CUNY School of Law: Courses, Admission, Cost

CUNY School of Law is a publicly funded law school, which is located in Long Island City, Queens, just minutes from Manhattan and accessible by four major subway lines. The Board of Visitors is an autonomous body whose general purpose is to advise the Law School Dean and other personnel and staff with respect to a scope of issues concerning the Law School and its relationship with the greater community. The law school educational program offers customary substantive law courses (like contracts, torts, civil procedure and criminal law) with lawyering aptitudes all through the three years of legal education. The full-time first-year educational plan comprises seven required substantive courses, Legal Research, and a four-credit Lawyering Seminar. In every semester, students work on legal writing and other lawyering aptitudes through simulations and other role-playing devices.

There are three required substantive law courses in the subsequent year; 2Ls are likewise required to take a Lawyering Seminar III in a subject of their choice (Criminal Defense, Public Benefits, Not-for-Profits, International Human Rights, and so on.). It expands on the aptitudes taught in the first year through simulations, mock jury trials, mediations, arbitrations (and, on account of the Economic Justice Project, live client representation in administrative fair hearings) and builds up additional modern abilities pertinent to the subject matter. In the subsequent years, students start to choose from electives that are tested in the bar exam as well as those courses that give in-depth knowledge in a specific public interest field, like labour, criminal defence, domestic violence, children's rights, environmental law, international human rights, and so on.

The capstone of the program is a required one or two-semester clinic or concentration, for 10-16 credits, with highly regulated live client representation. Overall, the educational plan is both thorough and engaging to produce well-prepared graduates who are efficient in public service and become public interest legal advisors. There is an advanced, well-staffed Writing Center, and there are various opportunities for legal writing in the second and third years, including Moot Court and the New York City Law Review. The Academic Support Program gives fresher students one-on-one and group coaching, facilitates study groups, and a special academic support course for students who face some academics-related issues after their first semester. The university also has notable alumni. One of them is Hera Javed, who is helping various clients, from artists to startups, to navigate the U.S. immigration system. Another alumnus Mercedes Cano has more than 20 years in the field and is a notable immigration attorney.