Cornell Law School, located in
Ithaca, New YorkThe city of Ithaca, is a city in upstate New York and the county seat of Tompkins County, as well as the largest community in the Ithaca-Tompkins County metropolitan area...
, is a
graduate schoolA graduate school is a school that awards advanced academic degrees with the general requirement that students must have earned a previous undergraduate degree...
of
Cornell UniversityCornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
and one of the five
Ivy League law schoolsThis list of Ivy League law schools outlines the five universities of the Ivy League that host a law school. The three Ivy League universities that do not offer law degrees are Brown, Princeton and Dartmouth....
. The school confers three
law degreeA Law degree is an academic degree conferred for studies in law. Such degrees are generally preparation for legal careers; but while their curricula may be reviewed by legal authority, they do not themselves confer a license...
s. The school has a student to faculty ratio of 10.4 to 1, the third lowest of the 184
American Bar AssociationThe American Bar Association , founded August 21, 1878, is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. The ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of academic standards for law schools, and the formulation...
-accredited law schools in the United States.
History
The
Law Department at Cornell opened in 1887 in
Morrill HallJustin Morrill Hall, known almost exclusively as Morrill Hall, is an academic building of Cornell University on its Ithaca, New York campus. As of 2009 it houses the Departments of Romance Studies, Russian Literature, and Linguistics...
with Judge Douglas Boardman as its first Dean. At that time, admission did not require even a high school diploma. In 1917, two years of undergraduate education was required for admission, and in 1924, it became a graduate degree program. The department was renamed the Cornell Law School in 1925. In 1890, George Washington Fields graduated, one of the first law-school-graduates of color in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. In 1893, Cornell had its first female graduate, Mary Kennedy Brown.
In 1892, the school moved into Boardman Hall, which was constructed specifically for legal instruction. The school moved from Boardman Hall (now the site of Olin Library) to its present-day location at Myron Taylor Hall in 1937. The law school building, an ornate,
GothicThe Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
structure, was the result of a donation by
Myron Charles TaylorMyron Charles Taylor was one of the major figures in American life during the first half of the twentieth century...
, a former CEO of US Steel, and a member of the Cornell class of 1894. An addition to Myron Taylor Hall, the Jane M.G. Foster wing, was completed in 1988. Foster was a member of the class of 1918, and was the first woman to serve as Editor-in-Chief on an American law review.
In 1948, Cornell Law School established a program of specialization in international affairs and also started awarding LL.B. degrees. In 1968, the school began to publish the
Cornell International Law JournalThe Cornell International Law Journal is one of the oldest international law journals in the United States. It was founded in 1967 by members of the Cornell Society of International Law at Cornell Law School...
. In 1991, the school established the Berger International Legal Studies Program. In 1994, the school established a partnership with the
University of ParisThe University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...
I law faculty to establish a Paris-based Summer Institute of International and Comparative Law. From 1999-2004 the school hosted the
Feminism and Legal Theory ProjectThe Feminism and Legal Theory Project is a project aimed at addressing issues relating to women and law, founded by legal theorist Martha Fineman in 1984, and which has pioneered feminist legal theory. The project nurtures scholars from around the world, bringing them together to study and debate a...
. In 2006, the school established its second summer law institute in Suzhou, China. The Clarke Program in East Asian Law and Culture was established in 2002.
Campus
Cornell Law is housed within Myron Taylor Hall (erected 1932), which contains the Law Library, classrooms, offices, a mock court room, Hughes Dining facility, dormitory space for students of the Law School, and the Cornell Legal Aid Clinic.
Library
The
law libraryA law library is a library designed to assist law students, attorneys, judges, and their law clerks and anyone else who finds it necessary to correctly determine the state of the law....
contains 700,000 books and microforms and includes rare historical texts relevant to the legal history of the United States. The library is one of the 12 national depositories for print records of briefs filed with the United States Supreme Court. Also, there is a large collection of print copies of the records and briefs of the
New York Court of AppealsThe New York Court of Appeals is the highest court in the U.S. state of New York. The Court of Appeals consists of seven judges: the Chief Judge and six associate judges who are appointed by the Governor to 14-year terms...
. The large microfilm collection has sets of
CongressionalThe United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
, Supreme Court, and
United NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
documents, as well as a large collection of World Law Reform commission materials. Microfiche records and briefs for the United States Supreme Court, the
United States Court of Appeals for the Second CircuitThe United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals...
and
D.C. circuitThe United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit known informally as the D.C. Circuit, is the federal appellate court for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Appeals from the D.C. Circuit, as with all the U.S. Courts of Appeals, are heard on a...
, and the New York State Court of Appeals are also collected.
The library also has a large collection of
internationalPublic international law concerns the structure and conduct of sovereign states; analogous entities, such as the Holy See; and intergovernmental organizations. To a lesser degree, international law also may affect multinational corporations and individuals, an impact increasingly evolving beyond...
