New York University School of Law
New York University School of Law
The New York University School of Law is the law school of New York University. Established in 1835, it is the oldest law school in New York City. The school offers J.D., LL.M., and J.S.D. degrees in law, and is located in Greenwich Village in Lower Manhattan.
NYU Law is regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world. U.S. News & World Reportcurrently ranks NYU Law 6th in the nation.[4] It is currently ranked the 4th best law school in the world by Shanghai's Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) by subject Law.[5] NYU Law is also consistently ranked in the top 10 by the QS World University Rankings.[6] Nationally, it is ranked 1st in the country in both international law and tax law by U.S. News & World Report.[7] NYU Law boasts the best overall faculty in the U.S. according to a recent study, with leading renowned experts in all fields of law.[8]
NYU Law is well known for its orientation toward public interest law. Its Root-Tilden-Kern program is a public interest law fellowship. According to the school's ABA-required disclosures, NYU Law's bar passage rate was 97.5% in 2017.[9] An analysis by Law.com in 2019 ranked NYU Law 6th for employment outcomes, with 89.74% of graduates obtaining employment within ten months.[10]
Academics
New York University School of Law, Vanderbilt Hall
NYU Law publishes ten student-edited law journals, including the NYU Law Review. The journals appear below in the order of their founding:
New York University Law Review
NYU Annual Survey of American Law
NYU Journal of International Law and Politics
Review of Law & Social Change
Moot Court Board (which is considered a journal at NYU Law)[11]
New York University Environmental Law Journal
Journal of Legislation & Public Policy
Journal of Law & Liberty
Journal of Law & Business
Journal of Intellectual Property & Entertainment Law
The law school's Root-Tilden-Kern Scholarship Program is a full-tuition scholarship awarded each year to twenty students committed to public service.
NYU Law offers several fellowships to students admitted to the LLM Program. The Hauser Global Scholarship admits eight to ten top LLM students from all over the world. The scholarship includes full tuition waiver and reasonable accommodation costs. In addition, it offers the Hugo Grotius as well as Vanderbilt scholarships for International law studies and other branches of law respectively.[12]
The school has a law and business program in which eight student-leaders in law and business are awarded fellowships in the Mitchell Jacobson Leadership Program.[13] In addition, the NYU Center for Law, Economics and Organization administers the Lawrence Lederman Fellowship to facilitate the study of Law & Economics the program provides a $5,000 scholarship to selected students to work closely with NYU Law faculty and participate in a series of collaborative workshops designed to help students write a substantial research paper.[14]
NYU Law also hosts the original chapter of the Unemployment Action Center.
LL.M. in Taxation Program
LL.M is an abbreviation for Master of Laws, an advanced academic degree, pursued by those holding a professional law degree. In general, there are two types of LL.M. programs in the United States. The majority are programs designed to expose foreign legal graduates to the American Common Law. Other programs involve post doctoral study of a specialized area of the law such as Admiralty, Tax Law, Banking and Financial Law, Elder Law, Aeronautical Law or International Law.[15]
Partnerships
NYU has implemented a jointly granted NYU/Osgoode LLB/LLM program in which graduates are granted the LLB as well as an LLM from NYU in only 3 and a half years instead of the normally required four. More recently, the NYU School of Law has entered into similar dual degree agreements with the National University of Singapore Faculty of Law and the University of Melbourne Law School.
Oxford University has a program of academic exchanges with New York University School of Law, mainly involving faculty members and research students working in areas of shared interest.[21]
NYU Law offers a dual-degree program with Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government. Students may earn a JD/MPA or a JD/MPP.[22]
NYU Law offers a dual-degree program with Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Students may earn a JD/MPA.[23]
There is also a limited amount of cross-registration permitted with Columbia Law School. Each year, a limited number of students are permitted to take classes at each other's schools.[24] Columbia Law and NYU Law also play a basketball game every spring, the Deans' Cup, to raise money for their public interest and community service organizations.
