CUNY School of Law

Public law school in New York City, New York

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City University of New York School of Law

Motto| Law in the Service of Human Needs
Established| 1983
School type| Public law school
Dean| Sudha Setty
Location| Long Island City, New York City, New York, United States
USNWR ranking| 154 (2024)[1]
Bar pass rate| 74.56% (2022 first-time takers) [2]
Website| www.law.cuny.edu

The City University of New York School of Law (CUNY School of Law, pronounced /ˈkjuːni/, KYOO-nee) is a public law school in New York City. It was founded in 1983 as part of the City University of New York and is the only publicly funded law school in the city.[3] CUNY Law's dual mission is "to recruit and train outstanding public interest lawyers" and to "diversify the legal profession."[3]

CUNY Law's curriculum is centered around integrating clinical teaching methods within traditional legal studies.[4][5] The curriculum is unique among law schools in its emphasis on civil rights law, indigent defense, and using the law to challenge systemic inequalities.[6]

For the class of 2022, 63.83% obtained full-time, long-term, JD-required employment within nine months after graduation including 48.12% employed in public-interest law.[7]

## Campus

[edit]

In 2012, CUNY Law moved from Flushing, Queens to 2 Court Square in Long Island City giving the school nearly 70,000 additional square feet of space. This location is within walking distance of the subway, buses, and Long Island Rail Road. It is only a few blocks away from the Long Island City Courthouse. The move enabled CUNY School of Law to develop a new part-time program, which started in 2015.

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.[8] A ground floor gallery spans the length of the building’s main curved façade, terminating in a multi-story atrium space. Adjacent to a communicating stair, the atrium space allows for visual and physical connection amongst the departments and floors of the Law school and promotes interaction at multiple levels.[8]

## History

[edit]

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.[9]

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.[9]

Lawyer and human rights advocate W. Haywood Burns became the second dean of CUNY Law in 1987, making him the first African American Dean of a New York law school.[10] He led CUNY School of Law in gaining its accreditation, ensuring the survival of its progressive commitment to public interest law.[10]

## Academics

[edit]

### Admissions

[edit]

For the entering 2024 class, CUNY Law accepted 40.29% of applicants. Full-time admitted students averaged a 154 LSAT score and 3.55 undergraduate GPA.[11] Part-time students averaged a 153 LSAT score and 3.27 undergraduate GPA.[11] For the class enrolling in 2023, CUNY Law accepted 39.9% of students, the average enrollee having a 153 LSAT score and a 3.51 undergraduate GPA.[12] For the class entering in 2022, CUNY Law accepted 35.27% of applicants with 32.96% of those accepted enrolling, with the average enrollee having a 154 LSAT score and 3.42 undergraduate GPA.[13]

### Curriculum and clinical programs

[edit]

Entrance to CUNY Law's library

CUNY Law is currently ranked #3 nationally for its clinical education program.[4] The Law School curriculum combines traditional substantive law courses (like contracts, torts, civil procedure and criminal law) with lawyering skills throughout the three years of legal education. The first year curriculum consists of seven required substantive courses, Legal Research, and a four-credit Lawyering Seminar in each semester where students work on legal writing and other lawyering skills through simulations and other role-playing devices. Each third-year student is required to participate in a clinic or concentration for one or two semesters (12 to 16 credits).[citation needed]

Under the umbrella of Main Street Legal Services, Inc., several clinics provide direct service, in-house, supervised live-client representation. The two concentrations are supervised external placements.[citation needed]

* Creating Law Enforcement Accountability & Responsibility (CLEAR)
* Community & Economic Development Clinic
* Defenders Clinic
* Economic Justice Project
* Disability & Aging Justice Clinic (formerly Elder Law)
* Equality & Justice Practice Clinic (née Concentration)
* Family Law Practice Clinic (née Concentration)
* Health & Environmental Justice Practice Clinic (née Concentration)
* Immigrant and Non-Citizen Rights Clinic
* Human Rights & Gender Justice Clinic
* Mediation Clinic
* Workers Rights Clinic

[citation needed]

### Justice initiatives and special programs

[edit]

