1L Year
During your first year, you’ll get a grounding in theory and practice. Courses are led by world-class professors who introduce you to the tools you’ll need as a lawyer in a changing world.
Watch: Andrew Williams '02, director of the Lawyering Program, explains how it works.
The Lawyering Program
The Lawyering Program teaches the real-world skills (such as financial literacy) that practicing lawyers need. Each Lawyering class size is small, averaging about 26 students.
“Lawyering gives you the foundation for how you should be interpreting things in your other courses,” says Karenna Martin ’21, who has also been a teaching assistant for the course. “You’re really learning how to interpret cases. You’re learning how legal citations work. How people, when they’re writing their decisions, are backing up their arguments.”
Watch: Walla Elshekh ‘24 on why Contracts was one of the highlights of her 1L year
Introductory 1L Courses
Legislation & the Regulatory State
Specially designed by the NYU Law faculty, Legislation & the Regulatory State introduces the materials, concepts, and tools that lawyers must have in a world of statutes and regulations.
Torts
You will analyze civil liability for breach of duty causing harm to persons or property.
Criminal Law
You will study elements of criminal liability and defenses.
Procedure
You will examine the rules governing civil litigation, with an emphasis on the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and consider constitutional issues relating to jurisdiction and procedural protections.
Contracts
You'll focus on the body of law concerned with private agreements.
Property and Constitutional Law
Both are required courses, but you don’t have to take them in your first year.
Watch: Cam Williamson '19 on taking Income Taxation as his 1L elective
1L Spring Electives
Get a leg up on developing a specialty early in your legal career, particularly when applying for 1L summer positions. You can take any one of seven electives:
- Constitutional Law
- Corporations
- Criminal Procedure: Police Practices
- Income Taxation
- Intellectual Property
- International Law
- Property
Reading Groups
First-year students get to know faculty outside the classroom in small, informal reading groups. Recent topics have included Algorithms, Fairness and Equality; Lawyers and the Greek Classics; and Tax, Race, and Class.