Fordham University School of Law
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Fordham Law Library, August 2006 |
Fordham University School of Law, commonly known as
Fordham Law, is a part of
Fordham University and is one of eight
ABA approved
law schools in
New York City. Approximately 1,500
J.D. students attend Fordham Law, and over 1,000 of those are in the Day Division. Its Evening Division is one of the most selective in the nation. Fordham Law also offers Master of Law (
LL.M.) degrees in the following specializations: Banking, Corporate, & Finance Law; International Business & Trade Law; and Intellectual Property & Information Technology Law. Joint degrees are also offered in conjunction with Fordham's other graduate schools, including J.D./
M.A. in
International Political Economy and
Development; J.D./
M.B.A.; and J.D./
M.S.W.Founded in
1905, Fordham Law commemorated its Centennial during the 2005-2006 academic year, and will cap the festivities with a closing celebration on
Ellis Island on September 28, the school's official birthday. Originally located in New York's downtown
Financial District, Fordham Law is currently located on the
West Side of
Manhattan, as part of Fordham University's
Lincoln Center campus.
Fordham Law is a top-tier law school, and its 2007
US News and World Report rank is 32.
William Treanor became the ninth dean of Fordham Law School in 2002.
Legal writing program
In addition to a traditional J.D. curriculum, Fordham offers an extensive legal writing program, with many course offerings beyond the first year. All legal writing courses are taught by distinguished practitioners serving as
adjunct professors. Last year's adjuncts included a federal judge, several attorneys in high positions in government service, and many partners in large New York firms.
Clinical education
Fordham also has an excellent clinical program, and many students have an opportunity to enroll in clinics during their 3L year. The following clinics were offered to J.D. students in 2006:
*Community Economic Development
*Criminal Defense
*Family Advocacy
*Federal Litigation
*International Justice
*Mediation
*Securities Arbitration
*Tax Litigation
*Urban Policy
Crowley Program in International Human Rights
The
Crowley Program in International Human Rights, named after the late Prof. Joseph R. Crowley, was founded in 1997. It is a unique and highly selective program of study in international human rights law undertaken in the 2L year, culminating in a two-week overseas fact-finding mission in the summer. Students in the program are known as Crowley Scholars. In the fall semester, Crowley Scholars are required to take International Human Rights, a survey course, and are encouraged to take other human rights/international law courses. In the spring, Crowley Scholars take a seminar to prepare them for the summer fact-finding mission. Crowley Scholars participate in all aspects of the mission, from planning to interviewing, and assist in the writing of a mission report which is later published in the Fordham International Law Journal.
Students at Fordham Law publish six well-regarded
law journals. In order or their founding, they are:
*Fordham Law Review
**FLR is the ninth-most cited
law review in the nation according to a recent study by
Washington & Lee University.
*Urban Law Journal
*International Law Journal
*Intellectual Property Law Journal
*Environmental Law Review
*Journal of Corporate & Financial Law
**An article published in the JCFL was recently cited by the
United States Supreme Court in
Arthur Andersen LLP v. U.S., 544 U.S. 696 (2005). The article was
To Shred or Not to Shred: Document Retention Policies and Federal Obstruction of Justice Statutes, by Christopher C. Chase, 8 Fordham J. Corp. & Fin. L. 721 (2003).
Fordham's Public Interest Resource Center (PIRC) serves as the clearinghouse for student community service and
pro bono work, and hosts 19 student-run organizations, including
Habitat for Humanity,
Unemployment Action Center,
Just Democracy, and others.
Stein Scholars
The PIRC also runs the competitive Stein Scholars Program in Public Interest Law and Ethics, in which selected students train for a career in the public sphere and receive funding for doing unpaid public interest work. The program is sponsored by the Louis Stein Center for Law and Ethics, which counts among its Board of Advisors several influential people, including
Geraldine Ferraro '60, three sitting judges, and others.
*
Cornelius Blackshear, Judge,
U.S. Bankruptcy Court (1985-2005); presided over
Pan Am and
Spiegel bankruptcies
*
Kathleen Brown, Senior Advisor, Head of Public Finance, Western Region,
Goldman Sachs*
Kevin Burke, Chairman, President and
CEO,
Consolidated Edison*
Denny Chin, Judge,
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York*
Christopher Cuomo,
Emmy Award-winning correspondent for
ABC News*
Francis Edwin Dorn, member of the
U.S. House of Representatives (1953-1961)
*
Claire Eagan, Chief Judge,
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma*
John D. Feerick, Dean, Fordham University School of Law School (1982-2002)
*
Geraldine Ferraro, member of the
U.S. House of Representatives (1979-1985) and first woman
Vice Presidential candidate of a major political party
*
John D. Finnegan, Chairman, President and
CEO,
Chubb Corporation*
Jack Ford, co-anchor of
Court TV's Banfield & Ford: Courtside,
Peabody Award and two-time
Emmy Award winner
*
Vito Fossella, member of the
U.S. House of Representatives (1998-Present)
*
James F. Gill, Chairman,
Battery Park City Authority*
Arthur Gonzalez, Judge,
U.S. Bankruptcy Court (1995-Present); presided over
Enron Corporation and
WorldCom bankruptcies
*
G. Gordon Liddy,
Watergate conspirator, nationally syndicated radio talk show host
*
John Mara, President and
COO,
New York Giants*
Ralph J. Marino,
Majority Leader,
New York State Senate (1988-1994)
*
Joseph M. McLaughlin, Judge,
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (1990-Present)
*
Lara Jill Miller, actress, best known for her role as Samantha "Sam" Kanisky on the TV
sitcom Gimme a Break!*
John N. Mitchell, U.S. Attorney General under
President Nixon*
William Hughes Mulligan, Judge,
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (1971-1981)
*
Jerrold Nadler, member of the
U.S. House of Representatives (1993-Present)
*
Finbarr J. O'Neill, President and
CEO,
Reynolds & Reynolds*
Marilyn Hall Patel, Judge,
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California*
Loretta A. Preska, Judge,
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York*
Thomas Vincent Quinn, member of the
U.S. House of Representatives (1949-1951)
*
Bernard M. Shanley,
Deputy Chief of Staff and
White House Counsel to
President Eisenhower*
Thomas Suozzi,
Nassau County Executive and candidate for Governor of New York in 2006
*
Peter Vallone, Jr., Member of the
New York City Council (2002-Present)
*
Peter Vallone, Sr., first and longtime Speaker of the
New York City Council*
Malcolm Wilson, Governor of New York (1973-1975)
*
Ruth Whitehead Whaley, first female African-American lawyer admitted in New York (1924)
*
Fordham University School of Law*
Fordham University*
Fordham Law Centennial Celebration