Career planning
According to New York University School of Law's 2013 ABA-required disclosures, 93.7% of the Class of 2013 obtained full-time, long-term, JD-required employment nine months after graduation.[28]
Admissions
Admission to the New York University School of Law is highly competitive. The 25th and 75th LSAT percentiles for the 2018 entering class were 167 and 172, respectively, with a median of 170. The 25th and 75th undergraduate GPA percentiles were 3.6 and 3.9, respectively, with a median of 3.8.[30]
Facilities
Hayden Hall
Furman Hall
NYU Law School facilities at the school's Washington Square Campus include:
Furman Hall
Located on West 3rd Street between Sullivan and Thompson Streets, and on Sullivan and Thompson Streets between West 3rd and West 4th Streets, Furman Hall opened on January 22, 2004, and is named for alumnus and donor Jay Furman. It connects to Vanderbilt Hall through the law library, part of which is underneath Sullivan Street. The underground level also hosts the Lawyering faculty. Floors one-three have classrooms, lounges, and study space. The fourth floor hosts the career counseling program, and the fifth and sixth floors house the legal practice clinics. The highest floors, generally inaccessible to non-residents, are apartments for faculty and their families. The ninth floor is accessible to students and hosts the Lester Pollack Colloquium room.
The building's West 3rd Street facade incorporates the remaining part of the facade of a townhouse that Edgar Allan Poe lived in from 1844 to 1846, near the site where the house originally stood, the result of a settlement between NYU and preservationists who objected to the university's 2000 plan to tear down the building, which had already lost two stories from the time that Poe dwelled there.[31]
Vanderbilt Hall
The law school's main building, named after Arthur T. Vanderbilt, occupies the entire block between West Third and Washington Square South (West Fourth) and between Macdougal and Sullivan Streets. Part of the first floor as well as the underground floors host the library, which it shares with Furman Hall. The first floor also holds the auditorium, student center, and main banquet hall. The second floor is mostly classrooms, while the third and fourth floors are mostly faculty and dean offices.[32]
Hayden Hall Residence
Located at 240 Mercer Street, on the southern side of West Third street, adjacent to Broadway, and a couple of blocks east of D'Agostino Hall, Wilf Hall, Furman Hall and Vanderbilt Hall, Hayden Hall houses approximately 500 Law students and faculty. The basement is home to "Mercer Pub" (a room with couches, tables, and a small kitchen that can also be reserved by student groups for social events) and several student run organizations. Hayden is available for summer housing for non-NYU Law students through its Summer Living in New York program.
D'Agostino Residence Hall
Located at the intersection of West Third Street and MacDougal Street in Greenwich Village, D'Agostino Residence Hall houses approximately 300 law students and faculty. It is across the street from the rear of the main law school building, Vanderbilt Hall, and less than 1 block from Wilf Hall and Furman Hall.[33]
Elevators to the apartments are on the highest level, the Front Desk is on the street level, and The Commons (residents' lounge with computers and printers) is on the lower level. One floor beneath The Commons is the sub-basement, home to most of NYU's legal journals. The second (above-ground) floor, houses numerous administrative offices (Development, Alumni Relations, Special Events, Communications, Human Resources and Financial Services). Two large function rooms - Lipton Hall and the Faculty Club - are also located in the building.[34]
The law building is named after Filomen D'Agostino, one of the first woman lawyers, who graduated in 1920. Later in life, Ms. D'Agostino donated $4 million to support residential scholarship and faculty research; the school responded by naming their new apartment building after her.[35]
D'Agostino Hall is also available for summer housing for non-NYU Law students through its Summer Living in New York program.
22 Washington Square North
22 Washington Square North, located in a historic 1830's townhouse on the north side of Washington Square Park in "The Row", houses the Straus Institute for the Advanced Study of Law & Justice, the Jean Monnet Center for International and Regional Economic Law & Justice, and the Tikvah Center for Law & Jewish Civilization. This building was renovated in 2009 by Morris Adjmi Architects, has a green wall, and should meet silver LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards.
