City University of New York Law at Queens College
City University of New York
City University of New York Law at Queens College
65-21 Main Street
Flushing, NY 11367
www.law.cuny.edu
Law School Pro Bono Programs
Contact Information
Sam Sue Director of Career Planning
sue@mail.law.cuny.edu
(718) 340 4233
Category Type
Public Service Graduation Requirement Program
Description of Program
The stated mission of CUNY to educate and train lawyers for the practice of Law in the Service of Human Needs. CUNY's curriculum emphasizes practical experience during all three years of law school. Each third-year student is required to take at least 12 credits of in-house clinic, a field placement program, or an elective concentration of public importance. Pro bono placements are communicated via the email and weekly notices to website.
The Mississippi Project operates during the break between fall and spring semesters.
Location of Program
Office of Career Planning.
Staffing/Management/Oversight
Director of Career Planning, in additional to other responsibilities.
Funding
There is law school funding for the program.
Student Run Pro Bono Groups/Specialized Law Education Projects
Asian Pacific American Law Students Association - Organizes student participation in projects of the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund. Cuba Delegation - Fundraises and sends students on law-related public service trips to Cuba
Domestic Violence Coalition - Runs the Court Advocacy Project in which trained students assist domestic violence survivors seeking protection orders in Family Court.
National Lawyers Guild - Coordinates student involvement in Street Law Project.
The Mississippi Project - Student volunteers work with community and public interest groups in the Mississippi delta during the break between fall and spring semesters.
Faculty and Administrative Pro Bono
Awards/Recognition
There is a student recognition graduation ceremony. There is also mass recognition of the total number of pro bono hours engaged by CUNY Law students in the past year.
Community Service
BLSA: Red Cross Blood Drive
Law School Public Interest Programs
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Contact Information
Sam Sue Director of Career Planning
(718) 450-4233
sue@mail.law.cuny.edu
Stephanie McGregor
Associate Director, Career Planning
mcgregors@mail.law.cuny.edu
Career Planning Office
Certificate/Curriculum Programs
Our entire curriculum is specialized in public interest law. Public interest law is infused throughout the Law School's curriculum. The mission of the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law, the only publicly-supported law school in New York City and one of only two in the State, is to educate students for the practice of law with special emphasis on public service and public interest law. We seek to enhance the diversity of the bar and to meet previously unmet legal needs, to recruit students from and train lawyers for historically underserved communities, and to educate all our students about the diverse and special legal needs of communities through our City and State. We seek to make legal education available to a broad variety of applicants based on an evaluation of the whole person, her/his background, prior academic and other work experience, dedication to public interest, and the degree to which these factors inspire confidence that s/he can successfully complete the Law School program and become an excellent lawyer.
Responding to the profession's expressed dissatisfaction with legal education's failure to prepare graduates for the practice of law, we are committed to a curriculum which integrates theory and doctrinal knowledge with core lawyering skills. We work to incorporate the best of traditional legal pedagogy with an innovative program based on the theory of experiential learning which prepares students for the profession through the use of simulations, experience in practice settings, and live-client clinics, incorporating issues of professional responsibility and integrating doctrine with legal theory and a practice perspective throughout the curriculum.
Public Interest Centers
Community Micro-Enterprise Initiative (CMEI) - The Community Micro-Enterprise Initiative (CMEI), has as its objectives the development of lawyers who can provide high-quality affordable legal services and education to small businesses in underserved communities and the creation of models that permit such community-based lawyers to survive and thrive. CMEI works closely with the Small Business Development Center of LaGuardia Community College, one of the units of the City University of New York, which receives funding by the U.S. Small Business Administration. Pro bono opportunities are available. Immigrant Initiatives Project- This project focuses on ways that law schools can serve immigrant communities. Current projects that involve working pro bono as well as student working for credit include citizenship days and community counseling on immigration issues. This project helps about 300 people a year.
Community Legal Resource Network - The Network resources law graduates and assists them to practice law on behalf of underserved communities. Over 150 graduates are part of this network and participate in pro bono and low bono projects that increase access to justice. The project studies and promotes best practices for creating economically viable small firm practices that serve communities. Contact person is Fred Rooney, CLRN Director (718) 340-4451.
