Fact Sheet

President and Dean:Richard A. Matasar

B.A. 1974, University of Pennsylvania
J.D. 1977, University of Pennsylvania
Honors: magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, Order of the Coif (Law Review, Research and Writing Editor).

Law Clerk to Hon. Max Rosenn, U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit.

Appointed: July 2000
The Fifteenth Dean and President
of the Law School

Founded:1891
ABA Accreditation:1954
Enrollment:The total number of students enrolled in all divisions, all classes is approximately 1,500
Current Faculty:Full-Time, 82; Adjunct, 182
Degree Programs:

J.D. (Full-Time Day and Part-Time Evening Divisions)
LL.M. in Taxation
LL.M. in Real Estate
LL.M. in Financial Services Law
M.A. in Mental Disability Law Studies
J.D./LL.M.
Bachelor's/J.D. with Stevens Institute of Technology
Bachelor's/J.D. with Adelphi University
Bachelor's/J.D. with New England College
Bachelor's/J.D. with Southern Vermont College
J.D./M.B.A. with Baruch College

Distance Learning:Online Program in Mental Disability Law
Research Facilities:The Mendik Law Library with extensive special collections, and computer research and training laboratories
Publications:Student-edited journal:
New York Law School Law Review

Publications of the Centers:
CityLaw
CityLand
CityRegs
Media Law & Policy
The International Review

Other Publications:
New York Law School Magazine (the alumni magazine)
De Novo (student newspaper)
Global Human Rights Bulletin

Centers:

Special Programs:

Moots:The Moot Court Association administers two annual moot court competitions:
Other Annual Events:Public Interest Coalition Auction
Symposia Sponsored by the Law Review
Speaker Series Sponsored by the Centers
Art Exhibits
Law in TriBeCa (lecture series)
CityLaw Breakfasts
Otto Walter Lecture on International Law
C.V. Starr Lecture Series in International Law
Major Law Firms with New York Law School Alumni as Founders and Name Partners:Abbey Spanier Rodd & Abrams
Chadbourne & Parke
Davis, Polk, Wardwell, Sunderland & Kiendl
Greenbaum, Wolff & Ernst
Guggenheimer & Untermeyer
Kaye Scholer
Kelley, Drye, Warren, Clark, Carr & Ellis
LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae
Marvin, Hooker & Roosevelt
Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy
Mudge, Rose, Guthrie & Alexander
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison
Proskauer Rose
Whitman Breed Abbott & Morgan
A Center of Legal Education for
More than a Century
New York Law School, one of the oldest independent law schools in the United States, has been an innovator in legal education since its founding in 1891. Throughout its history, the Law School has attracted students with a wide range of backgrounds. Its graduates have founded many prominent law firms; served with distinction on federal, state, and local benches; and been leaders of the bar, business, and government. The Law School's continued vitality springs from the dedication of its outstanding faculty and staff, from the talent and energy of its students, and from the strong support of its alumni.

New York Law School was established by faculty, students, and alumni of the Columbia College School of Law who were protesting that administration's attempts to dictate the teaching methods used by professors. They were led by Theodore Dwight, Founder and Dean of the Columbia School of Law and a major figure in American legal education. The School's first lecturer on Constitutional Law was Woodrow Wilson.

An Outstanding FacultyFrom the former Dean of Yale Law School to the President of the American Civil Liberties Union, the faculty of New York Law School is truly outstanding. Surveys of student opinion repeatedly credit the faculty for being stimulating and caring teachers who set and satisfy high academic standards. These professors combine excellent preparation in academic law with significant prior experience—as practitioners in major law firms, corporations and labor unions, and as government officials, prosecutors, public defenders, and consumer advocates.

The New York Law School faculty excels not only in teaching but in legal scholarship. Faculty-sponsored symposia and conferences at the Law School attract participants from around the world and from the highest echelons of the legal profession and public office.

Alumni Are Distinguished Jurists, Founding Partners of Major Firms, and Corporate LeadersFor more than 100 years, New York Law School graduates have enriched their communities—as jurists, public servants, government and corporate leaders, private practitioners, and creative artists. Among its most illustrious graduates are: United States Supreme Court Justice John Marshall Harlan; Senator Robert F. Wagner (NY); Chester Carlson, inventor of the xerography photocopying process; Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Wallace Stevens; and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Elmer Rice.

