Motto | Law in the Service of Human Needs |
---|---|
Type | Public |
Established | 1983 |
Location | Long Island City, New York, United States |
Campus | Urban |
Dean | Mary Lu Bilek |
Website | www.law.cuny.edu |
The City University of New York School of Law (or CUNY School of Law) is an American law school with its campus located in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens in New York City. Founded in 1983, CUNY School of Law, was established as a public interest law school with a curriculum focused toward integrating clinical teaching methods within traditional legal studies.
According to CUNY School of Law's 2013 ABA-required disclosures, 48.6% of the Class of 2013 obtained full-time, long-term, JD-required employment nine months after graduation.
In 1981 CUNY hired Charles Halpern to be the founding dean of a planned law school. Halpern is regarded within the legal community as the "father of public interest law" with a professional career as a Georgetown law professor and co-founder of the Center for Law and Social Policy, an organization based in Washington D.C. that advocates for policies that aim to improve the lives of low-income people.
In Spring of 1982, Dean Halpern hired Howard Lesnick as a Distinguished Professor of Law. Professor Lesnick believed that CUNY law students needed to understand that the law only has significance in relation to the underlying human problems that it addresses.
Originally the CUNY School of Law at Queens College located in Flushing, Queens, it moved to 2 Court Square in Long Island City at the end of May 2012. CUNY purchased a six-floor condominium interest in the 14-story environmentally green building. Citigroup will retain ownership of the remainder of the building. The move gave the school nearly 70,000 additional square feet of space. The building is within walking distance of seven subway lines (two within one stop of Manhattan), the Long Island Railroad, and eight bus lines. It is only a few blocks away from the Long Island City Courthouse. The move will enable CUNY School of Law to develop a new part-time program, though it has yet to be announced when this program will start. The building at 2 Court Square is LEED Gold certified, which means that its construction had a reduced environmental impact and its design increases occupants' health and well-being.