lawyer

Juris praecepta sunt haec: honeste vivere, autem non laedere, suum cuique tribuere.

Anthony W. Crowell

During the winter of 1890, a dispute arose at Columbia Law School over an attempt to introduce the Case Method of study. The Case Method had been pioneered at Harvard Law School by Christopher Columbus Langdell. The dean and founder of Columbia Law School, Theodore Dwight. opposed this method, preferring the traditional method of having students read treatises rather than court decisions. Because of this disagreement, Dwight and a number of other faculty and students of Columbia Law School left and founded their own law school in Lower Manhattan the following year.

On June 11, 1891, New York Law School was chartered by the State of New York, and the school began operation shortly thereafter. By this time, Theodore Dwight was in poor health, and was not able to be actively involved with the Law School, so the position of dean went to one of the other professors from Columbia Law School, George Chase. New York Law School held its first classes on October 1, 1891, in the Equitable Building at 120 Broadway. in Lower Manhattan's Financial District. [3]

In 1892, after only a year in operation, it was the second-largest law school in the United States. Steady increases in enrollment caused the Law School to acquire new facilities in 1899, at 35 Nassau Street, [4] only blocks away from the Law School's previous location; and by 1904, the Law School had become the largest law school in the United States. Continuous growth led the Law School to acquire a building of its own in 1908, at 172 Fulton Street, in the Financial District. New York Law School would remain at this site until 1918, when it closed briefly for World War I. [5]

When New York Law School reopened in 1919, it was located in another building at 215 West 23rd Street, in Midtown. [6] However, George Chase contracted an illness that resulted in him running New York Law School for the last three years of his life from his bed; he died in 1924. [7] New York Law School continued without Chase, seeing its enrollment peak in the mid-1920s, but it saw a steady decline after that. At the onset of the Great Depression. the Law School began seeing a serious decline in enrollment, which forced the Law School to accept a much lower quality of students than they had previously accepted. With much fewer and poorer performing students, the Law School moved to smaller facilities at 253 Broadway. just opposite City Hall. [8] In 1936, the Law School moved to another location at 63 Park Row, on the opposite side of City Hall Park; it also became coeducational that same year. However, as enrollment was still declining, both because of the Great Depression and because of the military draft started in 1940, and the school closed in 1941. The remaining students that were still enrolled finished their studies at St. John's University School of Law. in Brooklyn. [9]

After reopening in 1947, the Law School started a new program that was influenced by a committee of alumni headed by New York State Supreme Court Justice Albert Cohn. The Law School resumed operations in a building at 244 William Street. In 1954, New York Law School was accredited by the American Bar Association. and in 1962, moved to its current facilities at 57 Worth Street, in TriBeCa .

In 1973, the New York State Department of Education issued a report that criticized the Law School as the worst school in the state [10] In 1973, E. Donald Shapiro became the dean of the Law School, and reformed the curriculum, expanding it to include many more classes to train students for more than simply passing the Bar Examination. These reforms, combined with the addition of new Joint Degree Programs with City College of New York in 1975 and Manhattanville College in 1978 helped the Law School to recruit new students. Dean Shapiro's reform of the curriculum was behind New York Law School gaining accreditation by the Association of American Law Schools in 1974. The New York State Department of Education even changed its view of the Law School, proclaiming in the same year that the Law School received its second accreditation stating that the school had started to undergo a "renaissance." [10]

The buildings of the Law School underwent renovation during the leadership of Dean James F. Simon, from 1983 to 1992. Under Simon's successor, Dean Harry H. Wellington, who served in that position until 2000, the curriculum was revised to put greater emphasis on the practical skills of a professional attorney.

In late June 2006, New York Law School sold its Mendik building at 240 Church Street. This sale enabled the school to move forward with the sale of $135 million in insured bonds, which were issued through the New York City Industrial Development Agency. The school's securities were given an A3 credit rating by Moody's and an A-minus rating by S P. both reflective of the school's stable market position and solid financial condition. The proceeds from the building sale have been allocated to the school's endowment, which is now among the top 10 of all American law schools. [11]

The Law School opened its first dormitory in the East Village in 2005, and in August 2006, it broke ground on the $190 million expansion and renovation program that will transform its TriBeCa campus into a cohesive architectural complex that nearly doubles the school's current size. The centerpiece of the expansion is a new glass-enclosed, 235,000-square-foot (21,800 m 2 ), nine-level building—five stories above ground and four below, which will integrate the Law School's existing buildings. The new facility opened in July , followed by the complete renovation of the Law School's existing buildings in the spring of .

New York Law School has a 80.4% New York bar exam pass rate for first-time takers ().

