Clear Admit: Law School Admissions Blog » School: New York University

2010-2011 Clear Admit Law School Guide to Georgetown University Law Center Now Available!

Clear Admit — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 20:50:28 +0000

We are pleased to announce the release of the 2010-2011 Clear Admit School Guide to Georgetown University Law Center, the 12th and final title in our 2010-2011 law school guide series. To take a “look inside” the guide or to purchase it for immediate download, please visit the Clear Admit Shop!

The Clear Admit Guide to Georgetown University Law Center contains the most up-to-date information available about the admissions process, academic programs and quality of life at Georgetown University Law Center, and we present it to you in an easy-to-read format. Download your copy to learn about Georgetown Law’s unique Curriculum B, its London-based Center for Transnational Legal Studies, its robust Public Interest Law Scholars Program and much, much more. Here’s a glimpse of our section on the Georgetown Law clinical program:

“The clinical program at Georgetown Law consists of 14 clinics, all of which offer free or low-cost legal services to underserved communities. In addition to these fourteen Georgetown-run programs, students can also participate in the independent clinic D.C. Law Students in Court, which is open to students from five law schools in the D.C. area. In all of these clinics, students are responsible for most aspects of client representation, including research, interviewing clients, counseling, negotiation, analysis, legal writing and elements of the oral advocacy process. Depending on the clinic in which they choose to enroll, students can gain experience in trial, administrative, appellate or legislative practice under the direct supervision of Georgetown Law faculty, as well as learn about corporate and transactional law and engage in policy analysis. In a few Georgetown clinics, students are permitted to personally represent their clients in court.

Georgetown’s newest clinic is the Community Justice Project, which opened in the spring of 2010. Students in this clinic take on a wide variety of cases based on the needs of the marginalized clients who approach them; thus far, the clinic has offered legal assistance to clients with HIV, represented runaway youths and people facing life sentences in prison, and helped incarcerated parents to reestablish contact with their children. Students’ responsibilities include investigating cases brought before the clinic, trial preparation, community organizing, written and oral advocacy, and lobbying governmental agencies on behalf of their clients.”

Like our other 11 Clear Admit Law School Guides, which were released in late July, the Guide to Georgetown University Law Center is designed to help law applicants:

Select law schools effectively by comparing J.D. programs head-to-head using objective data that goes beyond published rankings

Save time assembling application materials as the guides provide the key admissions information that law applicants need in one location

Craft informed application essays with school-specific details about special programs, faculty, and experiential learning opportunities to enhance Personal Statements and supplemental essays

Develop an insightful waitlist strategy by demonstrating knowledge of a program that proves the applicant’s “fit” in the class

The Clear Admit Guide to Georgetown University Law Center is available in the Clear Admit Shop, along with our 11 other titles: Harvard Law, Yale Law, Stanford Law, Columbia Law, NYU School of Law, Chicago Law, Penn Law, Berkeley Law, Michigan Law, Northwestern Law and Virginia School of Law. Guides can be purchased individually for $25 each, or for a discounted price of $20 each if you add three or more to your shopping cart.

Six Fulltime Professors Join NYU School of Law Faculty

Clear Admit — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 17:00:09 +0000

NYU School of Law has hired six fulltime professors to join the school’s faculty in the 2010-2011 academic year. These new faculty members boast a variety of legal expertise, including backgrounds in business, criminal, international, and procedure law.

One of the new professors, Richard Epstein, has actually been teaching at NYU Law as a Visiting Professor for the last few fall terms. He is known for his work regarding constitutional, economic, historical, and philosophical topics related to law, and comes to NYU from Chicago Law School, where he was a member of the faculty from 1972 through the end of the 2009-2010 academic year. For the 2010-2011 academic year, Professor Epstein will teach the first-year Contracts course in the fall and a class on food and drug law in the spring. Daryl Levinson, meanwhile, is returning the NYU School of Law after teaching at Harvard Law School for five years. Planning to teach Remedies in the fall and Constitutional Law in the spring, Levinson is known for his expertise in public law as well as constitutional law and theory. Erin Murphy, on the other hand, is slated to teach Criminal Law in the spring, drawing on her variety of research and experience in criminal law, criminal procedure, and evidence. Leaving his current position as a senior researcher for the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, joining NYU School of Law’s faculty will be Ryan Bubb’s first teaching position. He will teach the Corporations course in the fall. Sarah Woo will teach International Finance Regulation as well as the International Insolvency seminar this spring, sharing her expertise in bankruptcy and financial regulation with her students. Franco Ferrari, who comes to NYU from Verona University School of Law in Italy, is the final new fulltime faculty member. Known for his work in comparative law, Ferrari will teach International Business Transaction in the fall, and next spring teach the Comparative Law of Torts as well as Forum Shopping & International Commercial Law seminars.

