80 New Scotland Avenue
Albany, NY 12208-3494
Phone: 518.445.2326; Fax: 518.445.2369
E-mail: admissions@albanylaw.edu; Website: www.albanylaw.edu
The only law school in the capital of New York State, Albany Law School is the oldest private, independent law school in North America. Our location, in the center of state government, provides unprecedented opportunities for internships, field placements, clinical experience, and career opportunities. Our world-class faculty is dedicated and accessible. Students have access to New York's highest court, federal courts, and the state legislature, as well as to a thriving tech-based economy. The employment rate for our graduates has been well above the national average for law schools for over 25 years.
From your first day at Albany Law School, you will be challenged by a rigorous academic curriculum. You will get a firm foundation in fundamental areas of law, plus opportunities to shape your learning to fit your professional interests.
As a first-year student, you begin to acquire the skills that will become the foundation of your legal career. As part of our innovative Introduction to Lawyering course, you will represent a plaintiff or defendant in a simulated case where you conduct legal research, draft motions and memoranda, and participate in client interviews and negotiations. The class culminates with each student presenting an oral argument before some of the state's most notable attorneys.
As a second- and third-year student, you can focus your studies in 1 of 14 concentrations to complement coursework. Opportunities include 7 clinical projects and more than 150 field placement internships in the Albany region, many of them in state and federal government positions as well as in law firms and high-tech companies. Students also participate in real-world work through the Government Law Center, Clinic and Justice Center, and study-abroad programs. Some students pursue a joint-degree program with an area graduate school, earning a master's degree while working toward a Juris Doctor (JD) degree.
Our groundbreaking legal centers and award-winning clinical programs provide the valuable hands-on experience that employers find desirable. You work alongside committed clinical faculty and practicing attorneys to assist low-income clients with real legal issues relating to health law, HIV/AIDS, disabilities, domestic violence, and disputes with the Internal Revenue Service. You will also work with prosecutors, judges, and experienced attorneys through our field placement program.
Because of our unique location, you interact with the leaders in New York state government—countless Albany Law alumni—and visionaries building New York's high-technology base through the programs at the Government Law Center. In the Government Law Center you conduct research, contribute to publications, and participate in conferences and special projects that promote the study of the issues facing government, public policy, and public service.
From your first week at school, our Career Center helps you develop a career plan and supports you throughout your job search. Professional career counselors help you define career goals, craft résumés and cover letters, prepare for interviews, and compare employment offers.
The Career Center is a state-of-the-art facility with multiple interview rooms set aside for professionals to conduct on-campus interviews. These rooms are equipped with all the amenities of a law office and are extremely popular with employers.
Job fairs, information sessions, workshops, and panel discussions on a variety of employment-related topics occur almost weekly. The Career Center hosts more than 1,000 interviews each year and conducts off-campus interview programs in metropolitan areas, including New York City; Chicago; Washington, DC; and Boston, exclusively for Albany Law School students. Our alumni are avid supporters of these efforts and participate enthusiastically in center activities.
Our graduates find jobs in law firms, government agencies, public interest organizations, and business and industry throughout the country. About one third of Albany Law School graduates work in the New York City metropolitan area, with large groups of alumni in Boston; Washington, DC; and business centers along the eastern seaboard as far south as Florida.
The employment rate for the class of 2010 was 91 percent—above the national average and consistently above national rates for over 25 years.
The Albany Law School community of approximately 700 students, 55 full-time faculty, and 52 part-time faculty is intimate, respectful, and supportive. We welcome students and faculty with diverse backgrounds and talents, and provide an outstanding environment for the pursuit of scholarship, teaching, and public service.
The small size of our student body fosters an environment that encourages camaraderie and frequent contact between students and faculty. We are exclusively a law school. Because we are independent, we are not attached to a larger university.
Nearly 12 percent of our students graduated five or more years before entering law school and had careers in other professions prior to beginning their legal studies. Nearly 50 percent of our students are women, roughly 20 percent are members of a minority group, and they come from all across the United States and several foreign countries.
Albany Law School's facilities honor our 160-year history, while supporting a twenty-first century legal education. The open design of the 53,000 square-foot Schaffer Law Library, a federal depository library, provides an inviting environment with seating for hundreds of students. Book and microfilm collections number more than half a million volumes, and the library supplements its collection with online databases and legal research systems, including LexisNexis and Westlaw. The library also houses technological devices for the hearing and visually impaired.
The main building of Albany Law School is known as the 1928 Building, acknowledging its year of construction. The building has been recently renovated and houses contemporary lecture halls, seminar-style classrooms, two modern moot courtrooms, and smart classrooms with wireless Internet access and advanced audio, video, computing, and conferencing systems.
A 45,000-square-foot building built in 2000 houses the Law Clinic and Justice Center, Government Law Center, and administrative offices, as well as several classrooms, including a high-tech distance learning classroom. Our new bookstore and student center opened in 2009, along with a new state-of-the-art fitness center.
You have dozens of opportunities to participate in student organizations and activities around specific academic, professional, social, cultural, or athletic interests.
Three student-edited journals, the Albany Law Review, the Albany Law Journal of Science and Technology, and the Albany Government Law Review offer cocurricular research and writing opportunities.
Our nationally recognized Moot Court Program enables you to develop skills in trial advocacy, appellate advocacy, client counseling, and negotiating while competing in both intramural and interscholastic competitions.
The Capital Region is home to 16 colleges and universities and boasts museums, galleries, restaurants, shops, theaters, nightclubs for every taste, venues that host professional sporting events, and performing arts centers that attract national acts. The Adirondack, Berkshire, and Catskill Mountains offer skiing, camping, hiking, and water sports, as well as the Saratoga Race Course for thoroughbred and harness racing. Metropolitan centers in New York City, Boston, and Montreal are all within an easy drive and about 10 trains provide daily service to New York City. All major air carriers operate from the Albany International Airport and provide daily nonstop service to most eastern US cities, with connections worldwide.
Albany Law School offers grants based on merit ranging from $5,000 to full-tuition scholarships. Over 30 percent of first-year students receive awards that average $20,000 for each academic year.
When evaluating each individual application, the Admissions Committee takes a highly personalized, holistic approach, reviewing LSAT score, undergraduate grade-point average, strength of the undergraduate program, rigor of the undergraduate curriculum, and life experience. The committee seeks to enroll a student body that enriches the educational experience of all of its members. Albany Law School also seeks to provide future members of the bar who reflect the diversity and sensibilities of our society.
Approximately 90 percent of our students qualify for financial aid, via federal, state, and private loans, or for part-time employment to assist in meeting educational expenses.
We encourage you to visit Albany Law School—meet our faculty, speak with our students, and tour our beautiful facilities. We look forward to meeting you.
Albany Law School attracts talented, diverse students from a wide spectrum of backgrounds and experiences. Applicants come from the highest ranks of their prior graduate and undergraduate institutions. LSAT scores and prior academic performance are important in assisting our Admissions Committee in offering seats to applicants. Those indicators are, however, not the sole factors weighed when admission decisions are made. Interested applicants are encouraged to explore how their careers can be enhanced by an Albany Law School education. Contact the Admissions Office at 518.445.2326 to discuss your individual qualifications.