Nova Southeastern University—Shepard Broad College of Law

Introduction

Established in 1974, NSU Shepard Broad College of Law is one of 18 colleges of Nova Southeastern University, the largest private, independent, not-for-profit university in Florida, and the tenth largest in the United States. Located in South Florida, NSU Law sits among 314 acres of greenbelt, creating the ideal environment for mixing culture, ideas, perspectives, and people. The result is a passionate, highly engaged community, which works collaboratively on education, scholarship, public policy, and justice.

Curriculum and Special Academic and Professional Programs

NSU Law offers a three-year full-time program and a four-year part-time program. Students can attend full-time during the day or part-time during day or evening schedules. NSU Law combines a traditional curriculum with a guaranteed live-client experience and a simulation program that is among the most comprehensive in the country. Students move from classroom to simulation and from there to courtrooms and boardrooms, enabling them to immerse themselves in the practice of law while still in law school. The NSU Law Honors Program provides exclusive recognition of and professional experiences to select entering students and those who have performed near the top of their first-year law school class.

Clinical and Field Placement Opportunities

NSU Law’s in-house clinics and field placement opportunities bring the study of law to life. Each NSU Law student is guaranteed the opportunity to earn academic credit while working in one of the in-house clinics or field placements.

The live-client programs provide students with the opportunity to work with clients, serve the public, and gain invaluable experience. These programs teach much more than the rules of law. Students learn professionalism, ethics, counseling, client management, and leadership—all qualities that are at the heart of the practice of law.

Clinic opportunities include:

• Adults with Intellectual and Development Disabilities Clinic (AIDD)
• Sharon & Mitchell Berger Entrepreneur Law Clinic
• Children and Families Law Clinic
• Dispute Resolution Clinic

The Field Placement Programs provide externship opportunities for students to learn while working in a variety of law firms, governmental agencies, legal aid offices, public agencies, and private companies locally, nationally, and globally. Field placements can be tailored to a student’s area of interest.

Field placement opportunities include:

• Bankruptcy and Consumer Bankruptcy
• Civil Field Placement
• Consumer Bankruptcy Field Placement
• Consumer Protection Internship
• Criminal Justice Field Placement
• Judicial Field Placement
• Judicial clerkships & Judicial Field Placements

International Learning Opportunities

NSU Law partners with schools around the world to provide students with dual-degree, summer-abroad, and semester-exchange opportunities; to establish a dynamic scholarship network; and to promote international law both domestically and abroad. Through partnerships with international law schools, NSU Law students may study a full semester abroad in Spain, Italy, and the Czech Republic. Students may continue their studies at our European partner schools to earn both the US JD degree and a European law degree. NSU Law students may also participate in semester-abroad programs in Jerusalem, Israel and Sheffield, England. Students may also earn credits toward their JD degree while studying abroad through summer-abroad programs offered in Granada, Spain; The Hague, Netherlands; and Cape Town, South Africa, and Oxford, England.

Dual Degrees

NSU Law recognizes that in today’s dynamic legal marketplace, the best prepared graduates often combine law with additional professions. At NSU, students can combine law with medicine, business, computer information systems, tax, psychology, or any other of our numerous dual-degree opportunities. NSU Law presently partners with other schools within NSU to offer the following dual degrees:

• JD/M. Accounting
• JD/MBA
• JD/MS Real Estate Development
• JD/MS Conflict Analysis and Resolution
• JD/MS Computer Information Systems
• JD/DO Osteopathic Medicine
• JD/PhD Conflict Analysis and Resolution

If you have a dual-degree interest, come talk to us. NSU is always looking to expand the interdisciplinary opportunities for students and has streamlined the approval process for such programs. Students may also take credits in other programs for JD credit.