NYU Law Hosts Two Legal Education Programs for Youth

Clear Admit — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 17:00:41 +0000

Not all classes let out in late spring as evidenced by NYU Law’s participation in two programs aimed at giving high school students from underprivileged backgrounds the chance to explore the field of law.

The first of these partnerships is with the Training and Recruitment Initiative for Admission to Leading Law Schools (TRIALS), which is also sponsored by the Advantage Testing Foundation and Harvard Law School. During the five-week program, a select group of 20 students meet legal scholars from the NYU Law community, such as Dean Revesz and Professor McKenzie, and attend lectures by public figures and leading lawyers. Participants, for whom the residential program is fully subsidized, are also afforded the opportunity to prepare for the LSAT and attend courses taught by instructors from the Advantage Testing Foundation. To learn more about the TRIALS program and how to apply, click here.

Also this summer, and for the second year in a row, NYU Law is hosting Legal Outreach’s Summer Law Institute (SLI). Legal Outreach runs SLI programs at other law schools in the New York City area, but the NYU session is the only program specifically for ninth grade African American male students. The five-week schedule of events includes field trips to courthouses, a course on criminal justice, numerous guest speakers, many of whom are graduates of the law school, and a mock trial competition.

Clear Admit Publishes Eleven 2010-2011 Law School Guides

Clear Admit — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 08:00:27 +0000

We are pleased to announce the release of the 2010-2011 Clear Admit Law School Guides to Berkeley, Chicago, Columbia, Harvard, Michigan, NYU, Northwestern, Penn, Stanford, UVA and Yale!

This set of comprehensive guides was designed with the discerning law school applicant in mind. Each publication provides detailed information about areas such as academics, clinical programs, student clubs, career services, and admissions and financial aid in an easy-to-use format. These objective guides help law applicants:

Select law schools effectively by comparing J.D. programs head-to-head using objective data that goes beyond published rankings

Save time assembling application materials as the guides provide the key admissions information that law applicants need in one location

Craft informed application essays with school-specific details about special programs, faculty, and experiential learning opportunities to enhance Personal Statements and supplemental essays

Develop an insightful waitlist strategy by demonstrating knowledge of a program that proves the applicant’s “fit” in the class

We’re confident that applicants at all stages of the law school admissions process will find the Clear Admit Law School Guides to be valuable, time-saving resources. To take a “look inside” our guides, please visit the Clear Admit Shop where each guide is available for immediate download. Be sure to check back in early September for the release of the Clear Admit School Guide to Georgetown Law!

Campus Chronicles: Summer Reading

Clear Admit — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 17:00:57 +0000

For those applicants looking for some fun summer reading that has the added benefit of enhancing your law school applications, the archives of student newspapers are a wonderful resource that is well worth exploring. Student papers often offer excellent insight into the culture on campus and provide a great window on the events and controversies at each school, making them an important part of the law school application research process.

Candidates beginning the application process might find it helpful to read through some of the back issues of a school’s paper. Information from the papers can become a valuable addition to application essays later this summer – perhaps you would like to help organize one of the conferences or speaker series profiled in the paper? Maybe the summaries of athletic matches stir your competitive spirit and inspire you to join one of these activities at law school? Alternatively, perhaps you’ve appreciated how helpful the student newspaper is to applicants and would like to contribute to its production as a law student? Each of these ideas for involvement can help you tailor your application essays to a school while adding flavor and interest.

For applicants’ convenience, we’ve listed below student newspapers published at several of the leading law schools in the United States:

Chicago Law School: Chicago Maroon
Columbia Law School: The Columbia Law School Newspaper
Duke Law School: The Devil’s Advocate
George Washington University Law School: Nota Bene
Georgetown University Law Center: The Georgetown Law Weekly
Harvard Law School: Harvard Law Record
NYU Law: The Commentator
The University at Buffalo Law School: The Opinion
University of Miami Law School: Res Ipsa Loquitur
University of Michigan Law School: Res Gestae
UCLA Law: The Docket
UVA Virginia: Virginia Law Weekly
Washington and Lee School of Law: The Law News

Happy reading!