In addition to numerous pro bono opportunities available through student organizations and the Career Planning Office, the Law School supports a number of justice initiatives that serve citizen and non-citizen workers and assist and empower historically underserved communities. These include the Community Legal Resource Network (CLRN), the Center on Latinx Rights and Equality (CLRE), the Center for Urban Environmental Reform (CUER), and the Economic Justice Project (EJP). The Contemplative Lawyering Program offers yoga and meditation.[citation needed]

The Haywood Burns Chair in Civil Rights brings prominent visiting civil rights figures to the Law School in memory of its second dean, a national civil rights scholar and activist.[citation needed]

* Community Legal Resource Network (CLRN): Begun in 1998, CLRN is the Law School's initiative for alumni's continued work on to promote justice. There are 3 primary initiatives: 1) Launchpad for Justice Fellowship, supporting recent graduates in developing their skills and job readiness though collaborations with Court-based and community-based legal programs in underserved communities. 2) City Counseling Program where experienced alumni provide free legal consultations via legislative offices to constituents on housing, immigration, small business etc. 3) CUNY LawWorks, a low-cost, co-working space for alumni as they set up solo or small-group practices or non-profit organizations devoted to serving pressing needs of the poor and disadvantaged in communities.
* Center on Latinx Rights and Equality (CLRE): Focuses on issues impacting the Latino community in the United States, with the goal of developing progressive strategies for legal reform. The Center educates lawyers, law students, scholars and the general public and advocates for expanded civil rights in the areas that affect the growing Latinx population.
* Center for Urban Environmental Reform (CUER): Founded on the belief that environmental justice is a critical aspect of social justice and that communities are entitled to participate fully and meaningfully in environmental decisions that affect them.
* Economic Justice Project (EJP): Launched in 1997 in response to regressive welfare policies adopted by the City of New York. CUNY law students advocate for policy change at the state and local level along with the Welfare Rights Initiative and other community organizations.[citation needed]

### Bar passage

[edit]

In 2022, 74.56% of CUNY Law first time takers passed a bar examination. The ultimate bar passage rate for 2020 CUNY Law graduates was 84.51% and five graduates did not take a bar examination within two years of graduation.[2]

### Rankings and reputation

[edit]

CUNY Law is recognized as a top school for racial justice with an A+ ranking from National Jurist/PreLaw Magazine. who also awarded the Law School the #1 ranking for Most Diverse Law School in 2024.[14] The Princeton Review’s "Best Law Schools for 2024" rankings further acknowledged CUNY Law, with the school securing the #1 spot for "Most Diverse Faculty" nationwide and placing in four out of fourteen top categories (#2 Most Chosen by Older Students; #2 Most Liberal Students; #8 Greatest Resources for Women).[6]

U.S. News & World Report ranked CUNY #1 in Law Schools with the Most Public Interest Graduates, #154 in American Bar Association approved law schools for 2024, and #34 in part-time law programs.[15][16]

## Publications

[edit]

City University of New York Law Review is a student-run publication devoted to producing public interest scholarship, engaging with the public interest bar, and fostering student excellence in writing, legal analysis, and research. It is published twice-yearly. Issues have included a symposium issue on Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a special issue devoted to student scholarship, a special volume on Elder Law featuring award articles that received awards from the ABA Law and Aging Student Competition, and a forthcoming symposium issue on the work of Ruthann Robson.[citation needed]

## Student life

[edit]

CUNY Law's incoming class of 2025 is nearly two-thirds BIPOC (26% Hispanic/Latinx, 22.8% Black/African American, 12.6% Asian, 5.1% Indigenous) with many students holding multiple identities.[17] 42% of the incoming students are first-generation college students, and 42% identify as LGBTQ+.[17] The school has ranked as the nation’s most diverse law school in preLaw Magazine’s annual survey for the past three years in a row.[18]

CUNY School of Law in 2008 established the Center for Diversity in the Legal Profession which conducts original research and serves as a clearinghouse for data on the participation of people of color in the law.[citation needed]

CUNY School of Law in Long Island City, Queens

## Employment

[edit]

According to CUNY School of Law's official 2023 ABA-required disclosures, 63.83% of the Class of 2022 obtained full-time, long-term, JD-required employment nine months after graduation including 48.12% in public interest law and 22.5% in government.[7] CUNY School of Law's Law School Transparency under-employment score is 16.5% indicating the percentage of the Class of 2022 unemployed or working in a non-professional, short-term, or part-time job nine months after graduation, while those graduates who responded in 2017 reported a mean salary of $62,360 and median salary of $59,438.[19]

| ABA Employment Summary for 2022 Graduates[7]