Faculty

Our experienced faculty members are mentors and role models that challenge and inspire students. They relish in our open-door policy, encouraging students to meet outside of class. Their expertise in established and emerging areas of law bridge tradition and evolution in the legal profession. Many of our faculty members are nationally documented legal experts in their fields, and have published books and articles that have appeared in prominent law journals across the country. Our faculty members bring valuable insight to the classroom, impacting the life and education of each student as they influence and inform national and international legal opinion. Faculty members are actively involved with students in coaching advocacy teams, advising student organizations, and providing opportunities for success and advancement in the bar and other professions.

Facilities and Law Library

NSU Law is located in Leo Goodwin Sr. Hall on NSU’s main campus in suburban Fort Lauderdale. Two courtrooms, outfitted to match the technology of state and federal courtrooms in Florida, are used by students in trial advocacy and moot court programs as well as by the National Institute for Trial Advocacy and state appellate court judges. The law school is in the heart of NSU’s main campus overlooking a lush, green landscape. The Panza Maurer Law Library’s collection is housed on three floors in a 43,000-square-foot facility. The library also houses three student-edited journals.

Student Publications and Student Activities

Learning the law occurs both inside and outside the classroom. NSU Law’s journals, competition teams, pro bono program, mentoring opportunities, Inns of Court, and bar association partnerships assure that all students can expand their horizons and fully engage in the national legal community while in law school.

Students may engage in intensive legal research, analysis, and writing through one of three of NSU Law’s student-run publications: Nova Law Review, ILSA Journal of International and Comparative Law, and the International Citator and Research Guide.

Membership in the Moot Court Society provides students with an opportunity to engage in appellate-level oral advocacy. The Moot Court Society sponsors and competes in various intramural competitions and tournaments both locally and nationally.

The Nova Trial Association (NTA) is an honors cocurricular organization that hosts in-house competitions to help students develop the trial litigation skills that will equip them with the tools necessary to be skillful and successful lawyers wherever they may practice. NTA assembles trial teams to compete in state and national mock trial competitions.

Beyond the law, students also participate in a wide variety of social, political, and cultural organizations, making NSU Law feel more like home and enabling the students to make an impact in the lives of their fellow students and our broader community. These other organizations include

• Asian Pacific American Law Student Association
• Association of Business Law Students
• Black Law Students Association
• Caribbean Law Student Association
• Christian Legal Society Fellowship
• Criminal Law Society
• Cuban American Bar Association
• Environmental & Land Use Law Society
• Evening Law Students Association
• Family Law Society
• Federal Bar Association
• Federalist Society
• First Generation Professionals Legal Society
• Florida Association for Women Lawyers
• The Florida Bar Young Lawyers Division Law Student Division
• Foreign Lawyers Association at NSU
• Hispanic Law Students Association
• Hispanic Students Bar Association
• Immigration Law Organization
• Intellectual Property Law Society
• Inter-American Center for Human Rights
• International Law Students Association
• Jewish Law Student Association
• Lambda Law Society
• Native American Law Student Association
• Nova Fashion Law Association
• NSU Human Rights Organization
• NSU International Arbitration Society
• Public Interest Law Society
• Pulse! Health Law Society
• Phi Alpha Delta
• Real Property, Probate and Trust Law
• Sports and Entertainment Law Society
• Student Animal Legal Defense Fund 
• Student Bar Association
• Student Wellness at Nova Law
• Toastmasters
• Tort Law Society
• Transactional Law Practice Group
• WLAW Radio

Career and Professional Development

For most NSU Law students, the goal of law school is launching a professional career. NSU Law’s Office of Career Development helps students along the path, providing exceptional opportunities for internships, fellowships, and careers. We actively promote job opportunities for our graduates throughout South Florida and the Southeast region. We offer programs and courses specifically designed to help the law students and recent graduates differentiate themselves from graduates at other schools and establish how the NSU Law educational program made them better prepared for the practice of law. Our career advisors work with students and graduates in individualized counseling sessions to discuss job search strategies, hold mock interview sessions, provide résumé feedback, and answer questions during the job search process. NSU Law treats its students as partners, preparing them for the dynamic practice of law now and throughout their careers.