NYU School of Law Hosts International Human Rights Funders Group Conference

Clear Admit — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 12:59:04 +0000

The Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at NYU School of Law sponsored the semi-annual conference for the International Human Rights Funders Group (IHRFG). Held on July 13 and 14, the two-day conference brought the philanthropists who make up the IHRFG’s membership together with legal scholars, policy makers, human rights experts and entrepreneurs in order to exchange information about today’s most pressing human rights issues and the latest developments aimed at addressing them.

Titled “Human Rights in the Digital Age: Mobilizing Freedom, Repressing Dissent,” the conference dealt with some of the opportunities and problems for human rights activist groups that are presented by new media, and introduced the IHRFG’s members to new tech-savvy human rights organizations such as Access, Benetech and Breakthrough. Panels included explorations of recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings, such as the discussion group “What is the Impact of the Recent U.S. Supreme Court Decision on Juvenile Life-Without-Parole Sentences?” which was moderated by representatives from the public interest law organizations the Equal Justice Initiative and the Juvenile Law Center. Additionally, representatives from the Open Society Institute, the National Security and Human Rights Campaign and the Stewart R. Mott Foundation held the discussion group “What are the Implications of the Recent U.S. Supreme Court Decision on the Provision of Material Support to Foreign Terrorist Organizations?”

The conference’s keynote speaker was Michael Posner, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, who delivered a speech on “Human Rights and U.S. Foreign Policy.” All of the conference’s events were held in NYU Law’s D’Agostino Hall.

NYU Law School Grad Is First Winner Of UVA Law’s New Annual Writing Competition

Clear Admit — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 16:55:06 +0000

Earlier this year the University of Virginia Law School announced that its Human Rights Program and Virginia Journal of International Law (VJIL) would co-sponsor a new writing competition, the UVA Law Human Rights Student Scholars Writing Competition. The writing competition is designed to be held every year and is open to J.D., LL.M., and S.J.D. students from around the world who are interested in and have written about human rights topics.

NYU Law’s Alyssa Bell ’10 won the competition for her essay “Torturous Intent: Refoulment of Haitian Nationals and U.S. Obligations Under the Convention Against Torture.” Bell’s paper outlines the humanitarian crisis occurring in Haiti due to the abusive, crowded, and unsanitary conditions of the prisons, and argues that the U.S. has legal obligations related to this situation due to its agreement to the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment and Punishment.

As the competition winner, Bell will receive a cash prize of $500 as well as be featured in an online symposium hosted by the VJIL and the Opinio Juris blog. Her essay will also undergo expedited consideration for publication in the VJIL. NYU Law plans to publish Bell’s winning article in the upcoming issue of the Review of Law and Social Change. Finally, Bell has the opportunity to present her paper at a Human Rights Student Scholars Workshop, which the law school’s international law faculty, VJIL editors, and law students will attend.

Bell received her B.A. with high honors from Swarthmore College, after which she worked in legal services and health care policy. She went on to study transnational migration in Spain as a Fulbright Scholar, and then enrolled at NYU Law under a Root-Tilden-Kern Scholarship, which was given in recognition of her intention to continue pursuing a career in public service. At NYU Law, Bell held the position of senior articles editor of the Review of Law and Social Change. A graduate of the Law School this spring, Bell will go on to clerk for Judge Margaret Morrow of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California for the 2010-2011 term and for the 2011-2012 term, move on to clerking for Judge Richard Paez of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Admissions Deans at Top J.D. Programs Share Their Tips for Getting into Law School

Clear Admit — Mon, 31 May 2010 13:00:06 +0000

Last week, admissions deans from six leading law schools answered questions about the law school admissions process that were posed by an unnamed news publication. Four of these admissions deans then posted the insightful responses on their school’s official admissions blog. As a result, applicants to leading U.S. law schools can now visit the Stanford Law, Columbia Law, Yale Law and Michigan Law admissions blogs and find a treasure trove of information about the admissions process straight from the minds of the gatekeepers to their dream schools: Asha Rangappa from YLS, Nkonye Iwerebon from CLS, Faye Deal from SLS, Sarah Zearfoss from Michigan Law, Anne Perry from Chicago Law and Ken Kleinrock from NYU School of Law.