Wilf Hall
Wilf Hall, at 139 Macdougal Street, houses approximately a dozen of the schools centers, programs and institutes as well as the admissions offices (Graduate and JD). Per the NYU Law Magazine, it is a "campus destination for faculty, students, and research scholars from an array of disciplines to exchange ideas and, through their work, shape the public discourse around the leading social and political issues of the day."
Wilf Hall also contains the Provincetown Playhouse. The playhouse opened in the 1920s and premiered many Eugene O'Neil plays. The theatre is run by NYU's Steinhardt School of Education. The building was designed by Morris Adjmi Architects.
Centers and institutes
NYU Law is home to many centers and institutes, specializing in various areas of law.[36]
The Brennan Center for Justice is a progressive, non-partisan public policy and law institute that focuses on issues involving democracy and justice.[37]
The Center for Law, Economics and Organization promotes interdisciplinary research and teaching in law and economics. It is directed by Jennifer Arlen, Oren Bar-Gill, John Ferejohn, Mark Geistfeld, Lewis Kornhauser, and Geoffrey Miller.[38]
The Reiss Center on Law and Security is an independent, non-partisan, global center of expertise designed to promote an informed understanding of the major legal and security issues that define the post-9/11 environment. The center houses the editorially independent online forum Just Security.[39] Its fellows include: Peter Bergen, Sidney Blumenthal, Peter Clarke, Roger Cressey, Joshua Dratel, Carol Dysinger, Barton Gellman, Bernard Haykel, Thomas Hegghammer, Brian Palmer, Michael Sheehan, Alexandra Starr, Robert Windrem, and Lawrence Wright.[40] Its former fellows included: Paul Cruickshank, Amos Elon, Baltasar Garzón, Tara McKelvey, Dana Priest, and Nir Rosen.[40][41] The Center generates local, national, and international awareness of the legal dimension of security issues, including the Terrorist Trial Report Card, a comprehensive study on every terrorism prosecution in the United States since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.[42]
The Center on the Administration of Criminal Law is a think-tank dedicated to the promotion of good government and prosecution practices in criminal matters, with a focus. es on the exercise of power and discretion by prosecutors.[43] Its academic component gathers empirical research, publishes scholarship, and organizes and hosts conferences and symposia. Its litigation component litigate criminal cases or cases having implications for the administration of criminal law, particularly cases in which the exercise of power and discretion by prosecutors raises substantive legal issues. Its public policy and media component seeks to improve public dialogue on criminal justice matters in various ways, including testifying before public officials and the publishing of op-ed pieces.[44]
The Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy is a joint venture between the law school and NYU's Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. It is an academic research center devoted to the public policy aspects of land use, real estate development and housing.[45]
The Engelberg Center on Innovation Law and Policy is a center that brings together legal scholars and practitioners, technologists, economists, social scientists, physical scientists, historians, innovators, and industry experts who study, theoretically and empirically, the incentives that motivate innovators, how those incentives vary among different types of creative endeavor, and the laws and policies that help or hinder them. The Engelberg Center is led by faculty members Barton Beebe, Rochelle Dreyfuss, Jeanne Fromer, Scott Hemphill, Jason Schultz, Christopher Sprigman, and Kathy Strandburg, along with Executive Director Michael Weinberg. [46]
The Hauser Global Law School Program, launched in 1994, has moved NYU School of Law beyond the traditional study of comparative and international law to systematic examination of transnational issues. The program incorporates non-U.S. and transnational legal perspectives into the law school’s curriculum, promotes scholarship on comparative and global law, and brings together faculty, scholars, and students from around the world.[47]