On December 16, , in connection with the Bernard Madoff scandal, New York Law School filed a lawsuit against J. Ezra Merkin. Ascot Partners. and Merkin's auditor BDO Seidman, LLP. after losing its $3 million investment in Ascot. The lawsuit charged Merkin with recklessness, gross negligence and breach of fiduciary duties. [12]

With the financial crisis of . and the attending collapse in employment prospects for recent law school graduates, NYLS came under criticism for its combination of costly tuition (which rivals Harvard Law School ) and poor results for students. The New York Times specifically focused on Dean Richard A. Matasar, who had become prominent for criticizing the high cost of law schools while serving as dean of one of the most expensive (and lowest ranked) law schools in the country. The article also mentioned the large increase in class sizes at NYLS during a period of contraction in the legal employment market. [13] Professor Paul Campos. on his Inside the Law School Scam blog, attacked NYLS among other low-ranked schools for their use of expensive summer-start programs, which charge students thousands of dollars for the chance of obtaining admission. [14] Law School Transparency indicates that only 35% of NYLS's class of have found long-term, full-time legal jobs [15]

Government leaders and judges from the United States often speak at or visit the Law School. These have included former President Jimmy Carter ; Justices of the Supreme Court Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Harry A. Blackmun, William J. Brennan Jr. Antonin Scalia. Clarence Thomas. and Sandra Day O’Connor ; former New York State Governor Mario Cuomo ; former New York City Mayors Edward Koch. David Dinkins. Rudolph Giuliani and current Mayor Michael Bloomberg ; Drew S. Days III, U.S. Solicitor General; Thomas Pickering, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations ; and Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo of the International Criminal Court. In October , UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon spoke.

The edition of U.S. News and World Report unranked New York Law School in its list of U.S. law schools [16]

New York Law School has two divisions:

• Full Time Day
• Part Time Evening

It offers the following degrees:

Besides these degrees, New York Law School also has "Three + Three Programs," which allow undergraduate students to start at the Law School after only three years of undergraduate education, and then receive their undergraduate degree after successfully completing the first year at the Law School. The programs also allow students to continue receiving comparable financial aid to that which they received during their undergraduate education provided they maintain their academic performance. They also are not required to take the Law School Admission Test before entering the Law School. These programs are with the following schools:

The School's dynamic curriculum focuses on integrating the study of theory and practice and on including the perspectives of legal practitioners. The Law School's unique skills-based curriculum offers clinics, simulation courses, externships, project-based learning courses, and a new first-year Legal Practice program to carry out that goal. Through a number of other new initiatives and programs, the School has expanded its offerings in order to provide "the Right Program for Each Student."

New York Law School operates on the standard semester basis. 86 credits are required for graduation, 38 of which are for required courses. The first and second years have mandatory studies, and the third year is all elective courses. Students must maintain a minimum 2.0 GPA for all courses. The required courses include: Civil Procedure; Contracts; Constitutional Law; Criminal Law; Evidence; Property; Torts; and Legislation and Regulation. Students also complete two courses emphasizing the development of professional legal skills: a two-semester course on Legal Practice; and a one-semester course on Professional Responsibility. More than 250 electives allow students to customize their programs.

The areas of concentration offered for study by New York Law School are Civil Liberties, Constitutional Law, Corporate and Securities Law, Criminal Law, International Law, Information and Media Law, Labor and Employment Law, Professional Values and Practice, Real Estate Law and Taxation. New York Law School has eight clinics: Civil Rights, Criminal Defense (in both Richmond and Kings Counties), Criminal Prosecution, Elder Law, Mediation, Securities Arbitration, and Wills. Simulation courses offered include: Advanced Appellate Advocacy; Advocacy of Criminal Cases; Alternative Dispute Resolution; Negotiating, Counseling, and Interviewing (NCI); Trial Advocacy; and The Role of the Government Attorney.

The faculty has established eight academic centers which provide specialized study and offer prime opportunities for exchange between the students, faculty, and expert practitioners. These eight academic centers engage many students in advanced research through the John Marshall Harlan Scholars Program, an academic honors program designed for students with the strongest academic credentials. Harlan Scholars have the opportunity, through affiliation with a center to focus on a particular field of study, gaining depth and substantive expertise beyond the broad understanding of the law that is gained in the J.D. program.

Center for Business and Financial Law

The Center for Business and Financial Law provides students with an unparalleled, rigorous, and integrated approach to academic study and skills training in all aspects of corporate, commercial, and financial law. Through cutting-edge courses, events, projects, and research, the Center brings together academics, practitioners, and students to addess the challenges that animate business and finance.

C.V. Starr Center for International Law

New York Law School, aided by a grant from the C.V. Starr Foundation, created the C.V. Starr Center for International Law. The Center supports teaching and research in all areas of international law but concentrates on the law of international trade and finance, deriving much of its strength from interaction with New York's business, commercial, financial, and legal communities. The Center organizes symposia events to engage students and faculty in discussions of important and timely issues with experts and practitioners in the field. For professional development, the Center offers extensive resources for studying and researching careers in international law.

