Page 9 - Law Schools

nylj.com |
Law Schools | Monday, august 17, 2015 | S9
its experiential opportunities in 2013, dou- bling the number of clinics offered from 13 to 26, and forged new partnerships within the city, all with the aim of educating lawyers who have the knowledge and skills they need to help New York City build on and retain its global significance.
Students, employers, and the community are benefiting greatly from the increased number of clinical and experiential pro- grams. Through these new programs, law schools are able to bring about a systematic integration of classroom teaching with the abundance of practical opportunities just a walk or a subway ride away, at key admin- istrative agencies, legal services offices, prosecutors’ offices, law firms, the courts, investment banks, tech start-ups, and a wide range of nonprofits. Law schools operate some of these clinics entirely “in-house,” while at others, located within agencies and other organizations, full-time faculty work closely with adjunct professors, experts in their fields, who supervise students. at NYLS alone, students contributed approximately 14,000 clinic hours, and 20,000 externship hours, to partner organizations and clients citywide. add to that the additional thou- sands of hours of service contributed by students at the other law schools in New York City, and the results are dramatic: Stu- dents benefit from substantial experiential training in a range of fields, and many sectors of the city receive high-quality legal services
Clinical programs that focus on public interest work, often in partnership with nonprofit organizations, give students the chance to do work that can greatly improve the quality of life of numerous residents of New York City. These programs focus on pro- viding access to justice for the underserved while also offering students opportunities to help build and protect the economy through work in immigration law, family law, environ- mental law, employment law, housing law, and civil rights.
In addition, many law school clinical pro- grams are linked to local government, offering much-needed support for the many offices and agencies that help the city run efficiently. The New York City Law Department is per- haps the largest city government office to benefit from the service of law students, both in clinics and externships. For example, NYLS students are defending tort claims as part of the municipal Litigation Defense Clinic in the agency’s Tort Division. In addition, law stu- dents can offer much-need services to other city agencies, including the administration for Children’s Services, health Department, Department of Small Business Services, and Taxi and Limousine Commission. and students at law schools throughout the city regularly offer their services to district attor- ney offices through prosecution clinics, or to the Legal aid Society through criminal defense clinics.
Students also play a crucial role in support- ing the engines of commerce and enterprise that help New York thrive. In the business law arena, as we mark the fifth anniversary of the Dodd-Frank act, field training in compliance is an area with a huge potential for growth. The shortage of trained lawyers has made it difficult for the financial industry to keep up with a changing regulatory regime. a 2015
worldwide survey by accenture of leading compliance officers in banking, insurance, and capital markets found that investment in compliance will continue to increase by at least 10 percent over the next two years. The situation offers many possibilities for law schools to step in through clinical or externship programs. one leading global financial services company—Credit Suisse— has embarked on an innovative “grow your own” initiative to meet the industry’s need for skilled talent in this field by partnering with NYLS to provide students with hands- on field training in compliance as part of its general Counsel academy.
Students also play a crucial role in supporting the engines of commerce and enterprise that help New York thrive.
In addition, clinical programs have much to offer companies in the innovation and tech sectors. an increasing number of law schools in New York have clinics focused on entre- preneurship, and some, including NYLS, offer patent clinics that help inventors patent their inventions by representing them before the u.S. Patent and Trademark office.
and as corporations increasingly embrace alternative dispute resolution as a viable and much less costly alternative to litigation, clin- ics and other programs focused on the essen- tials of arbitration, mediation, and negotiation are giving their students an important edge when they seek employment in all sectors of the New York economy.
Academic Centers
academic centers at law schools repre- sent another means by which law schools can serve New York City. Through focused academic centers, New York’s law schools are able to offer both legal and educational programs to help develop and expand those sectors of the economy that assert and under- pin New York’s stature as a worldwide leader in many aspects of modern life. academic centers work in tandem with nonprofit orga- nizations, city agencies, and businesses on a range of projects that benefit from scholarly research and critical exploration, particularly in areas where new technologies reshape or disrupt existing paradigms. The activities and programs of law school centers bring leaders in all sectors of the economy—public, pri- vate, both for profit and not for profit—into the schools. many of these leaders serve as mentors to students and provide employment opportunities.
NYLS’s Innovation Center for Law and Policy is one example. Through its Intel- lectual Property Institute, the Center inves- tigates the current state of legal protection of intangible assets with an emphasis on the intersection of technology and intellectual property in a range of fields. Its areas of study include privacy and cyber-security, copyright, patent, trademark, Internet law, digital entrepreneurship, and related areas. The Innovation Center also focuses on legal
and policy issues in fashion, media, enter- tainment, sports, publishing, and associated industries. and at NYLS’s Center for Busi- ness and Financial Law, leading industry experts and respected academics consider the policy and practical ramifications of integrating BitCoin and other virtual cur- rencies into the broader global economy and the evolving nature of corporate gov- ernance.
Interdisciplinary Partnerships
Law schools can also partner with other institutions to help train their students in more than one discipline and therefore offer synergistic opportunities and pursuits in areas vital to New York City’s success. Never before has there been a stronger need for law students to learn the fundamentals of business and finance, both to enhance their marketable skills and so that they one day can run their law practices more efficiently. New York City offers a wealth of opportunities for such alliances, from other institutions of higher education to financial services firms and professional organizations.
This past spring, NYLS and the univer- sity of Rochester’s Simon Business School embarked on a co-location agreement, enabling the upstate business school to estab- lish a home base at NYLS close to New York City’s financial district, technology corridor, and civic center. Joint programming between the schools is expected to be introduced later this year, and the city will be one of the ben- eficiaries. Law students will be able to learn more formally about business management and finance—and business students will be able to learn more formally about the legal system. Both cohorts will have more skills to draw from when offering their services in such areas as finance, financial services, data ana- lytics and privacy, healthcare management, intellectual property, business formation, and labor and employment matters.
Indeed, as the legal profession evolves and law schools respond to change, what law schools bring to New York City will change. many schools throughout the city offer a wide range of programs, and when we consider all of them together, it becomes clear that law schools play a vital role in pro- viding critical legal services to our commu- nities, as well as information and ideas that influence policy debates, legislation, and judicial decisions, therefore contributing to the strength of every part of our economy. In order to continue and strengthen these important contributions, law schools in New York, and those in less urban settings, must continue to adapt and innovate, form new strategic alliances, and create incubators and other innovative programs that serve the needs of our communities, and of the dynamic business, tech, government, and nonprofit sectors.
DECISIONS WANTED!
the editors of the new york Law Journal are eager to publish court rulings of interest to the bench and bar. submissions must include a sentence or two on why the decision would be of significance to our readers. also include contact infor- mation for each party’s attorneys. E-mail decisions to deci- [email protected].