Academic Centers 

The faculty created the Law School’s eight academic centers to maximize the effectiveness of their research, scholarship, teaching, and activism, and to increase opportunities for students to engage in important public policy issues. As hubs of specialized study, the centers enable invaluable exchange between students and expert practitioners.

All students at New York Law School have a variety of opportunities to participate in the work of the centers. Through the Harlan Scholars Program, top students are invited to affiliate with one of the centers and make it their intellectual home on campus. Click here for more information about the Harlan Scholars Program.

The Center for Business and Financial Law provides students with an unparalleled, rigorous, and integrated approach to academic study and skills training in all aspects of corporate, commercial, and financial law. Through cutting-edge courses, events, projects, and research, the CBFL brings together academics, practitioners, and students to addess the challenges that animate business and finance.

The Center for International Law provides students and faculty with in-depth support for instruction in many areas of international law. Founded in 1996 with major funding from The Starr Foundation, the Center maintains close ties with New York City’s business, financial, and legal communities. The Center’s activities include sponsoring the prestigious C.V. Starr Lectures and the Otto L. Walter Lecture Series, which regularly bring world-renowned speakers to the Law School; and producing The International Review, the Center’s award-winning newsletter. An affiliate of the Center is the Institute for Global Law, Justice, & Policy, a collaboration between faculty and students to pursue activities in the areas of global law, justice, and policy.

Established in 1993, the Center for New York City Law is the only program of its kind in the country. Its objectives are to gather and disseminate information about New York City’s laws, rules, and procedures; to sponsor publications, symposia, and conferences on topics related to governing the city; and to suggest reforms to make city government more effective and efficient. The Center produces several publications, including CityLaw, which tracks New York City’s rules and regulations, how they are enforced, and court challenges to them; and CityLand, which reports decisions from the New York City land use agencies.

The Law School’s Center for Professional Values and Practice provides a vehicle through which to examine the role of the legal profession and approaches to law practice. The Center’s work supports the development of lawyering skills and reflective professionalism, including consideration of how these have evolved over the decades, even as business and ethical pressures have intensified and become more complex, and the roles of lawyers in society have multiplied.

The Center for Real Estate Studies provides students with a unique educational opportunity to study both the private practice and public regulation of real estate. Launched in 2007, the Center offers an extensive selection of classroom courses, advanced seminars, and independent study projects, as well as externships in governmental offices and real estate firms. It also sponsors conferences, symposia, and continuing legal education programs on a broad spectrum of issues. The Center aims to bridge the existing gap between the private practice and academic study of real estate, and is one of the premier research centers in the country for the study of real estate. In January 2009, the Center began offering the LL.M. in Real Estate.

The Diane Abbey Law Center for Children and Families exists to ensure that children and the families who care for them receive the legal assistance they need to remain safe and secure, and to thrive. Founded in 2009, the Center offers a comprehensive curriculum aimed at creating excellent practitioners able to represent children and families in all aspects of family law. The Center approach is holistic and interdisciplinary, recognizing that assisting families requires a basic understanding not merely of law, but also social work, psychology, and other fields. Center members engage in volunteer externships, work with alumni mentors, and complete capstone projects that make concrete contributions to the lives of families in need. The Center not only prepares graduates for successful careers, but also helps give New York’s children and families the support they need.

The Institute for Information Law & Policy is New York Law School’s home for the study of law, technology, and civil liberties. The goal of the Institute is to develop and apply theories of information and communication to analyze law and policy. It also seeks to design new technologies and systems that will best serve democratic values in the digital age. The Institute administers the innovative program that leads to the Certificate of Mastery in Law Practice Technology for students who attain substantial expertise in how technology changes law practice and legal institutions. The Institute also offers a Patent Law Program that helps students develop expertise in patent law and prepare for the patent bar exam.

The Justice Action Center brings together New York Law School faculty and students in an ongoing critical evaluation of public interest lawyering. Through scholarship and fieldwork, the Center seeks to evaluate the efficacy of law as an agent of change and social betterment, particularly in the fields of anti-discrimination law and economic justice, civil liberties, criminal law and death penalty, environmental law, family law, immigration law, labor and employment law, and mental disability law. In addition to availing themselves of a focused curriculum, symposia, and research opportunities, participating students can gain direct exposure to the field of cause lawyering through externships, clinics, and workshops.