CUNY School of Law

The City University of New York School of Law (or CUNY School of Law) is a public law school in New York City. Founded in 1983 as part of the City University of New York, CUNY School of Law was established as a public interest law school with a curriculum focused on integrating clinical teaching methods within traditional legal studies.[2][3]

City University of New York School of Law
MottoLaw in the Service of Human Needs
Established1983
School typePublic
LocationNew York City, New York, United States
USNWR ranking107th (2020)[1]
Websitewww.law.cuny.edu

According to CUNY School of Law's disclosures required for accreditation by the American Bar Association, 70% of the Class of 2016 obtained full-time, long-term, JD-required employment within nine months after graduation.[4]

History

In 1981 CUNY hired Charles Halpern to be the founding dean of a planned law school. Halpern is regarded within the legal community as the "father of public interest law" with a professional career as a Georgetown law professor and co-founder of the Center for Law and Social Policy, an organization based in Washington D.C. that advocates for policies that aim to improve the lives of low-income people.

In spring 1982, Halpern hired Howard Lesnick as a distinguished professor of law. Lesnick believed that CUNY law students needed to understand that the law only has significance in relation to the underlying human problems that it addresses.[5][6]

Campus
The school was housed in the former JHS 218 at Queens College (pictured) until 2012.

Originally the CUNY School of Law at Queens College located in Flushing, Queens, it moved to 2 Court Square in Long Island City at the end of May 2012. CUNY purchased a six-floor condominium interest in the 14-story environmentally green building. Citigroup will retain ownership of the remainder of the building. The move gave the school nearly 70,000 additional square feet of space. The building is within walking distance of seven subway lines (two within one stop of Manhattan), the Long Island Railroad, and eight bus lines. It is only a few blocks away from the Long Island City Courthouse. The move enabled CUNY School of Law to develop a new part-time program, which started in 2015. The building at 2 Court Square is LEED Gold certified, which means that its construction had a reduced environmental impact and its design increases occupants' health and well-being.

Academic profile

Curriculum and clinical programs

CUNY Law is currently ranked #2 nationally for its clinical education program.[7] The Law School curriculum combines traditional substantive law courses (like contracts, torts, civil procedure and criminal law) with lawyering skills throughout the three years of legal education. The first year curriculum consists of seven required substantive courses, Legal Research, and a four-credit Lawyering Seminar in each semester where students work on legal writing and other lawyering skills through simulations and other role-playing devices. Each third-year student is required to participate in a clinic or concentration for one or two semesters (12 to 16 credits).

Under the umbrella of Main Street Legal Services, Inc., several clinics provide direct service, in-house, supervised live-client representation. The two concentrations are highly supervised external placements. In 2016 the Law School renamed its concentrations to "practice clinics".

  • Creating Law Enforcement Accountability & Responsibility (CLEAR)
  • Community & Economic Development Clinic
  • Defenders Clinic
  • Economic Justice Project
  • Disability & Aging Justice Clinic (formerly Elder Law)
  • Equality & Justice Practice Clinic (née Concentration)
  • Family Law Practice Clinic (née Concentration)
  • Health & Environmental Justice Practice Clinic (née Concentration)
  • Immigrant and Non-Citizen Rights Clinic
  • Human Rights & Gender Justice Clinic
  • Mediation Clinic
  • Workers Rights Clinic

Publications
  • City University of New York Law Review A student-run publication devoted to producing public interest scholarship, engaging with the public interest bar, and fostering student excellence in writing, legal analysis, and research. It is published twice-yearly. Recent issues include a Symposium issue on Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a special issue devoted to student scholarship, a special volume on Elder Law featuring winning articles from the ABA Law and Aging Student Competition, and a forthcoming Symposium issue on the work of Ruthann Robson. Additionally, forthcoming issues include a Public Practice Interest section featuring shorter articles focusing on issues facing progressive attorneys.

Justice initiatives and special programs

In addition to numerous pro bono opportunities available through student organizations and the Career Planning Office, the Law School supports a number of justice initiatives that engage students, graduates and faculty in serving immigrants, citizen and non-citizen workers and assisting and empowering historically underserved communities, through the Community Legal Resource Network (CLRN), the Center on Latinx Rights and Equality (CLRE), the Center for Urban Environmental Reform (CUER), and the Economic Justice Project (EJP). The Contemplative Lawyering Program offers yoga and meditation. The Haywood Burns Chair in Civil Rights brings prominent visiting civil rights figures to the Law School in memory of its second dean, a national civil rights scholar and activist.

  • Community Legal Resource Network (CLRN) Started in 1998, is the Law School's initiatives for alumni to continue to address access to justice issues. There are 3 primary initiatives: Launchpad for Justice Fellowship, supporting recent graduates in developing their skills and job readiness though collaborations with Court-based and community-based legal programs in underserved communities; City Counseling program in which experienced alumni work in different legislative districts to deliver free legal consultations to constituents in matters from housing, immigration, small business etc., and CUNY LawWorks, a low-cost, co-working space for alumni as they set up solo or small-group practices or non-profit orgs. devoted to serving pressing needs of the poor and disadvantaged in communities.
  • Center on Latinx Rights and Equality (CLRE) Focuses on issues impacting the Latino community in the United States, with the goal of developing progressive strategies for legal reform. The Center seeks to educate lawyers, law students, scholars and the general public on the status of Latinos and Latinas, as well as to advocate for expanded civil rights in the areas that affect the growing Latino population.
  • Center for Urban Environmental Reform (CUER) Founded on the belief that environmental justice is a critical aspect of social justice and that communities are entitled to participate fully and meaningfully in environmental decisions that affect them.
  • Economic Justice Project (EJP) Launched in 1997 in response to regressive welfare policies adopted by the City of New York. As well as its student clinical offering, students at CUNY along with the Welfare Rights Initiative and other community organizations advocate for policy change at the State and local level.

