New York Law School

Introduction

Founded in 1891, New York Law School (NYLS) is an independent law school located in the heart of New York City’s legal, government, financial, and emerging tech centers. Known as “New York’s law school,” NYLS embraces the city as its classroom by complementing a rigorous legal education with an innovative and diverse set of “uniquely New York” experiential learning opportunities. Since opening its doors nearly 125 years ago, the Law School has produced graduates who have gone on to hold high elected and appointed office in the city, lead large and small firms, and gain broad recognition as captains of business and industry. The Law School’s renowned faculty of prolific scholars has built its strength in such areas as constitutional law, civil and human rights, business and finance law, media and information law, tax law, real estate, and a number of interdisciplinary fields. The Law School is fully accredited by the American Bar Association and is a member of the Association of American Law Schools.

Location and Physical Facilities

New York Law School is located in the historic TriBeCa district in Lower Manhattan. It is an extraordinary setting for the study of law and one of the city’s most colorful and dynamic neighborhoods. Lower Manhattan is the site of New York’s largest concentration of government agencies, courts, law firms, banks, corporate headquarters, and securities exchanges. Federal courts, New York State Civil and Criminal Courts, family court, and the United States Court of International Trade are within a four-block radius of the Law School. In 2009, NYLS opened a 235,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility. The ultramodern building houses the law library, classrooms, public event spaces, and areas designed to promote student collaboration and provide students with the latest technological advancements available in legal education today.

Student Engagement

New York Law School has developed several initiatives to involve students in the Law School community and the dynamics of our great city. The Dean’s Leadership Council invites 1L students who perform in the top of their class during their first year to take part in a special series of dialogues with the dean and top leaders in law, business, and government about legal and policy issues that affect the city. The Law School also hosts a wealth of events for all students throughout the academic year, allowing them to interact with prominent lawyers, academics, and city leaders. NYLS has a longstanding and continuing interest in enrolling students from varied backgrounds, including older students, minority students, women, LGBT students, career-changers, public servants, veterans, and active members of the military, as well as members of New York City’s police and fire departments. Full-time students range in age from 20 to 49, with the average age being 25. Part-time students range in age from 21 to 56, with the average age being 31.

Faculty

New York Law School’s faculty is a dynamic group of renowned scholars with extensive professional accomplishments. The Law School’s distinguished full-time professors share a strong commitment to the school’s vision and to the philosophy embodied in its core values: embracing innovation, fostering integrity and professionalism, and advancing justice for a diverse society. Leading jurists and attorneys in New York City are members of the adjunct faculty.

Curriculum and Special Programs

New York Law School offers several courses of study in order to serve the needs of our diverse community of students. Students can earn a JD degree through a full-time day division, a part-time evening division, or an accelerated Two-Year JD Honors Program.

The required curriculum provides a foundation in legal reasoning and in areas of law that are considered indispensable building blocks of a legal education. In the second year and thereafter, students may design their programs with elective courses chosen from an extraordinarily rich array. The Law School has aligned its courses to meet the needs of the new marketplace, focusing on key areas of employment and growth in the local and global economies: business and financial services; intellectual property, media, technology, and applied sciences; and government and public interest law.

Elements such as legal analysis and legal writing, counseling, interviewing, negotiating, advocacy, planning, and strategizing form the core subject areas of the Law School’s Legal Practice Program.

The Joe Plumeri Center for Social Justice and Economic Opportunity is home to NYLS’s more than 20 clinical and experiential learning programs, which offer students the opportunity to represent real people and work on real cases. Besides clinics, experiential learning opportunities include project-based learning courses, simulation courses, writing electives, competition teams, and internships and externships with both judges and law offices.

The Law School’s John Marshall Harlan Scholars Program is a rigorous academic honors program that gives students the opportunity to focus their law school studies and gain depth and substantive expertise.

Admission

New York Law School’s admission process takes into account a number of factors, including the applicant’s academic record and LSAT scores. The Admissions Committee also looks for applicants who have demonstrated leadership ability, motivation, and a sense of service and responsibility to society. Excellence in a particular field of study, progression of grades, strength of undergraduate curriculum, work and community service experience, graduate study in other disciplines, and extracurricular activities all are considered. Writing ability receives particular attention, and the admission committee strongly urges applicants to submit the optional writing sample.

The Law School seeks to enroll students who, through their diverse backgrounds, experiences, perspectives, and ambitions, promise to enrich its community and, ultimately, the larger society. There is no application fee.

Academic Centers

New York Law School’s six academic centers offer students the opportunity to focus on a particular field of study, gaining depth and substantive expertise.

The Center for Business and Financial Law provides students with an unparalleled, rigorous, and integrated approach to academic study and skills training in all aspects of corporate, commercial, and financial law.

The Center for International Law supports teaching and research in a broad range of areas of international law, including international trade and finance.

The Center for New York City Law provides information about, and analysis of, the laws and legal processes that govern New York City.

The Center for Real Estate Studies provides students with a unique opportunity to study both the private practice and public regulation of real estate.

The Impact Center for Public Interest Law uses the formidable power of law and legal education to advance social justice and to have a positive impact on the public interest, promote the practice of public interest law, and expand the role of public interest law in the professional development of students.

The Innovative Center focuses on technology, innovation, intellectual property, and civil liberties. Center participants aim not only to understand the interplay between law and technology but also to influence its evolution.

Moot Court, Law Journals, and Student Organizations

New York Law School students exhibit well-honed courtroom skills, often earning awards in student competitions. The school offers three competition teams: the Dispute Resolution Team, the Moot Court Association, and the Trial Competition Team. The Law School’s annual Robert F. Wagner Sr. Labor and Employment Law Competition is the nation’s largest student-run moot court competition and the premier national competition dedicated exclusively to labor and employment law.

The New York Law School Law Review is a journal of legal scholarship edited and published by students at New York Law School four times a year. The Law Review publishes articles, notes, comments, essays, book reviews, and speeches on many areas of legal scholarship. It also hosts symposia and events developed by the Law Review’s editorial staff in collaboration with faculty and academic centers, and in partnership with other organizations.

Students have established dozens of dynamic and active organizations as well.

Expenses and Financial Aid

New York Law School has established an extensive program of financial aid to assist students in meeting the costs of a legal education through grants, scholarships, work-study awards, and loans. Scholarships are awarded on the basis of academic merit and financial need. The Law School has significantly increased the amount of available scholarship funds in recent years.

Professional Development

No institutional goal is more fundamental than preparing students for their careers and helping them succeed as they launch and grow in their professional lives. As the city’s economy shifts and new industries begin to create and offer opportunities in growing sectors, New York Law School is teaching its students to move seamlessly into the evolving worlds of law practice, business, and government by equipping them with valuable and transferable skill sets, such as leadership, teamwork, project management, and effective and persuasive communication. NYLS is creating ready and able professionals, whether bound for courtrooms, boardrooms, or halls of government.

To that end, the Law School offers strategic guidance for every student until their graduation and beyond, providing resources that link the Law School’s Admission, Academic Affairs, Student Engagement, and Career Planning offices to create a continuum of support. The Career Planning Office offers a wide array of services, including individual career counseling; on-campus interview programs; career panels and workshops; alumni networking and mentoring programs; online employer databases; information on summer, full-time, and part-time positions; and alternative career opportunities.