The Center's Mission

The Center on Civil Justice at New York University School of Law is dedicated to the U.S. civil justice system and the continued fulfillment of its purpose. The Center brings together the unmatched strengths of the NYU Law faculty in the fields of procedure and complex litigation with the sophisticated practitioners and judges who make up our Board of Advisers.  Together we endeavor to support our civil courts as a place for people to fairly and efficiently resolve their problems and access justice.

The Center's faculty directors are Professors Samuel Issacharoff, Arthur Miller, and Geoffrey Miller. It is directed on an interim basis by Sheila Birnbaum, who also chairs the Center's Board of Advisers. The Board is made up of cutting-edge practitioners, as well as thought leaders from the judiciary. The Center’s work on Access to Justice is led by Janet Sabel, whose work in government and as a public interest lawyer uniquely equips her to support courts in their efforts toward reform. The Center brings together scholars, practicing lawyers, judges, court administrators, and others to track developments in our civil justice system and offer support and solutions for these changing times. 

Announcements

On January 31, 2025, the Center on Civil Justice will host Mass Actions: Bankruptcies, MDLs, Class Actions & Harrington v. Purdue, a full-day conference discussing the future of American mass actions in the wake of the United States Supreme Court's bankruptcy decision in Harrington v. PurdueMore information is available here.

Highlights

On October 28, 2024, The Center on Civil Justice hosted our Fall conference, Recent Legislative Responses to Litigation Finance.  The event featured presentations on active legislation and was widely attended both in-person and on Zoom.  The first panel consisted of a lively debate on the need for disclosure of commercial legal funding agreements and was featured in American Lawyer.  The second panel discussed consumer legal funding. New York Assemblymember William Magnarelli presented his legislation on the subject, and experts on both sides of the debate discussed it. The final panel was a comparative discussion of European efforts to regulate the industry, featuring Kai Zenner, who helped draft the European Parliament resolution that opened the dialogue.  A description of the event is here, and recordings will be available on that page shortly.

Contact Us

Center on Civil Justice 
139 MacDougal Street
Wilf Hall, Fifth Floor
New York, New York 10012
(212) 992-6196
law.ccj@nyu.edu