In addition to the many partners of prominent law firms and the more than 150 currently sitting judges who are graduates, its alumni include:

  • Maurice R. Greenberg, former Chairman and CEO of American International Group, Inc.; current Chairman and CEO of C.V. Starr and Co., Inc.
  • Kathleen Grimm, Deputy Chancellor for Finance and Administration, New York City Department of Education
  • Lawrence S. Huntington, former Chairman and CEO of Fiduciary Trust International
  • Arnold Kopelson, Academy Award-winning producer of Platoon and The Fugitive
  • J. Bruce Llewellyn, Chairman and CEO of the Philadelphia Coca-Cola Bottling Company, the third largest African American-owned businesses in the nation
  • Hon. Roger J. Miner of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
  • Charles E. Phillips Jr., President of Oracle, the world's largest enterprise software company
  • Hon. Judith Sheindlin, "Judge Judy," syndicated television courtroom judge and best-selling author
  • Sybil Shainwald, pioneering women's health litigator and advocate
  • Zygmunt Wilf, principal owner of the Minnesota Vikings of the NFL
Located in the Heart of the Legal and Financial Capital of the WorldLocated in Manhattan's dynamic TriBeCa district, and within walking distance of the city's Civic Center and Wall Street, New York Law School is strategically situated in the heart of New York's largest concentration of government agencies, courts, law firms, banks, corporate headquarters, and securities exchanges. Drawing upon its location, the Law School offers extensive externship programs through which students gain insight, experience, and post-graduate employment opportunities.

Museums, art galleries, off-Broadway theaters, fine dining, and exciting entertainment are also within a short distance of the School. For the broader community, the Law School presents many lectures and symposia, art exhibits, films, and other cultural events with links to the legal profession.

A Legal Education
for the 21st Century
Under the leadership of Dean Richard A. Matasar (appointed July 2000), the faculty of New York Law School has launched an innovative curriculum integrating strategic and ethical issues into the traditional academic study of law. This approach provides students with a head start in building productive, rewarding, and responsible professional lives. While the course of study leading to the Juris Doctor degree is designed to prepare students to become practicing lawyers, the program is also ideal preparation for anyone whose work in other professions, in business, or in public service involves understanding law and lawyers.

New York Law School offers more than 200 courses, including innovative workshops that combine advanced study in more than a dozen fields of law with supervised externships, providing students with real-life experience and professional contacts.

Under the direct supervision of full-time faculty (often working closely with practicing lawyers) upperclass students prepare through extensive simulated practice sessions before meeting clients, interviewing witnesses, or appearing in court.

The School's centers, clinics, and other experiential learning programs take on the issues that affect the lives of Americans today. New intiatives will draw on the School's traditions and strengths in the areas of civil liberties and human rights, immigration law, gay and lesbian law, and litigation. The School's outreach programs links members of the New York Law School community as volunteers and resources to assist individuals and institutions throughout the Metropolitan area.

 Lawyering Skills CenterThe Lawyering Skills Center was established in 1991 to bring under one heading all of the New York Law School clinical and skills courses: clinics where students represent or work with actual clients under the direct supervision of full-time faculty or attorneys; externships where students are placed in the offices of practicing attorneys or in judicial chambers; and simulation courses where students interact with actors or others in a variety of lawyering situations.

Clinics


Externship Programs
Simulation Courses
A Diverse Student BodyNew York Law School reflects the cosmopolitan nature of its urban setting. Today's student body of 1500 represents more than 340 undergraduate schools and several foreign institutions. The composition of the student body is 51 percent women, and 32 percent self-identify as members of minority groups (entering class, 2008).

Students include recent college graduates, as well as many students, especially in the Evening Division, who already have established careers and are either preparing to return to those occupations in a new role or are seeking to establish a new profession. Students participate in more than 30 national and local organizations. They also edit the School's scholarly journal, New York Law School Law Review, and regularly place as finalists in major national and international moot court competitions.

A Vital Urban CampusNew York Law School is located in the heart of Manhattan’s TriBeCa district—home of the city’s legal, government, and corporate headquarters, as well as a thriving cultural scene. The School's urban campus features modern classrooms, the exquisitely furbished Ernst C. Stiefel Reading Room, the Samuel J. and Ethel LeFrak Moot Court Room, the Harry H. Wellington Conference Center, and the skylit Shepard and Ruth K. Broad Student Center and Art Gallery.

Located at 185 West Broadway, the Mendik Law Library offers students, faculty, and alumni the latest research and study facilities and houses over 500,000 volumes of books, microforms, and audio/visual materials. The library provides study space for more than 600 users; the assistance of 23 full-time staff members, including 15 professional law librarians, eight of whom hold the J.D. degree; state-of-the-art computer research facilities; and extensive special collections on international trade law, communications law, environmental law, labor law, and human rights.

Our campus is evolving to meet the changing needs of our students. In August 2006, New York Law School broke ground on a $190 million expansion and renovation program that has since transformed its TriBeCa campus into a cohesive architectural complex nearly double its former size. The centerpiece of the expansion is a new glass-enclosed, 235,000-square-foot, nine-level building—five stories above ground and four below—which integrates with the School’s existing three buildings. The new facility, which opened in 2009, will allow New York Law School to enhance student support, expand the faculty, and deepen its extraordinary program.