Employment Status |  | Percentage
Employed - Bar Passage Required |

| 63.83%
Employed - J.D. Advantage |

| 10.11%
Employed - Professional Position |

| 7.98%
Employed - Non-Professional Position |

| 0.005%
Employed - Law School/University Funded |

| 2.13%
Employed - Undeterminable |

| 0.0%
Pursuing Graduate Degree Full Time |

| 0.0%
Unemployed - Start Date Deferred |

| 3.19%
Unemployed - Not Seeking |

| 0.0%
Unemployed - Seeking |

| 10.11%
Employment Status Unknown |

| 1.6%
Total of 188 Graduates

## Notable people

[edit]

### Deans

[edit]

1. Charles Halpern (1981–1987), founding Dean of CUNY Law.[20]
2. W. Haywood Burns (1987–1994)
3. Kristin Booth Glen (1995–2006), stepped down after being elected to the Manhattan Surrogate's Court.[21][22]
4. Michelle Anderson (2006–2016)[23]
5. Mary Lu Bilek (2016–2021), stepped down following a controversial comment she made during a faculty meeting[24]
6. Eduardo R.C. Capulong (March 2021–June 2022), interim[25]
7. Sudha Setty (2022–Present), first person of South Asian descent to lead a CUNY college.[25]

### Faculty

[edit]

* Howard Lesnick, Distinguished Professor of Law (1982–1988)[26][27]
* Harvey Epstein, Lecturer (present)[28]
* James Forman, Jr., 2024 W. Haywood Burns Chair in Human and Civil Rights. Pulitzer Prize-winning author, J. Skelly Wright Professor of Law at Yale Law School and Faculty Director of the Yale Law and Racial Justice Center.[29]

### Alumni

[edit]

* Nerdeen Kiswani, 2022, Palestinian-American activist and organizer
* Senator Jamaal Bailey, 2012, New York State Senator (D) 36th Senate District
* Catalina Cruz, 2009, New York State Assembly Member, (D) 39th Assembly District
* Oswald Feliz, New York City Council, (D) 15th District
* Marina Sitrin, Author and Sociology Professor at Binghamton University. Also known for her extensive work with Occupy Wall Street
* Eva Golinger, 2003, Lawyer, Venezuelan Activist, Author, and Journalist
* Brian F. Curran, 1994, New York State Assembly Member (R) 14th Assembly District
* Jeffrey D. Klein, 1993, New York State Senator (D) 34th Senate District
* Rebecca Seawright, 1992, New York State Assembly Member (D) 76th Assembly District
* Michael Montesano, 1989, New York State Assembly Member (R) 15th District
* Iyanla Vanzant, 1988, life coach on NBC's Starting Over[30]
* Daniel J. O'Donnell, 1987, New York State Assembly Member (D) 69th Assembly District, Sponsor of the Marriage Equality Act[31]
* Martha S. Jones, 1987, Historian, Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor and Professor of History at Johns Hopkins University
* Eleanor Raskin, 1986, former Weatherman and Administrative Law Judge, current Professor at Albany Law School

