CUNY School of Law is the premier public interest law school in the United States. It trains lawyers to serve the underprivileged and disempowered and to make a difference in their communities.
CUNY Law pioneered the model of integrating a lawyering curriculum with traditional doctrinal study. The school has been praised in a study by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, “Educating Lawyers: Preparation for the Profession of Law,” for being one of the few law schools in the country to prepare students for practice through instruction in theory, skills, and ethics.
Founded in 1983, the CUNY School of Law consistently ranks among the top 10 law schools in the country in clinical training. With a student-faculty ratio of 10 to 1, CUNY Law has been a model for other law schools for its clinical practice. All third-year students at CUNY Law represent clients under the supervision of attorneys at one of the largest law firms in Queens – Main Street Legal Services, Inc. – situated right on the Law School campus.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg praises CUNY as “an institution of incomparable value.” She has noted the school’s leadership for “innovations and tireless advancement of public interest law.” Charles J. Ogletree, Jr., Professor at Harvard Law School, also praises CUNY: “With all due respect to my legal institution and others, in my view CUNY Law School is the premier legal institution in the country and the world for training lawyers who are committed and dedicated to the public interest.”
According to the National Association for Law Placement Directory, CUNY Law sends a higher share of its students into public interest and public service law practice — 70 percent (class of 2008) — than any other law school in the nation. CUNY School of Law enrolls an unusually diverse student body. Among its 2011 entering class, 44.44 percent are students of color. Meanwhile, tenured or tenure-track faculty are 37 percent of color, too; The Princeton Review ranks CUNY Law as having the fourth most diverse law faculty in the nation. It has also ranked the School as the most welcoming law school in the nation to older students.
Our motto, “Law in the service of human needs” infuses everything we do.