Office of Enrollment Management
Joan Axinn Hall
108 Hofstra University
Hempstead, NY 11549-1080
Telephone: (516) 463-5916
Fax: (516) 463-6264
E-mail: lawadmissions@hofstra.edu
Web site: law.hofstra.edu

Nora V. Demleitner, Dean
Jennifer A. Gundlach, Vice Dean for Academic Affairs
Michelle M. Wu, Associate Dean for Information Services and Director of the Law Library
Jeffrey A. Dodge, Assistant Dean for Administration and Operations and Director of CLE
Lisa H. Berman, Assistant Dean for External Relations
Michael J. Ende, Assistant Dean for Career Services
Gary P. Moore, Assistant Dean for Law School Information Systems
David A. DeCicco, Assistant Dean for Communications
John L. Chalmers, Assistant Dean for Enrollment Management
Mary T. Ruggilo, Assistant Dean for Finance

School of Law Programs

The School of Law, founded in 1970, is on the campus of Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. Hofstra Law offers part- and full-time J.D. programs, as well as LL.M. graduate degrees in American Legal Studies (for graduates of non-U.S. law schools) and Family Law. There are approximately 1,150 enrolled students who hold degrees from more than 160 undergraduate and graduate institutions throughout the United States and come from more than 40 states and four countries outside the United States.

For nearly 40 years, Hofstra Law has provided students an education rich in both the theory and skills needed to become outstanding lawyers, business executives and community leaders. Under the leadership of its eighth dean, Nora V. Demleitner, a distinguished faculty member and internationally renowned scholar, Hofstra Law School is poised for extraordinary growth and development as the School recruits additional scholars, refines its academic program and brings the alumni community closer to the School. The School’s philosophy is captured in two simple phrases: “Be excellent in the classroom” and “Make a mark in the field of law.”

The foundation of any school is its faculty, and Hofstra Law’s faculty consists of more than 50 recognized scholars who have clerked for U.S. Supreme Court justices, chaired major American Bar Association and law-reform committees and received awards for scholarship in legal education and leadership in their communities. It is a faculty that cares deeply about legal education and students; faculty members are known for being accessible to students outside the classroom.

In addition to its faculty, Hofstra Law is known for pioneering an extensive experiential education program that allows students to study and practice alongside experienced attorneys, including some of the School’s more than 9,000 alumni. Hofstra’s current in-house clinical opportunities are in Asylum, Child Advocacy, Community and Economic Development, Criminal Justice, Law Reform Advocacy, Mediation and Securities Arbitration. Hofstra Law also offers prestigious externship opportunities and a broad array of simulation courses. With more than 200 upper-level course offerings, students can explore diverse areas of law and can craft an individualized course of study from Hofstra Law’s 15 area-specific concentrations, including civil litigation, intellectual property, constitutional law, corporate and securities law, criminal law and procedure, energy and the environment, and health law, among many other areas. Students can also diversify their academic experience by taking advantage of the School’s extensive study-abroad programs that include summer sessions in Freiburg, Germany; Pisa, Italy; and Sydney, Australia, as well as a winter intersession on the Caribbean island of Curacao, Netherland Antilles. Hofstra Law’s intersession programs have featured such prominent jurists as Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

The Law School takes special care to provide rigorous first-year legal training and offers such innovative courses as Transnational law, while students learn in a personal and interactive atmosphere. First-year students take courses in small sections that consist of 35 students or less, giving them an opportunity to interact with professors in a seminar-like setting. Second- and third-year students have access to the School’s extensive offerings in litigation and trial practice, as well as dispute resolution — made up of classroom, simulation, skills training and strategy sessions — to develop their expertise in particular areas of the law. Learning takes place throughout the campus for all students — in the classroom and clinical settings, at special lectures with prominent judges and practitioners, and during informal exchanges among faculty and students in faculty offices and at student-organized events and activities.

Beyond providing a sound legal training, Hofstra Law imparts insightful guidance that helps students forge successful and rewarding careers in law. Its Office of Career Services offers a wide range of services to help students find employment in both the private and public sectors, and the office’s guidance is current and relevant to the marketplace. For example, Hofstra Law’s new Classroom to Career program (C2C) gives students an advantage in a competitive legal job market by highlighting two critical elements that are not part of a traditional law school curriculum: “professional presence,” which focuses on communication, business etiquette and other matters related to professional persona, and “business practices,” which include marketing, client relations and time management. 

Student involvement is central to the School’s culture, and there are many opportunities for students to be active members of the Hofstra Law community. There are approximately 40 active student organizations, including the Black Law Students Association, International Law Society and the Student Bar Association, and four student-edited publications: Hofstra Law Review, Hofstra Labor & Employment Law Journal, Family Court Review and Journal of International Business and Law. As part of the student experience, students take classes in a state-of-the-art building that includes a trial courtroom-classroom where they can view and criticize their own trial practice through the use of advanced audiovisual equipment. The School’s law library contains more than 560,000 volumes and is equipped with a computer lab and workstations throughout. The school has a wireless network, which allows laptop access (Internet, e-mail, LEXIS and WESTLAW) from anywhere in the building.

Admission to Hofstra Law School is competitive. Full-time students in the most recent entry class had a median LSAT score of 157 and a median undergraduate GPA of 3.56. Hofstra Law seeks a diverse student body made up of individuals who will thrive in the School’s globally focused experiential-learning program, which trains them to make an impact in the legal profession, business world and society.

DEGREES OFFERED

• Juris Doctor (J.D.)
• Master of Laws (LL.M.)
  • In American Legal Studies
  • In Family Law