional Pro Bono,” Los Angeles Lawyer, Vol. 27, No.4, June 2004

“Practice Tips from My Grandmother,” Los Angeles Lawyer, Vol. 26, No.3, May 2003

“Making the Most Out of Court-Ordered Arbitration,” Los Angeles Lawyer, Vol. 25., No.5,  July/August 2002

SELECTED MEDIA APPEARANCES AND CITATIONS: 

Viral Deepfakes Of Taylor Swift Highlight Need For Regulation, Nicole Brenner and Susie Ruiz-Lichter, LAW360.com,  (Cited) (May 6, 2024)

Fast Rise In AI Nudes Of Teens Has Unprepared Schools, Legal System Scrambling For Solutions, Josh Cain, Los Angeles Daily News, (Interviewed and Cited) (April 11, 2024).

As Deepfakes Rise, Prof Says Expert Fee Rules Must Change, Sarah Martinson, LAW360.com (Featured Interview), (March 8, 2024).

We Need A “Swift” Resolution: Taylor Swift Controversy Sparks Federal Debate About Pornographic Deepfakes, Taylor Gilbertson, Loyola Entertainment Law Review, News and Insights, (Interviewed and Cited)  (March 1, 2024).

The Taylor Swift Deepfakes Were Awful. How Do We Stop the Next One? Bill Donahue, Billboard Magazine,  (Interviewed and Cited) (January 31, 2024).

Could Taylor Swift Use Her Immeasurable Power To Squash Pornographic Deepfakes?, Airtalk with Larry Mantel, LAist, NPR affiliate, Los Angeles, (Featured Interview) (January 30, 2024).

Law Scholars Propose Court Rule Tweak Aimed At Deepfakes, Sarah Martinson, LAW360.Com, (Cited) (October 13, 2023).

Courts Need To Brace Themselves For Deepfake Evidence, Sarah Martinson, LAW360.com (Featured Interview), (September 19, 2023).

Is Deepfake Pornography Illegal? It Depends., The Endless Thread, WBUR NPR, (Featured Interview) (June 23, 2023).

States Are Rushing to Regulate Deepfakes as AI Goes Mainstream, Isaiah Portiz, Bloomberg.com (Interviewed and Cited) (June 20, 2023).

People Are Trying To Claim Real Videos Are Deepfakes. The Courts Are Not Amused, All Tings Considered, NPR (May 8, 2023).

How Celebrities Can Use IP Law To Go After Deepfake Ads, Tiffany Hu, LAW360.com (Interview and Cited), (October 27, 2022).

The Portia Project, Episode 27, Pod Cast, Featured Guest (June 23, 2022).

Rebecca Delfino on the Opioid Crisis, LMU Magazine Podcast, Episode 44, (July 18, 2022). 

What Deepfake Technology Means For Women, The Takeaway, NPR/WNYC STUDIOS (Featured Interview) (September 16, 2021). 

Tackling deepfakes in European policy, STUDY Panel for the Future of Science and Technology EPRS | European Parliamentary Research Service Scientific Foresight Unit (STOA) PE 690.039, (cited by) – July 2021.

Inside the News with Alex Cohen, Spectrum News 1, Discussing the Katie Hill Civil Case (April 15, 2021).

Identity Manipulation: Responding to Advances in Artificial Identity Manipulation: Responding to Advances in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Suzie Dunn, Schulich Law Scholars,  Dalhousie University Schulich School of Law (Cited in) (2020).

Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence: An Overview, Supporting a Safer Internet Paper No. 1, Suzie Dunn, Center for International Governance Innovation, (Cited in) (2020)

Lies, fakes and deep fakes, Deceptions and scams in the age of Trump, Sidney Tarrow, Eurozine, (Interviewed and Cited) (October 24, 2019).

Inside the News with Alex Cohen, Spectrum News 1, On legislation in California seeking to regulate Deepfakes (Featured Interview) (September 4, 2019).

A-1 with A Martinez, LAist, NPR affiliate, Los Angeles, On new proposed law regulating deepfakes (Featured Interview) (September 10, 2019).

 

TESTIMONY AND REGULATORY COMMENT:

United States Federal Courts, Advisory Committee on Evidence Rules, Report on Proposed Changes to the Federal Rules of Evidence to Address AI Evidence, (April 19, 2024).

Maryland General Assembly:  Testimony on the Impact of Deepfakes (February 16, 2024).

United States Federal Courts, Advisory Committee on Evidence Rules, Report on Proposed Changes to the Federal Rules of Evidence to Address AI Evidence, (October 23, 2023).

Maryland General Assembly: Testimony on the need for creating a task force on Deepfakes,  (February 13, 2023).

 

SELECTED PRESENTATIONS:

Presenter, Evidentiary Issues with AI, Supreme Court of Illinois Judicial College 2025 Advanced Judicial Academy – Truth & Perception in the Digital Age, (June 2025).

Keynote, Candor in the Age of Code: Lawyers, Courts, and the Rise of Generative AI, 2025 Clarke Prize Conference in Legal Ethics, Gonzaga Law School, (April 2025).

Presenter, Ethics & Evidence in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, Louisiana Judicial College and Louisiana Association for Justice, 2025 Evidence and Procedure Seminar, (March 2025).

