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

Enrollment:

The total number of students enrolled in all divisions, all classes is approximately 1,400

Current Faculty:

Full-Time, 76; Adjunct, 175

Degree Programs:

J.D. (Full-Time Day, Part-time Day and
   Part-time Evening Divisions)
B.S./J.D. with Stevens Institute of Technology
Bachelor's/J.D. with Adelphi University
J.D./M.B.A. with Baruch College
LL.M. in Taxation
J.D./LL.M.

Distance Learning:

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 and Policy
The International Review

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

Centers:

• Center for Business Law & Policy, Professor Faith S. Kahn and Professor Howard Meyers, Associate Director
• Center for International Law, Sydney M. Cone III, the C.V. Starr Professor of Law, director and Professor Tai-Heng Cheng, Associate Director
• Center for New York City Law, Professor Ross Sandler, director
• Center for Professional Values and Practice, Professors Elizabeth Chambliss, Tanina Rostain, and Donald Zeigler, codirectors
• Center for Real Estate Studies, Professor Andrew R. Berman, director
• Institute for Information Law and Policy, directed by Professor Beth Simone Noveck
• Justice Action Center, Professors Lenni Benson and Richard Marsico, codirectors

• Labor & Employment Law Program
• Law & Journalism Program
• Media Center 
• Public Interest and Community Service

Moots:

The Moot Court Association administers two annual moot court competitions:

• Robert F. Wagner National Labor and Employment Law Moot Court Competition
  
  
• Charles W. Froessel Intramural Moot Court Competition
  

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:

Breed, Abbott & Morgan
Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison
Proskauer Rose Goetz & Mendelsohn
LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & McCrae
Kaye, Scholer, Fierman, Hays & Handler
Greenbaum, Wolff & Ernst
Kelley, Drye, Warren, Clark, Carr & Ellis
Davis, Polk, Wardwell, Sunderland & Kiendl
Guggenheimer & Untermeyer
Marvin, Hooker & Roosevelt
Mudge, Rose, Guthrie & Alexander
Chadbourne, Parke, Whiteside & Wolff

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 and alumnae.

New York Law School was established in 1891 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.

From the former Dean of Yale Law School to the National 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 Leaders

For 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:  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:

• Beverly Chell, Vice Chair and General Counsel of PRIMEDIA;
• Trustee Emeritus Maurice Greenberg, Chairman of American International Group, Inc.;
• Lawrence S. Huntington, former CEO of Fiduciary Trust International;
• Arnold Kopelson, Academy-Award winning producer of "Platoon," and "The Fugitive";
• J. Bruce Llewellyn, Chairman of the Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Philadelphia, among the five largest minority-owned businesses in the nation;
• The Honorable Roger J. Miner of the U.S Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit;
• The Honorable Judith Sheindlin, "Judge Judy," syndicated television courtroom judge and best-selling author; and,
• Sybil Shainwald, pioneering women's health litigator and advocate.

Located in the Heart of the Legal and Financial Capital of the World

Located 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.

The 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.

Simulation Courses

• Advocacy of Criminal Cases
• Alternative Dispute Resolution
• Negotiating, Counseling and Interviewing (NCI)
• Trial Advocacy
• The Role of the Government Attorney

• Judicial Externship
• Law Office Externship
   

• Employment Discrimination Clinic
• Criminal Law Clinic
• Elder Law Clinic
• Employment Law Clinic
• Mediation Clinic
• Poverty Law Clinic
• Securities Arbitration Clinic
• Special Education Clinic

A Diverse Student Body

New York Law School reflects the cosmopolitan nature of its urban setting. Today's student body of 1,400 represents more than 340 undergraduate schools and several foreign institutions. The composition of the student body is 49% women, and 27% self-identify as members of minority groups (entering class, 2004).

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. Sudents 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 Campus

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.

The Mendik Law Library offers students, faculty, and alumni the latest research and study facilities in a five-story building housing over 500,000 volumes. 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.