40 Washington Square South
New York, NY 10012
Phone: 212.998.6060; Fax: 212.995.4527
E-mail: law.moreinfo@nyu.edu; Website: www.law.nyu.edu
Founded in 1835, New York University School of Law has a long record of academic excellence, national scholarly influence, and innovative achievements. It has long been a pacesetter in legal education, pioneering new approaches to practical-skills training and the early recognition that law has an increasingly global dimension to which all students should be exposed in the classroom. Its innovative lawyering, clinical, and advocacy programs; interdisciplinary colloquia; public interest initiatives; and law-and-business transaction courses have all served as models for others. The law school has a proud history of fairness and openness: More than 100 years ago, NYU Law became one of the first law schools to routinely admit women and other groups discriminated against by many other institutions, and it continues to offer opportunities to exceptional students from groups historically underrepresented in the profession. The school's location in the financial and cultural capital of the world provides students ready access to the very best practitioners and policy makers, including top executives in business and finance, as well as leaders of international, governmental, and public interest organizations. Through its numerous clinics, centers, and institutes, the law school provides unparalleled professional experience for students who graduate to pursue careers in government, business, and, of course, the legal profession.
The curriculum at NYU School of Law is designed to offer students the best possible foundation in legal theory and practice, and to empower them with the skills they need to be successful lawyers—and leaders—in the twenty-first century. Taught by top-tier faculty, the curriculum is distinguished by its depth and breadth across all traditional areas of legal study, its interdisciplinary strength, and its global perspective. The law school is committed to providing students with a sophisticated understanding of how US law interacts with—and is informed by—the regimes of other nations and the international community, and to educating lawyers who will use their degrees to become leaders of the profession and of society.
In recent years, the law school has implemented several significant innovations in the curriculum, including the addition of a first-year Administrative and Regulatory State course and a first-year elective that allows students to choose among constitutional law, corporations, international law, tax, or property. The Lawyering Program, recognized by the Carnegie Foundation as the best of its kind, complements the theoretical and doctrinal courses offered in the first year and sets the foundation for more than 32 fieldwork clinics that students can take in the upper years, including new offerings in business law, tax, and federal regulation.
Students take classes taught by faculty who are leaders in their fields—including international, environmental, and criminal law—as well as by the foremost scholars in civil procedure, torts, and administrative law and policy. NYU Law has a distinguished interdisciplinary curriculum, including its law and philosophy program and a robust law and business program. The latter offers unique transactional courses that teach students how lawyers can add value to the strategic development, design, negotiation, and implementation of deals in law, finance, real estate, entertainment, tax, and business. Aside from these programs, students enjoy intellectual and pedagogical diversity, mixing traditional classes with a choice of courses in cutting-edge fields such as the law of democracy and law and security, as well as colloquia, clinics, independent research, journal work, study abroad, fellowships, and more.
NYU Law's preeminent faculty are not only engaged in high-level scholarly inquiry and teaching, but can also be found contributing to the world beyond the classroom, advising international tribunals, testifying before Congress, authoring briefs in important cases, or working to protect the rights of immigrants and children. The faculty actively mentor their students, involving them in important work and helping them to develop their own scholarship. The faculty has expanded significantly in recent years, with 44 new members joining since 2002—resulting in a total growth of 30 percent. More than merely increasing the faculty's size and its diversity, these additions have expanded the breadth and depth of scholarship undertaken at the school. Recent additions have brought expertise across the curriculum as well as in interdisciplinary fields, such as empirical legal studies, legal history, law and politics, law and economics, and law and philosophy. The school also attracts leading academics as visitors, who bring fresh perspectives and further enhance the robust intellectual life of the community.
A rich intellectual life outside the classroom is sustained by more than 25 institutes and centers, including the Brennan Center for Justice, the Hauser Global Law School Program, the Institute for International Law and Justice, the Frank J. Guarini Center on Environmental and Land Use Law, the Institute for Policy and Integrity, and the Pollack Center for Law and Business. These enterprises bring together leading faculty and professional teams of lawyers, economists, and policy experts to produce research and commentary that influence the real world of law, policy, and business. They also provide students with unique opportunities to work on sophisticated projects in the areas of national security, real estate, criminal justice, human rights, and international law, among many others.
NYU School of Law's library contains one of the largest academic law collections in the world. Located in Greenwich Village, the law school's campus includes the recently renovated Vanderbilt Hall and its neighbor, Furman Hall, finished in 2004. In the fall of 2010, the law school opened a new academic facility, Wilf Hall, which, along with a newly restored townhouse at 22 Washington Square North, houses the law school's many centers and institutes. D'Agostino Hall, Mercer Residence, and two low-rise, on-campus apartment buildings provide housing for more than 800 law students.
There are nine student-edited publications, and additional writing opportunities are available through the Moot Court Board. There are more than 65 student organizations, including the Law Students for Human Rights, the award-winning Suspension Representation Project, and the school's student government group, the Student Bar Association.
NYU School of Law has an extensive career services program. Career planning for first-year students includes personal career counseling, workshops on all aspects of the job search, specialty panels featuring speakers from all areas of practice, and a videotape mock interview program. Each year, more than 500 private law firms, public interest organizations, government agencies, corporations, and public accounting firms visit the law school to interview students. More than 70 percent of these employers are from outside New York.
The Public Interest Law Center provides students interested in public service with comprehensive support, including advice on courses and career opportunities. The Public Interest Summer Funding Program guarantees funding to all first- and second-year students who work in public interest positions. The Public Interest Law Center, in conjunction with other area law schools, also sponsors an annual public interest legal career fair, the largest event of its kind in the country.
The admission process is highly selective, seeking men and women of exceptional ability with diverse experiences, backgrounds, and points of view. The Committee on Admissions reviews each undergraduate transcript closely, with attention to factors such as trends in the applicant's grades, class rank, the ratio of pass/fail to graded courses, the diversity and depth of coursework, and the length of time since graduation.
Other aspects of the application also influence the decision; the committee evaluates work experience and extracurricular and community activities for evidence of advancement, leadership, and the capacity for assuming responsibility. Factors other than undergraduate grades and LSAT scores may be particularly significant for applicants who have experienced educational or socioeconomic disadvantages.
NYU School of Law has several scholarship programs. The flagship Root-Tilden-Kern Scholarship Program selects entering students for their intellectual potential and demonstrated commitment to public service through law. AnBryce Scholarships are awarded to outstanding students who are among the first in their immediate families to pursue a graduate degree. The Furman Academic Scholarships are given to students who show promise in becoming legal academics. Scholarships are also available in the areas of business law, international law, and Latino human rights. A limited number of other awards are also made on the basis of intellectual potential or evidence that the student will enrich the law school's educational environment. Additionally, the school provides need-based grants. Federal and private loans also provide funding. Graduates who pursue careers in public service may be eligible for postgraduation benefits through the school's generous and groundbreaking Loan Repayment Assistance Program.
NYU School of Law does not provide a profile chart because we believe that while an applicant's undergraduate record and LSAT scores are important, they are not the sole determinants for admission. No index or cut-off is used in reviewing applications. There is no particular combination of grades or scores that assures admittance or guarantees rejection. The Committee on Admissions simply aims to enroll an entering class with the strongest combination of qualifications and the greatest potential to contribute to the vibrant intellectual life of the school, to the legal profession as a whole, and, more broadly, to society in general.