Each dean contributed well thought out and detailed responses to questions such as “What do you look for in a personal statement?” and “What can applicants do to set themselves apart from their peers?,” providing future applicants with a snapshot of exactly what the law school adcom looks for when they read an application. Plus, their responses to the “mini-forum,” as Dean Iwerebon called it (Dean Deal likened it to speed dating), reveal the personalities of each dean, which, in addition to being fun, serves to affirm the humanity of the applicants’ audience and thus might make the application process seem less intimidating to law school aspirants.

To read all of the deans’ responses, applicants will need to visit the YLS, SLS, CLS and Michigan Law admissions blogs, as each dean posted just two or three questions on her blog.

NYU Law Alumnae Awarded Equal Justice Work Fellowships

Clear Admit — Thu, 20 May 2010 17:00:18 +0000

Mindy Friedman and Alisa Wellek, both class of 2010, along with Kristin Connor ’08 were named Equal Justice Works (EJW) Fellows earlier this month. EWJ, founded in 1986 and now the largest post-graduate legal fellowship program in the US, awards two-year grants for recipients to undertake public interest work anywhere in the US with underrepresented populations and on overlooked domestic issues.

Wellek, who was recently named an Arthur Garfield Hays Civil Liberty Fellow, and Friedman will complete their fellowships in New York City with the Immigrant Defense Project and at New York Lawyers for Public Interest (NYLPI), respectively. At the Immigrant Defense Project, Wellek will continue work she began through the NYU Immigrant Rights Clinic and Bronx Defenders to challenge the “jail-detention-deportation pipeline” that many non-US citizens encounter. Friedman’s project at NYLPI focuses on healthcare and removing the barriers that prevent disabled people from accessing such services.

Connor, who was an Arthur Garfield Hays Civil Liberty Fellow in 2007-2008, will return to her native southwestern US and work at a legal aid clinic in El Paso, Texas that serves low-income refugees and immigrants. Her project at the Diocesan Migrant & Refugee Services will focus on reaching out to immigrant youth and providing those eligible with legal assistance and support in the Special Immigrant Juvenile Status application process.

All three women will join NYU law graduates Natasha Merle ‘08, Sandy Mayson ‘09 and Edget Betru ‘09 who are beginning their second years in the fellowship program.

Trivia Tuesday: The Course Registration Process at Northwestern Law

Clear Admit — Tue, 11 May 2010 13:00:00 +0000

Welcome back to Trivia Tuesday! In today’s edition, we’re taking a look at Northwestern Law School’s system for registering for non-1L required courses.

Registration for upper-level classes at Northwestern Law takes place via a two-round bidding system held over a two-week period. All students begin by putting in preliminary bids for the courses they hope to take. Results for this first round of bidding are posted soon afterward, followed by a two-day intercession period during which students reevaluate their positions and select backups for any courses they did not get into. During the intercession and second round, students may cancel previous successful bids or waitlist slots, as well as change the amount of points they set aside for bidding towards a specific course, in order to recoup points they have already used. They may also bid on additional courses during the second round.

All students are assigned a certain number of bidding points depending on their class year, with 3Ls allotted 2,000 points per semester and 2Ls given 1,250 per semester. First-year students only participate in registration for second-semester, so they receive 700 points for use in registering for classes during that term alone. As a result of this allocation system, upperclassmen have a distinct advantage in the bidding process. Students can bid on up to 10 classes, designating their preferences through the number of points they bid on each course.

Each course “costs” a minimum of 25 points per semester credit hour; successful student bids are generally those that exceed this minimum value. All successful student bids are reduced to only one point for classes that did not fill up, or, if the class did fill up, to the number of points used by the lowest successful bidder. Nearly all successful bidders therefore receive at least a few points back after Round I, which can then be used to gain admission to other courses in Round II.

Students must bid to enroll in all classes aside from a few non-biddable electives, including the Senior Research Program and the Trial Team. Students enroll in these courses manually at the Office of the Registrar, and automatically pay the standard 25 points per credit to secure their place. The 1L required courses are also non-biddable, as they are mandatory for all first-year students.

Generally, students report that the complex Northwestern registration system functions smoothly, and between 80 and 90 percent of all bids are successful. According to the registrar, demand exceeds capacity for only about 15 percent of the school’s courses, so students generally do not find themselves short of points going into Round II.

While bidding systems are quite common methods of course registration among law schools in the U.S., few are as complex as Northwestern’s. In fact, the most similar system in use at a leading U.S. law school is NYU’s approach. For applicants who are interested in comparing the two approaches, we encourage you to read the Clear Admit Law School Guide for NYU School of Law!