Public Interest Clinics
Defender's Clinic Elder Law Clinic
Equality Concentration
Family Law Clinic
Health Law Concentration
Immigrant & Refugee Rights Clinic
International Women's Human Rights Clinic
Mediation
Externships/Internships
Health Law Concentration students participate in legal work in the dynamic, growing, and challenging area of health law issues, including access to healthcare and the law's effect on the quality of care. Students work as interns two days a week in a variety of public interest settings, including governmental agencies like the Health and Hospitals Corporation, legal services offices, HIV advocacy centers, and in plaintiff medical malpractice firms. In both the classroom and their supervised field placements, students learn about and critique health-care programs such as Medicaid and Medicare, legal mechanisms that monitor the quality of care, doctor-patient relationships, bioethics, and issues of privacy and civil liberties. In addition to legislative and policy work, the Concentration provides students with opportunities to enhance their legal writing and other litigation skills. Equality Concentrationengages students in legal work combatting discrimination and promoting equal treatment. Students work as interns two days a week in public interest organizations like the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Inc., the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund, and the National Employment Law Project (NELP); state and local human rights agencies like the New York City Human Rights Commission; and small firms engaged in Title VII and other civil rights litigation. An extensive and intensive classroom component, which teaches the law of employment discrimination, discrimination based on race and gender, sexual orientation, disability and AIDS, and language discrimination, complements and enhances student work in supervised field placements. Similarly, classroom instruction, utilizing simulation, research, fact investigation, and pre-trial and trial practice, enables students to perform at an advanced level in their internships and helps insure that their fieldwork includes opportunities for meaningful lawyering and full participation in these challenging cases. The fieldwork experience, explored in weekly rounds or meetings, provides rich opportunities for analyzing and understanding the ethical and professional responsibility issues involved in civil rights practice.
All students in a summer public internship take a companion course, Public Interest/Public Service.
Classes with a Public Service Component
Economic Justice Clinic - This 2nd year elective offers students the opportunity to provide representation to clients in workfare related cases Fourth semester lawyering seminar course Provides opportunities for students to engage in hands-on public interest legal work. The seminar may change from year to year. During the 2005-6 academic year, it was the International Human Rights Seminar.
The Public Interest/Public Service Course - A classroom course that gives credit and supervision for off-site public interest/service related internships. This course is offered only in the summer term.
Public Interest Journals
New York City Law Review is a student-run law review that focuses on articles and writings that concern the public sector.
Public Interest Career Assistance
The Career Planning Office is focused on providing assistance primarily in the area of public interest law and thus provides individual counseling and assistance to students, resume review, maintains a website that contains mostly information on public interest/pro bono events as well as jobs and internships in the public interest arena. We also maintain a resource library that contains about 75% of materials geared to the public sector. Because CUNY Law School's mission is to train attorneys to do public interest/service law, our on-campus interview program is dedicated to public interest careers. Students can also attend the Public Interest Career Symposium, New York.
Two students are provided funding for attending public interest conferences.
Loan Repayment Assistance Programs (LRAP)
The Martin Popper and Philip Jones Memorial Fundwas established in the memory of Martin Popper and Philip JOnes, both formerly partners of the firm of Wolf Popper Ross Wolf & Jones, by the firm, by senior partner Benedict Wolf, and by the families of Mr. Popper and Mr. Jones. This fund assists graduates beginning careers in public interest law to repay student loans used to finance their law school education.
Post-Graduate Fellowships/Awards
Law School Funded:
Graduate Student Funded:
Other Funding Sources:
20th Anniversary Scholarships - We awarded 7 scholarships ($10,000 each) to 6th semester 3L law students who have demonstrated through their work at the law school that they will be public interest practitioners. These scholarships are intended to reduce their debt load so that they are free to take public interest jobs.
Theodore Kupferman Student Achievement Award - Pursuant to the donor's request, this award is given to a graduating student who "best exemplifies good government and civic conscience."
Term Time Fellowships/Scholarships
Law School Funded:
Graduate Student Funded:
Other Funding Sources:
Project Equity - We have Project Equity, a program that gives funding ($10,000/year) to law students who are interested in addressing issues involving special education especially those faced by autistic students. Students receiving these fellowships will receive special course work and connect public interest organizations in the city that work with students in special education.
Summer Fellowships
Law School Funded:
Yes
Graduate Student Funded:
Yes
Other Funding Sources:
Funds are raised by an auction conducted by the student run Public Interest Law Asssociation (PILA). In addition, various public interest fellowships for summer public interest jobs have been established through gifts made by individuals or law firms. They include: Haywood Burns Summer Fellowship; Bruce Wright Summer fellowship (police brutality); the Community Legal Resource Network Fellowship; the O'Dwyer Fellowships; Joseph Doherty Civil Rights Fellowship; Charles Mendelsohn Memorial Fellowship; CUNY Public Interest Fellowship; Shelley Cao Public Interest Fellowship.
Summer Funding is also provided through federal work study funds.
Extracurricular and Co-Curricular Programs
New York City Law Review Symposium - The Law School's Law Review conducts symposia on public interest topics. Past symposia have been held on community economic development and more recently nonprofit organizations. Heywood Burns Annual Lecture - There is an annual lecture from those appointed to the Heywood Burns Chair. Haywood Burns, the Law School's second Dean, died tragically in an automobile accident in South Africa on April 2, 1996. In his memory, the Law School established a Chair in Civil Rights
Student Public Interest Groups
American Constitution Law Society Black Law Students Association
Criminal Law Society
CUNY Contemplative Urban Law Program
CUNY Labor Coalition for Workers & Economic Justice
CUNY OUTlaws Irish Law Students Association -Latin American Law Association