The Center publishes The International Review. an award-winning academic newsletter. The International Review is the only academic newsletter published by an ABA-accredited law school that reports on a broad range of contemporary international and comparative law issues. The Newsletter on Newsletters awarded The International Review with its 2007 Gold Award for "Best Edited Organization Newsletter." It is published twice a year by the Center, and is free through email subscription or on the website.

Center for New York City Law

The Center for New York City Law is the only program of its kind in the country. Its objectives are to gather and disseminate information about New York City's laws, rules, and procedures; to sponsor publications, symposia, and conferences on topics related to governing the city; and to suggest reforms to make city government more effective and efficient. The Center's bimonthly publication, City Law, tracks New York City's rules and regulations, how they are enforced, and court challenges to them. Its Web site, New York Law School. contains a searchable library of more than 40,000 administrative decisions of New York City agencies. The Center publishes three newsletters: CityLaw, CityLand and CityReg.

Center for Professional Values and Practice

The School's Center for Professional Values and Practice provides a vehicle through which to examine the role of the legal profession and approaches to law practice. The Center's work supports the development of lawyering skills and reflective professionalism, including consideration of how these have evolved over the decades, even as business and ethical pressures have intensified and become more complex, and the roles of lawyers in society have multiplied.

Center for Real Estate Studies

The Center for Real Estate Studies at New York Law School provides students with a unique educational opportunity to study both the private practice and public regulation of real estate. Launched in 2007, the Center offers an extensive selection of classroom courses, advanced seminars, and independent study projects, as well as externships in governmental offices and real estate firms. It also sponsors conferences, symposia, and continuing legal education programs on a broad spectrum of issues. The Center aims to bridge the existing gap between the private practice and academic study of real estate, and is one of the premier research centers in the country for the study of real estate. In January , the Center began offering the LL.M. in Real Estate.

Institute for Information Law Policy

The Institute for Information Law Policy is New York Law School's home for the study of information, communication and law in the global digital age. The goal of the Institute is to apply the theory and technology of communications and information to strengthening democratic institutions and the rule of law as technology evolves. Through its curriculum, ongoing conference and speaker series and a variety of original projects, the Institute investigates the emerging field of information law, which encompasses intellectual property, privacy, free speech, information access, communications, and all areas of law pertaining to information and communication practices.

The Center puts on the State of Play conference series which deals with the intersection of virtual worlds. games and the law.

Diane Abbey Law Center for Children and Families

The Diane Abbey Law Center for Children and Families exists to ensure that children and the families who care for them receive the legal assistance they need to remain safe and secure, and to thrive. Founded in , the Center offers a comprehensive curriculum aimed at creating excellent practitioners able to represent children and families in all aspects of family law. The Center approach is holistic and interdisciplinary, recognizing that assisting families requires a basic understanding not merely of law, but also social work, psychology, and other fields. Center members engage in volunteer externships, work with alumni mentors, and complete capstone projects that make concrete contributions to the lives of families in need. The Center not only prepares graduates for successful careers, but also helps give New York’s children and families the support they need.

Justice Action Center

The Justice Action Center brings together New York Law School faculty and students in an ongoing critical evaluation of public interest lawyering. Through scholarship and fieldwork, the Center seeks to evaluate the efficacy of law as an agent of change and social betterment. Through a focused curriculum, symposia, clinical experience, and research opportunities, the Center seeks to instill in students a deeper intellectual understanding of the law regardless of their final career goals, and to present opportunities to maintain their ties to the social justice community beyond law school.

In 2006, the School's Labor Employment Law Program became part of the Justice Action Center. Ever since New York Law School alumnus Senator Robert F. Wagner—the "legislative pilot of the New Deal"—wrote and led the fight to enact the National Labor Relations Act, New York Law School has remained on the cutting edge of labor and employment law and public policy. In the tradition of Senator Wagner, New York Law School's Labor Employment Law Program seeks to advance and influence law and public policy with an action-oriented, public-interested agenda.

• Albert Blaustein. assistant professor (1948–1955), constitutional expert that helped draft the Fijian and Liberian constitutions, as well as consulting on the constitutions of for Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, Cambodia and Peru. To a lesser extent, he was involved in the constitutions of Poland, South Africa, Hungary, Romania, Niger, Uganda and Trinidad and Tobago. He was the editor of the 20-volume encyclopaedia Constitutions of the Countries of the World.
• Charles Evans Hughes. Secretary of State and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States .
• Annette Gordon-Reed. renowned presidential scholar, expert in American legal history, and winner of the National Book Award in nonfiction.
• William Kunstler. associate professor; director of the American Civil Liberties Union .
• Theodore R. Kupferman. assistant professor (1954–1964), later elected U.S. Congress (1966–1969).
• President Woodrow Wilson taught Constitutional Law at New York Law School before becoming President of Princeton University. and then Governor of New Jersey .