Panelist, How Litigation and Legislation is Shaping the AI Future, ABA Spring Forum on Entertainment and Sports Spring Meeting, presentation, Southwestern Law School (April 12, 2024).

Panelist, Privacy Risks for Vulnerable Populations, AALS, Section on Defamation and Privacy  AALS Annual Meeting (January 5, 2024).

Presenter, Pay-To-Play: Access To Justice In The Era Of Ai And Deepfakes,  Clinical Law Review Conference, NYU Law School,  (October 2023.)

Presenter, The Deepfake Defense—Exploring The Limits Of The Law And Ethical Norms In Protecting Legal Proceedings From Lying Lawyers, Clinical Law Review Conference, NYU Law School,  (October 2022.)

Keynote Speaker, LMU, Faculty PUB(lication) Night, On the Opioid Crisis (April 12, 2022).

Presenter, Deepfakes On Trial: A Call To Expand The Trial Judge’s Gatekeeping Role To Protect Legal Proceedings From Technological Fakery, Clinical Law Review Conference, NYU Law School (Virtual) (September 2021.)

Presenter, (Virtual) Deepfake Evidence and Data Privacy, Global Advanced eDiscovery Institute, (November 12, 2020).

Presenter, A New Prescription for The Opioid Epidemic: 360-Degree Accountability for Pharmaceutical Companies And Their Executives, Clinical Law Review Conference, NYU Law School, Virtual, (September 2020.)

Presenter, The Prescription Abuse Prevention Act: A New Federal Statute to Criminalize Overprescribing Opioids, Clinical Law Review Conference, NYU Law School,  (October 2019.)

 

BOOKS:

Rebecca A. Delfino and Dan Selmi, Principles of Appellate Advocacy, 2nd Ed., Wolters Kluwer, 2021. ISBN: 9781543808896

 

Professional Associations             

Los Angeles County Bar Association Board of Trustees:

  • Board of Trustees Member 2013-2015  

Los Angeles County Bar Association Bar Foundation:

  • Board of Directors: 2002-2005      

Los Angeles County Bar Association Committees:

  • Access to Justice; Appellate Courts; Sexual Orientation Bias; Diversity; Professional Responsibility and Ethics; Juvenile Courts Task Force; State Appellate Judicial Evaluation

Los Angeles County Bar Association Barristers:

  • Vice President: 2003-2004; Barristers Committees: Barristers Executive Board Committee Member: 1999-2004; Chairperson, Equity in the Legal Profession: 2001-2004

Italian American Lawyers Association: 

  • President: 2013; President-Elect: 2012; First Vice President: 2011; Second Vice President: 2010; Recording Secretary: 2009; Board of Governors: 2006-2009

Public Service

Appointments

California State Bar Legal Services Trust Fund Commission:

  • Appointed by the Chief Justice of the California State Supreme Court
  • Member: 2017-2021

Judicial Council of California Access and Fairness Advisory Committee:

  • Appointed by the Chief Justice of the California State Supreme Court
  • Member: 2011-2014

California State Bar Committee on the Administration of Justice:

  • Member: 2007-2010

City of Glendale Audit Committee: 

  • Appointed by Glendale City Council in February appointed in 2005, Commissioner: 2005-2013; Chair of Committee: 2007-2011

Glendale Unified School District: 

  • Citizens’ Bond Oversight Committee to oversee the expenditure of bond proceeds generated from the 270 million dollar general obligation bond for school construction passed in April 2011 by the residents of the Glendale Unified School District: Vice Chair of Committee 2011-2013

Glendale Education Foundation: 

  • Board of Directors: 2011-2014

Glendale Education Foundation, Summer School Inc.: 

  • Board of Directors: 2012-2014

Glendale Community College Career Education Advisory Committee for the Child Development Department:

  • Member: 2008 to 2010    

Fremont Elementary School:

  • School Site Council, Vice Chair 2011-2013, Chair 2013-2014; Parents & Community for Fremont Foundation Board Member: 2009-2011, President 2012-2014

Volunteer Service:

Los Angeles County Superior Court, Judge Pro Tem Panel

  • Judge Pro Tem, 2006 to 2015
  • Presiding as bench officer in small claims and traffic court matters.

Los Angeles County Superior Court ADR Program

  • Arbitrator (Pro Bono), 1999 to 2014
  • Presiding in court-ordered arbitrations in 100 limited jurisdiction civil cases.

“Yes on Measure S” --- School Facilities Bond Committee, Glendale Unified School District:

  • Vice Chair of Campaign Committee
  • (Measure S: a $270 million dollar school bond measure passed in April 2011 Glendale municipal elections with 69.9% of the vote)

“Save Our Schools” Glendale: (K-12 Educational Advocacy Group)

  • Founding Member 2010

Awards and Recognitions

  • California Congress of the PTA “Honorary Service Award” in “recognition of outstanding service to children and youth” 2013
  • Burtis E. Taylor Community Education Award, presented by the Glendale Unified School Board to members of the Measure S Committee, June 2011
  • Certificate of Appreciation from the Judges of the Los Angeles County Superior Court for service as a Temporary Judge and Arbitrator: 2006-2011
  • Special Recognition Award from the Los Angeles County Bar Association Barristers for “many years of contribution, dedication and leadership to the Barristers, the public, and the legal community at large:” 2004