About the Center

The Center for Professional Values and Practice (CPVP) supports research and teaching on the profession, focusing on professional regulation, the market for lawyers, and lawyers’ careers. Designed to provide students with an in-depth portrait of law practice in a variety of settings, from the court room to the board room to Guantanamo Bay, the Center sponsors research, symposia, and speakers to bring the “real world” of practice into the classroom.

The Center’s work is based on the premise that successful membership in the legal profession requires empirical and normative inquiry that goes beyond traditional legal doctrine. Our goal is to foster the development of “reflective professionalism”—an ongoing, informed examination of the norms, incentives, and values that characterize lawyers and the organizations in which they work.

Student affiliates are expected to contribute to CPVP research on the profession or to design their own research projects, through participation in focused seminars and independent study. The goals of the Center are to provide students with a sophisticated understanding about the conditions of modern law practice and to help students produce high-quality written work. For a list of CPVP faculty and student publications, click here.

Future Ed Conference: Second Meeting October 15–16, 2010

New Business Models for U.S. and Global Legal Education

Presented with the Institute for Information Law and Policy.

New York Law School and Harvard Law School are hosting a year-long contest of ideas about legal education. The goal is to come up with operational alternatives to the traditional law school business model and to identify concrete steps for the implementation of new designs. The kickoff event consisted of a two-day conference for educators, employers, and regulators at New York Law School on April 9–10, 2010. Participants met to identify problems, innovations, and constraints, and to organize working groups to develop designs and strategies for implementation. Working groups are currently in the process of refining their ideas in preparation for the conference's second meeting, which will be held at Harvard Law School on October 15-16, 2010. The October meeting will focus on the globalization of legal education and a comparison of professional education in the law and other fields. Final designs will be presented, with commentary, at New York Law School in April, 2011.

For more information, click here to visit the Future Ed website, or visit the Future Ed blog at futureed.tumblr.com.

Recent News

The New York Times recently profiled Center alumnus David Raskin '94, focusing on his work as a federal terrorism prosecutor. Click here to read the January 13 story. Mr. Raskin also recently spoke at the Law School about his work as Chief of Terrorism and National Security in the U.S. Attorneys' Office for the Southern District of New York. In his March 4 discussion, he explained how terrorism investigations and prosecutions proceed. Drawing on his own experiences including the prosecution of Zacarias Moussaoui, who was convicted for his role in the September 11 attacks, he discussed some of the unique ethical issues that arise in the course of such cases.

Alumnus Anthony Bruno's paper, “Is Achieving Equal Education Possible? An Empirical Study of New York State Public Schools,” has been accepted for publication from the St. John's Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development for its summer 2010 issue. His paper analyzed funding, demographic, and student achievement data from school districts in New York State to try to determine if there is a link between funding and student performance. A member of the class of '09, Anthony is currently working as a law clerk in the Second Circuit staff attorneys’ office.