Ms. Lauren B. Leichtman ’77, co-founder and chief executive officer of Levine Leichtman Capital Partners (LLCP), has been elected to Southwestern’s Board of Trustees.  A prominent member of the business community, she also serves on the boards of numerous charitable and civic organizations. Leichtman has remained close to Southwestern throughout a career that has taken her from the legal division of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission to a founding principal of a billion dollar private equity firm.

Dean Bryant Garth noted, “Lauren Leichtman is a highly respected leader in the investment community and brings extraordinary financial acumen and insight to the Board. She has long been an enthusiastic and loyal supporter of Southwestern, and in this new role will be an even greater asset to the law school as we plan our future direction.”

After nearly a decade as a litigator, including three years with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Ms. Leichtman, and her husband Arthur Levine, founded Levine Leichtman Capital Partners in 1984. The company invests in and manages in excess of $1.5 billion in institutional investment capital through private equity partnerships on behalf of state and corporate pension funds, insurance companies, high net worth individuals, family foundations and endowments. In addition to planning the strategic direction of the firm, Leichtman’s activities include deal origination, investment due diligence, negotiation of transactions and institutional fund raising. She is one of the pioneering women in the field.

Ms. Leichtman is also a tireless community leader in Los Angeles and has served as chair or member of the boards of the Los Angeles Opera, Wilshire Boulevard Temple, the Iris Cantor-UCLA Women’s Health Center, Aviva Family and Children’s Services, Legal Momentum and the Wallis Annenberg Cultural Center, among other entities. She is also a founder of the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Music Center. She has been honored many times for her efforts, most recently by the Israel Cancer Research Fund and Legal Momentum.

A Los Angeles native, Ms. Leichtman completed her B.A. degree in psychology at California State University, Northridge. In addition to completing her J.D. degree from Southwestern and becoming a member of the California Bar in 1977, she earned an LL.M. degree in securities law at Columbia University. She has remained active with her alma maters, particularly at Southwestern where she has been a long-time member of the Dean’s Circle, offers her services as a volunteer judge for moot court and guest speaker, and provided a leadership gift to the Campaign for Southwestern, naming the former Cactus Lounge of the Bullocks Wilshire building. She was honored by the Southwestern Alumni Association as Alumna of the Year in 2006.