Public Interest
The Big Picture
The First. The Biggest. The Best. Long considered the leader in training lawyers for public interest work, the Law School has pioneered programs that are now pro forma in the nation’s other top law schools. Today, NYU offers the most comprehensive public service infrastructure of any law school in the nation, including the Public Interest Law Center, a national model for the promotion of public service. Beginning with one-on-one sessions for 1Ls, PILC staff attorneys like Rachel Peckerman ’04 and Sara Rakita ’98 and director Deborah Ellis '82 are active career counselors during a student’s time at school––and after.
The Law School's commitment to producing lawyers with a real service ethos extends beyond curriculum, training opportunities and career counseling. NYU has been at the forefront of creating and funding programs to address the difficult economic reality facing prospective public interest lawyers. Since 2003, through Public Interest Summer Funding Grants, the Law School has guaranteed funding for all first- and second-year J.D. candidates who work in public interest and government positions; almost 300 students participate in the program each summer. Through the Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP), NYU Law encourages students to pursue careers in public service. Graduates who choose work in public service or with nonprofit organizations following graduation will, provided their income is below a designated level, have their debt burden paid in full or part by NYU.
Public interest training is also supported by an array of public interest scholarship programs: the Root-Tilden-Kern Scholarship Program, the Filomen M. D’Agostino Scholarship Program, the Arthur Garfield Hays Civil Liberties Program, the Black, Latino, Asian Pacific American (BLAPA) Law Alumni Association Public Service Scholarship, the Reynolds Fellowship in Social Entrepreneurship, and the Bickel & Brewer Latino Institute for Human Rights Scholarship.
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Cass Sunstein, head of OIRA, explains gains achieved through cost-benefit analysis of regulation
Furman Center's 10th annual report on New York City housing and neighborhoods highlights property tax inequity, racial integration
Four from NYU Law get Equal Justice Works Fellowships
Immigrant Rights Clinic court victory spurs major changes in policy toward those wrongfully deported
BALSA symposium addresses race, poverty, and the criminal justice system (VIDEO)
In the Press
"Trudeau Foundation awards $2.7 million to 15 promising doctoral students"
Businessweek
Featured:
Lisa Kerr
"While Pro Bono Goal Applauded, Questions About Details Abound"
New York Law Journal
Featured:
Michael Legge '14, Shira Burton '14
"Throwaway People: Will Teens Sent to Die in Prison Get a Second Chance?"
Nation
Expert:
Bryan Stevenson
"Abbott Petitions FDA To Prevent Humira Biosimilars"
Forbes
Expert:
Richard Epstein
"A better states’ welcome for immigrants"
Washington Post
Author:
Andrew Friedman '98
"The cost of a nation of incarceration"
CBS Sunday Morning (Video)
Expert:
Bryan Stevenson
Learn more about Public Interest Law at NYU:
Faculty
Curriculum
Videos
Contact Information
Public Interest Law Center
Deb Ellis
Assistant Dean
Furman Hall
245 Sullivan Street, Room 430
New York, New York 10012-1301
Telephone: (212) 998-6686
Email: Pilc.info@nyu.edu