Fordham University School of Law
Fordham University School of Law is the law school of Fordham University. The school is located in Manhattan in New York City, and is one of eight ABA-approved law schools in that city. In 2013, 91% of the law school's first-time test takers passed the bar exam, placing the law schools' graduates as fifth-best at passing the New York bar exam among New York's 15 law schools.[3]
Fordham University School of Law
In the Service of Others
September 28, 1905
Matthew Diller[1]
New York City, New York, United States
40°46′17″N 73°59′06″W / 40.7714°N 73.9850°W
33rd (tie) (2024)[2]
According to Fordham University School of Law's 2022 ABA-required disclosures, 95.5% of the Class of 2014 obtained full-time, long-term, JD-required employment nine months after graduation.[4]
Overview[edit]
According to the information reported to the American Bar Association, 1,151 J.D. students attended Fordham Law in 2015–2016.[5] There are 956 full-time students and 195 part-time students. Fordham Law also offers Master of Laws (LL.M.) degrees in the following specializations: Banking, Corporate, & Finance Law; Corporate Compliance; Fashion Law; Intellectual Property & Information Technology Law; International Business & Trade Law; International Dispute Resolution; International Law & Justice; and U.S. Law.[6] LL.M. students can take a second concentration after finishing the first one by enrolling in a third semester.[7] Fordham University offers a "3-3 Program" that allows students to earn a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science and a Juris Doctor in six years of study: three at Fordham College and three at Fordham Law.[8] Fordham Law offers three joint degrees in conjunction with Fordham University's other graduate schools: J.D./M.A. in International Political Economy and Development; J.D./M.B.A.; and J.D./M.S.W.[8]
The School also offers a Master of Studies in Law (M.S.L.) degree with specializations in Corporate Compliance and Fashion Law,[9] as well as a Doctor of Juridical Science (S.J.D.) degree,[10] which is full-time, research-based[11] and culminates in a dissertation of at least 50,000 words.[12]
Founded in 1905, Fordham Law commemorated its Centennial during the 2005–06 academic year, and capped the year-long celebration with an alumni gala on Ellis Island on September 28, the school's official birthday. The school used the occasion of its Centennial to launch a new fundraising drive in 2005, and in just one year had raised more than $10 million thanks in large part to the more than 100 "Centennial Founders" who each contributed $100,000 or more.
The current dean of Fordham Law School is Matthew Diller.[13][14]
Statistics[edit]
For the class entering in 2023, 21.13% of applicants to Fordham Law were accepted. Of those accepted 32.14% enrolled. The average full time Fordham Law student had a LSAT score of 167 and an undergraduate GPA of 3.75, while the average part time student had a LSAT score of 164 and an undergraduate GPA of 3.58.[15]
In the 2024 edition of U.S. News & World Report's "Best Graduate Schools", Fordham Law was ranked tied for 33rd.[2] It has the highest ranked part-time law program in New York state (ranked 2nd in the nation in the 2021 edition.)[16] Additionally, five specialty programs were nationally ranked: Dispute Resolution, 13th; Trial Advocacy, 13th; International Law, 15th; Intellectual Property, 16th; and Clinical Training, 22nd.[17]
In 2020, The National Law Journal ranked Fordham Law 4th nationally in terms of placement of 2018 graduates in the 25 largest law firms of the largest legal market, which is New York. It is placed 15th nationally in terms of placement of 2018 graduates in top 100 law firms.[18] This is an improvement from four years earlier when it ranked 20th and 23rd in comparative rankings.[19] In a survey conducted by Vault in 2017, Fordham Law comes 8th in terms of big law placement and 9th when class size was factored in.[20]
Public Legal placed Fordham Law among the top 23 law schools for the highest median salaries along with Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Chicago, NYU, UC-Berkeley, Duke, Cornell, UPenn, Georgetown and 12 others.[21]
According to the American Universities Admission Program's LL.M Rankings, the Fordham Law LL.M program was ranked 6th nationally in 2012.[22] In 2015, 85.2% of the law school's first-time test takers passed the bar exam, placing the law school graduates as fourth-most successful New York State bar exam takers among New York's 15 law schools.[23]
In a national study of the scholarly impact of law school faculty citations between 2010 and 2014, Fordham Law's tenured professors were tied for 35th.[24][25]
Campus[edit]
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. As part of the university's Lincoln Center Master Plan, unveiled in 2005,[26] a new law school building was built. The building took three years to complete, following the groundbreaking on May 2, 2011.[27] The new law school building is part of the university's Phase 1 redevelopment of its Lincoln Center Campus.[28]
The 22-story building was designed by Pei Cobb Freed & Partners to serve a dual-purpose for Fordham University: a nine-story pedestal (and lower-level floor) houses the law school, and a 12-story tower serves as an undergraduate residence hall.[29]
The law school portion of the building was dedicated on September 18, 2014. Former New York City mayor Michael R. Bloomberg delivered the keynote address and U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor also gave a speech before presiding over the ribbon-cutting ceremony.[30]
Academics[edit]
Clinical Education[edit]
The Clinical education program at Fordham Law is ranked 22nd nationally by U.S. News & World Report in its 2016 edition of America's Best Graduate Schools.[31] At Fordham, clinical education is available but not required. Students are selected for clinics via a competitive application process. Fordham students have an opportunity to enroll in clinics following their first year, and after taking the Fundamental Lawyering Skills course. Currently, 17 clinics are offered:[32]
Students at Fordham Law publish six nationally recognized law journals. According to a study by Washington & Lee University, among journals published 2007–2014, they are ranked among the most cited in judicial opinions as follows:[35]
In addition, the study found that four of Fordham Law School's specialty law reviews are among the top ten most cited journals by law reviews in their respective specialty fields.[36]
Notable faculty[edit]
Notable faculty include Matthew Diller, Toni Jaeger-Fine,[37] Rebecca Kysar,[38] Joseph Landau,[39] Ethan Lieb,[40] John Pfaff,[41] Olivier Sylvain,[42] and Zephyr Teachout.[43] Visiting and adjunct professors include federal appeals judge Denny Chin,[44] Jewish law scholar Daniel Sinclair,[45] and election law experts Jurij Toplak[46][47] and Jerry Goldfeder.[48][49][50]
Costs[edit]
The 2015-2016 tuition at Fordham Law is $53,440 for full-time J.D. students and $40,080 for part-time J.D. students; the estimated fees, room and board, and other expenses total $27,996 for full-time and $27,906 for part-time students (not including a $2,529 student health insurance charge, which the school will waive for students who have alternative health insurance coverage).[58] The Law School Transparency estimated debt-financed cost of attendance for three years is $296,077.[59]