The Institute for Executive Education offers focused training for professionals and integrates key elements of law, business, and public policy into its programming.[48] Led by Faculty Director Gerald Rosenfeld and Executive Director Erin O’Brien, the institute provides open enrollment classes for individuals and custom programs for organizations.[49]
The Institute for International Law and Justice integrates the law school’s scholarly excellence in international law into the policy activities of the United Nations, non-governmental organizations, law firms, and industry.[50]
The Institute for Law & Society is a joint venture between the law school and the NYU Graduate School of Arts and Science. It serves as an intellectual center for faculty, graduate students, and law students interested in studying law and legal institutions from an interdisciplinary social science perspective. It offers an opportunity to earn a J.D.-Ph.D or J.D.-M.A. dual degree in law and society.[51]
The Institute for Policy Integrity is headed by Richard Revesz and Michael Livermore. It advocates for sound cost-benefit analysis at the state, national, and global levels.[52]
The Pollack Center for Law and Business is a joint venture between the law school and the New York University Stern School of Business. The center is designed to enrich the professional education of students of law and business and to facilitate joint teaching to involve leaders in banking, business, and law in the intellectual life of the university through sponsorship of meetings, conferences and dinners. The Pollack Center also offers a program for students to earn the Advanced Professional Certificate in Law and Business.[53] The director is William T. Allen, a professor at the law school and former Chancellor of the Delaware Court of Chancery.[54]
The Straus Institute for the Advanced Study of Law & Justice brings in as Fellows each year approximately 14 leading scholars from different disciplines and cultures. Each year the Straus Institute defines an annual theme that serves as the overarching subject around which the annual fora, colloquia and conference are set. The faculty director is Joseph H. H. Weiler.[55]
The Tikvah Center for Law & Jewish Civilization is headed by Moshe Halbertal and Joseph H. H. Weiler. The foundational premise of the Center is 1) that the study of Jewish law can profit immensely from insights gained from general jurisprudence; and 2) that Jewish law and Jewish civilization can provide illuminating perspectives both on the general study of law as a per se academic discipline, and on the reflection of law as a central social institution refracting the most important issues in our society.[56]
The U.S.-Asia Law Institute serves as a resource and partner to various Asian countries as they reform and further develop their legal systems and institutions. It also works to improve the understanding of Asian legal systems by lawyers, academics, policy makers and the public. The faculty director is Jerome A. Cohen.[57]
The Marron Institute is an interdisciplinary and international effort to advance new research and teaching on cities and the urban environment with a focus on enabling cities globally to become more livable, sustainable, and equitable. The Marron Institute seeks to foster collaboration among faculty and researchers university-wide, bringing together the social sciences, humanities and professional schools on new research. The Institute also aims to create a vibrant learning community for scholars and students who lead and study urban research.[58]
The Center on Race, Inequality, and the Law works to highlight and dismantle structures and institutions that have been infected by racial bias and plagued by inequality. The Center coordinates curricular development, convenes public conversations, shapes policy by engaging in advocacy, and provides training on issues of race and inequality. The faculty directors are Anthony Thompson and Deborah N. Archer.[59]
Employment
According to New York University School of Law's official 2013 ABA-required disclosures, 93.7% of the Class of 2013 obtained full-time, long-term, JD-required employment nine months after graduation.[28] NYU Law's Law School Transparency under-employment score is 3%, indicating the percentage of the Class of 2013 unemployed, pursuing an additional degree, or working in a non-professional, short-term, or part-time job nine months after graduation.[60]
The law school was ranked # 6 of all law schools nationwide by the National Law Journal in terms of sending the highest percentage of 2015 graduates to the largest 100 law firms in the US (44.5%).[61]