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "CUNY School of Law". usnews.com Best Law Schools. U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
2. ^ a b "City University of New York First Time Bar Passage 2022". abarequireddisclosures.org. American Bar Association. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
3. ^ a b "Mission". CUNY School of Law. Retrieved 2025-05-11.
4. ^ a b "U.S. News & World Report Law School Rankings: Clinical Education". U.S. News & World Report. 17 September 2020.
5. ^ Maeroff, Gene I. "Dean Appointed, Moving City U’s Law School Closer to Reality", The New York Times (December 24, 1981).
6. ^ a b "CUNY School of Law Ranked #2 for Racial Justice by preLaw Magazine". CUNY School of Law. Retrieved 2025-05-11.
7. ^ a b c "City University of New York Employment Summary 2022 Graduates". abarequireddisclosures.org. American Bar Association. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
8. ^ a b "Two Court Square". KPF. Retrieved 2025-05-07.
9. ^ a b "CUNY School of Law". ipfs.io. Retrieved 2025-05-11.
10. ^ a b "The Legacy of Dean W. Haywood Burns". CUNY School of Law. Retrieved 2025-05-11.
11. ^ a b "ABA Required Disclosures". CUNY School of Law. Retrieved 2025-05-07.
12. ^ ABA Required Disclosures, City University of New York School of Law - 2023 Standard 509 Information Report, https://www.abarequireddisclosures.org/requiredDisclosure (last visited Oct. 12, 2024).
13. ^ "- 2022 Standard 509 Information Report City University of New York". abarequireddisclosures.org. American Bar Association. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
14. ^ "CUNY School of Law Ranked #2 for Racial Justice by preLaw Magazine". CUNY School of Law. Retrieved 2025-05-11.
15. ^ "CUNY Law School Overview". usnews.com. Retrieved May 31, 2023.
16. ^ "U.S. News & World Report Law School Rankings". U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved 11 May 2025.
17. ^ a b "CUNY Law Takes Top Diversity Ranking Three Years Running". CUNY School of Law. Retrieved 2025-05-12.
18. ^ "CUNY Law Takes Top Diversity Ranking Three Years Running". CUNY School of Law. Retrieved 2025-05-12.
19. ^ "Overview of CUNY | Law School Transparency". Lawschooltransparency.com. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
20. ^ Law, CUNY School of. "History - About - CUNY School of Law". Law.cuny.edu. Archived from the original on 2016-08-17. Retrieved 2016-08-14.
21. ^ "Mary Lu Bilek Appointed Interim Dean of the CUNY School of Law – CUNY Newswire – CUNY". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 22 April 2016.
22. ^ "Kristin Booth Glen". Prisoners' Legal Services of New York. 2020-12-01. Retrieved 2024-02-10.
23. ^ "CUNY Law Dean Michelle Anderson Named President of Brooklyn College". CUNY. 2 May 2016. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
24. ^ Weiss, Debra Cassens (March 23, 2021). "Law dean reveals retirement was due to 'slaveholder' comment; remark followed tenure controversy". ABA Journal. Retrieved May 2, 2021.
25. ^ a b "CUNY Names Sudha Setty as Dean of School of Law, Nation's Leading Public Interest Law School". CUNY Newswire. Retrieved 2022-02-23.
26. ^ Howard Lesnick, Infinity in a Grain of Sand: The World of Law and Lawyering as Portrayed in the Clinical Teaching Implicit in the Law School Curriculum, 37 UCLA L. Rev. 1157, 1184 (1990).
27. ^ "History - About - CUNY School of Law". Law.cuny.edu. Archived from the original on 2016-08-17. Retrieved 2016-08-14.
28. ^ "Faculty Directory". CUNY School of Law. Retrieved 2025-05-08.
29. ^ "CUNY School of Law Names James Forman Jr. as the W. Haywood Burns Chair for 2024". CUNY School of Law. Retrieved 2025-05-12.
30. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-04-29. Retrieved 2014-04-29.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
31. ^ "New York State Assembly - Daniel J. O'Donnell". Assembly.state.ny.us. Retrieved 22 April 2016.

## External links

[edit]

* Official website

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Other

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| Moved|

* Japanese School of New York (to Yonkers, NY and then Greenwich, CT)

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* CUNY School of Law
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Law schools of the Mid-Atlantic states

Delaware|

* Widener University School of Law (Wilmington)

Maryland|

* University of Baltimore School of Law
* University of Maryland School of Law

New Jersey|

* Rutgers Law School
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New York|

* Albany Law School (Union Univ.)
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* Beasley School of Law (Temple Univ.)
* Thomas R. Kline School of Law (Drexel Univ.)
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* Appalachian School of Law
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West Virginia|

* West Virginia University College of Law

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Long Island City

Queens, New York City

Parks

* Gantry Plaza State Park
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Education

| Primary and
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* Academy of American Studies
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|

Higher education|

* Briarcliffe College
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Religion and culture

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Transportation

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Roads and streets|

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Geographical features

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Other topics

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See also: Queens Community Board 1, Queens Community Board 2

40°44′52″N 73°56′37″W﻿ / ﻿40.74770°N 73.94369°W﻿ / 40.74770; -73.94369

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