Rankings and reputation

Twenty-five years later, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching praised CUNY for being one of the best law schools in the country in preparing students for practice through instruction in legal doctrine, critical theory, lawyering skills, and professional ethics.[8]

In 2011, preLaw magazine ranked CUNY Law the #1 Public Interest Law School in the Nation.[9] Yale Law School came in second place.[9]

U.S. News & World Report, the provider of the "tiered" list of law schools in the country, in 2021 ranked CUNY #107 of 144 American Bar Association approved law schools, with CUNY's part-time law program ranked #27 in the country.[10]

The school has also been recognized by National Jurist/PreLaw Magazine as the top 10 public interest law school[11] and by the Princeton Review[12] for having the best professors, one of the most diverse law faculties in the nation, the most welcoming campus in the nation for older students, and the most liberal student body.

Student life

Diversity

Among CUNY Law's 2012 entering class, approximately 49 percent are students of color. Tenured or tenure-track faculty are 37 percent of color.[13]

CUNY School of Law in 2008 established the Center for Diversity in the Legal Profession. The main purpose of the Center is to be a clearinghouse for data on the participation of people of color in the law, as well as to conduct original research.

CUNY Law established the Center on Latino and Latina Rights and Equality (CLRE), which focuses on issues impacting the Latino community in the United States, with the goal of developing progressive strategies for legal reform. The Center seeks to educate lawyers, law students, scholars and the general public on the status of Latinos and Latinas, as well as to advocate for expanded civil rights in the areas that affect the growing Latino population.

Notable people

Mary Lu Bilek is the Dean of CUNY School of Law.[14]

Past Deans

Notable alumni

Employment

According to CUNY School of Law's official 2015 ABA-required disclosures, 59.4% of the Class of 2015 obtained full-time, long-term, JD-required employment nine months after graduation.[20] CUNY School of Law's Law School Transparency under-employment score is 22.5%, indicating the percentage of the Class of 2015 unemployed, pursuing an additional degree, or working in a non-professional, short-term, or part-time job nine months after graduation.[21]

ABA Employment Summary for 2015 Graduates[22]
Employment Status Percentage
Employed - Bar Passage Required
 
 63.9%
Employed - J.D. Advantage
 
 7.2%
Employed - Professional Position
 
 4.5%
Employed - Non-Professional Position
 
 0.0%
Employed - Undeterminable
 
 0.9%
Pursuing Graduate Degree Full Time
 
 0.0%
Unemployed - Start Date Deferred
 
 0.0%
Unemployed - Not Seeking
 
 2.7%
Unemployed - Seeking
 
 13.5%
Employment Status Unknown
 
 2.7%
Total of 111 Graduates

Costs

The cost of tuition per semester at CUNY School of Law for the 2016-2017 academic year was $7,331.45 for New York state residents and $11,991.45 for non-residents.[23] The Law School Transparency estimated debt-financed cost of attendance for three years is $169,950.[24]

See also

References
  1. "CUNY". Best Law Schools. U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  2. Maeroff, Gene I. "Dean Appointed, Moving City U’s Law School Closer to Reality", The New York Times (December 24, 1981).
  3. Halpern, Charles R. "A New Direction in Legal Education: The CUNY Law School at Queens College", 10 Nova L.J. 549, 549 (1986).
  4. City University of New York (April 7, 2017). "Employment Summary for 2016 Graduates" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on April 2, 2018. Retrieved January 23, 2019.
  5. Howard Lesnick, Infinity in a Grain of Sand: The World of Law and Lawyering as Portrayed in the Clinical Teaching Implicit in the Law School Curriculum, 37 UCLA L. Rev. 1157, 1184 (1990).
  6. "History - About - CUNY School of Law".
  7. "US News & World Report Law School Rankings: Clinical Education". US News & World Report. 17 September 2020.
  8. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2010-06-10. Retrieved 2010-02-05.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. Weyenberg, Michelle (2011). "Best Law Schools for Public Interest" (PDF). PreLaw (Winter): 24–31. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 August 2012. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
  10. "US News & World Report Law School Rankings". US News & World Report. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
  11. "Best public interest law schools". Retrieved 22 April 2016.
  12. "Law School Admissions - The Princeton Review". Retrieved 22 April 2016.
  13. CUNY School of Law. "About". Retrieved 22 April 2016.
  14. "Mary Lu Bilek Appointed New Dean of CUNY Law". CUNY. 6 June 2016. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
  15. Law, CUNY School of. "History - About - CUNY School of Law". www.law.cuny.edu. Retrieved 2016-08-14.
  16. "Mary Lu Bilek Appointed Interim Dean of the CUNY School of Law – CUNY Newswire – CUNY". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 22 April 2016.
  17. "CUNY Law Dean Michelle Anderson Named President of Brooklyn College". CUNY. 2 May 2016. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
  18. "New York State Assembly - Daniel J. O'Donnell". Retrieved 22 April 2016.
  19. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-04-29. Retrieved 2014-04-29.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  20. "ABA Standard 509(b)(7) Employment Outcomes 2015" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 10, 2016. Retrieved August 14, 2016.
  21. "CUNY Profile".
  22. "Employment Summary for 2015 Graduates" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-09-10. Retrieved 2016-08-14.
  23. Law, CUNY School of. "Tuition & Fees - Admissions - CUNY School of Law". www.law.cuny.edu. Retrieved 2016-08-14.
  24. "CUNY Profile".

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