Costs
Faculty
NYU Law has the second highest number of faculty who are members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences with 19 inductees, behind only Harvard.[64]
Some of NYU's notable professors include:
Robert Howse (International Law, Legal Theory, International Investment Arbitration, and Globalization Theory)
Alberto Alemanno (European Union Law)
William Allen (Corporate Law, Chancellor of Delaware)
Philip Alston (Human Rights)
José Enrique Alvarez (International Law)
Anthony Amsterdam (Criminal Law, capital punishment)
Rachel Barkow (Administrative Law, Criminal Law and Procedure)
Dorit Beinisch (National Security Law)
Jerome A. Cohen (Chinese Law)
Lawrence Collins (Transnational Litigation)
Donald Donovan (International Arbitration, International Investment Law)
Richard Epstein (Law and Economics, Torts, Health Law & Policy)
Cynthia Estlund (Labor Law, Employment Law, Property)
Samuel Estreicher (Labor Law, Employment Law, Administrative Law)
Franco Ferrari (Sale of Goods, European Union Law, International Arbitration)
Barry Friedman (Constitutional Law, Criminal Law)
David W. Garland (Criminal Law, Sociology)
Stephen Gillers (Legal Ethics)
Douglas H. Ginsburg (Administrative Law)
Stephen Holmes (liberal democracy)
Samuel Issacharoff (Procedure, Democracy)
Sally Katzen (Administrative Law)
Benedict Kingsbury (International Law)
John Koeltl (Constitutional Litigation)
Theodor Meron (International Law)
Arthur R. Miller (Civil Procedure, Copyright, and Privacy)
Trevor Morrison (Dean, Constitutional Law)
Thomas Nagel (Legal Philosophy)
Burt Neuborne (Evidence, Holocaust Litigation Expert)
Richard Pildes (Constitutional Law, Election Law)
Richard Revesz (Environmental Law)
John Sexton (Civil Procedure)
Catherine Sharkey (Tort Law, Empirical Legal Studies)
Linda J. Silberman (Conflict of Laws, Civil Procedure, International Arbitration)
Christopher Jon Sprigman (Intellectual Property, Torts, Antitrust, Comparative Constitutional Law)
Bryan Stevenson (Criminal Law, Capital Punishment)
Jeremy Waldron (Legal Philosophy)
Joseph H. H. Weiler (International Law)
Joan Wexler (born 1946), Dean and President of Brooklyn Law School
Kenji Yoshino (Constitutional Law, LGBT Rights)
Notable alumni
Famous alumni include Governor and Democratic presidential candidate Samuel J. Tilden; former New York City mayors Fiorello La Guardia, Ed Koch and Rudy Giuliani; New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly; the four founders of the prominent law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz; Evan Chesler, the current Chairman at Cravath, Swaine & Moore; comedian Demetri Martin; Republic of China president Ma Ying-Jeou; former President of Panama Guillermo Endara; former Director of the FBI Louis Freeh; U.S. Senators Lamar Alexander, Rudy Boschwitz and Jacob Javits; suffragette and college founding president Jessica Garretson Finch; sportscaster Howard Cosell; Former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue; NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman; John F. Kennedy, Jr.; Special Inspector General of the Troubled Asset Relief Program Neil Barofsky; many U.S. Representatives, including Mitchell Jenkins, Jefferson Monroe Levy and Isaac Siegel; former Chairman of Paramount Pictures Jonathan Dolgen; Hollywood and Broadway producer Marc E. Platt; Hollywood producer and former Chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment Peter Guber; journalist Glenn Greenwald; civil rights leader Vanita Gupta; several corporate leaders including Interpublic Group of Companies Chairman and CEO Michael I. Roth; ConocoPhillips President and COO John Carrig; Robert Half International Chairman and CEO Harold Max Messner; and Southwest Airlines founder Herb Kelleher; Marvel Entertainment Vice President John Turitzin; as well as Nobel Peace Prize laureates Elihu Root and Mohamed ElBaradei; and Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of USA President Donald Trump.
Among judges, Judith Kaye, former Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals, is an alumna; Dennis G. Jacobs, Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit is an alumnus. Judge Pauline Newman of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit also graduated from NYU Law.[65] NYU Law alumni have served as judges of the International Court of Justice, which is popularly known as the World Court,[66] and of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
See also
Law of New York