| City University of New York School of Law | |
| Motto: | Law in the Service of Human Needs |
| Established: | 1983 |
| Type: | Public law school |
| City: | Long Island City, New York City |
| State: | New York |
| Country: | United States |
| Dean: | Sudha Setty |
| Bar Pass Rate: | 74.56% (2022 first-time takers) [1] |
| Website: | www.law.cuny.edu |
| Ranking: | 154 (2024)[2] |
The City University of New York School of Law (CUNY School of Law) is a public law school in New York City. It was 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.[3] [4]
For the Class of 2022, 63.83% obtained full-time, long-term, JD-required employment within nine months after graduation including 48.12% employed in public-interest law.[5]
For the class entering in 2022, CUNY Law accepted 35.27% of applicants with 32.96% of those accepted enrolling, the average enrollee having a 154 LSAT score and 3.42 undergraduate GPA.[6]
CUNY Law is currently ranked #3 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 supervised external placements.
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 serve citizen and non-citizen workers and assist and empower historically underserved communities. These include 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.
In 2022, 74.56% of CUNY Law first time takers passed a bar examination. The ultimate bar passage rate for 2020 CUNY Law graduates was 84.51% and five graduates did not take a bar examination within two years of graduation.[1]
U.S. News & World Report ranked CUNY #154 of 196 American Bar Association approved law schools for 2024, with CUNY's part-time law program ranked tied for #34 out of 70 schools with part-time programs.[8] [9]
In 2016, the school was also recognized by National Jurist/PreLaw Magazine as the top 10 public interest law school[10] and by the Princeton Review[11] for having some of 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.
City University of New York Law Review is 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. Issues have included a symposium issue on Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a special issue devoted to student scholarship, a special volume on Elder Law featuring award articles that received awards from the ABA Law and Aging Student Competition, and a forthcoming symposium issue on the work of Ruthann Robson.
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.
CUNY Law's students are approximately 54% percent BIPOC as are 50% of faculty and staff. More than 28% are LGBTQTIA. Almost 32% are first generation college students. More than 68% of the faculty and staff are self-identified females.
CUNY School of Law in 2008 established the Center for Diversity in the Legal Profession which conducts original research and serves as a clearinghouse for data on the participation of people of color in the law.
In 2012, CUNY Law moved from Flushing, Queens to 2 Court Square in Long Island City giving the school nearly 70,000 additional square feet of space. This location is within walking distance of the subway, buses, and Long Island Rail Road. 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.
According to CUNY School of Law's official 2023 ABA-required disclosures, 63.83% of the Class of 2022 obtained full-time, long-term, JD-required employment nine months after graduation including 48.12% in public interest law and 22.5% in government.[5] CUNY School of Law's Law School Transparency under-employment score is 16.5% indicating the percentage of the Class of 2022 unemployed or working in a non-professional, short-term, or part-time job nine months after graduation, while those graduates who responded in 2017 reported a mean salary of $62,360 and median salary of $59,438.[12]