, foreign, and
comparative lawComparative law is the study of differences and similarities between the law of different countries. More specifically, it involves study of the different legal systems in existence in the world, including the common law, the civil law, socialist law, Islamic law, Hindu law, and Chinese law...
, with the main focus being on the
Commonwealth of NationsThe Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...
and
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. Along with this, there are also collections of public international law and
international trade lawInternational trade law includes the appropriate rules and customs for handling trade between countries. However, it is also used in legal writings as trade between private sectors, which is not right. This branch of law is now an independent field of study as most governments has become part of...
. A new initiative by the library is to collect Chinese, Japanese, and Korean resources to support the Law School’s Clarke Program in East Asian Law and Culture.
Rare books in the library include the Samuel Thorne collection, which has 175 of the some of the earliest and most rare books on law. Other significant collections include the Nathaniel C. Moak library and the Edwin J. Marshall Collection of early works on equity and the Earl J. Bennett Collection of Statutory Material, a print collection of original colonial, territorial, and state session laws and statutory codes. Among the library’s special collections are 19th Century Trials Collection, Donovan
Nuremberg TrialsThe Nuremberg Trials were a series of military tribunals, held by the victorious Allied forces of World War II, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of the defeated Nazi Germany....
Collection,
ScottsboroThe Scottsboro Boys were nine black teenage boys accused of rape in Alabama in 1931. The landmark set of legal cases from this incident dealt with racism and the right to a fair trial...
Collection,
William P.William Pierce Rogers was an American politician, who served as a Cabinet officer in the administrations of two U.S. Presidents in the third quarter of the 20th century.-Early Life :...
and Adele Langston Rogers Collection and the
ChileChile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
Declassification Project.
Admissions
For the Fall 2010 entering class, Cornell Law School received 6,269 applications for 205 spots. The median undergraduate GPA for the 2010 entering class was 3.70, while the median LSAT score was 168. The admission rate for the Fall 2010 entering class was 18%.
In the LL.M. program, which is geared to non-U.S.-trained lawyers, 900 applications were received for the 50 to 60 openings. LL.M. students come from over 30 different countries.
Along with consideration of the quality of an applicant's academic record and LSAT scores, the full-file-review admissions process places a heavy emphasis on an applicant's personal statement, letters of recommendation, community/extracurricular involvement, and work experience. The application also invites a statement on diversity and a short note on why an applicant particularly wants to attend Cornell. The Law School values applicants who have done their research and have particular interests or goals that would be served by attending the school versus one of its peer institutions.
Reputation
Rankings include 7th in the 2009–10 Law School 100 rankings, 28th in the world by the
QS World University RankingsThe QS World University Rankings is a ranking of the world’s top 500 universities by Quacquarelli Symonds using a method that has published annually since 2004....
by Subject: Law, 13th in the 2009 U.S. News and World Report, and its
master of lawsThe Master of Laws is an advanced academic degree, pursued by those holding a professional law degree, and is commonly abbreviated LL.M. from its Latin name, Legum Magister. The University of Oxford names its taught masters of laws B.C.L...
, or LL.M., program ranked 1st in the 2011, 2010, 2008 and 2006 AUAP rankings. In 2011, the National Law Journal reported that Cornell Law graduates had the 2nd highest percent placement at the top 250 law firms.
Academics
Degree programs offered by Cornell Law:
- Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
(JD)
- Master of Laws
The Master of Laws is an advanced academic degree, pursued by those holding a professional law degree, and is commonly abbreviated LL.M. from its Latin name, Legum Magister. The University of Oxford names its taught masters of laws B.C.L...
(LL.M.)
- Doctor of Juridical Science
Doctor of Juridical Science, Doctor of the Science of Law, Scientiae Juridicae Doctor , abbreviated J.S.D. or S.J.D., is a research doctorate in law and equivalent to the PhD It is offered primarily in the United States, where it originated, and in Canada...
(J.S.D.)
- Joint program with Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management
The Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management is the graduate business school of Cornell University, a private Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York. It was founded in 1946 and renamed in 1984 after Samuel Curtis Johnson, founder of S.C...
(JD/MBA)
- Joint program with Cornell School of Industrial & Labor Relations
The New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations is an industrial relations school at Cornell University, an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, USA...
(JD/MILR)
- Joint program with Cornell Institute for Public Affairs
The Cornell Institute for Public Affairs is a public policy program at Cornell University. It acts as a quasi-department, independent of any college or school at Cornell...
(JD/MPA)
- Joint program with Cornell College of Architecture, Art, and Planning
The College of Architecture, Art, and Planning at Cornell University was established in 1871 as the School of Architecture with the hiring of Charles Babcock as the first Professor creating the first four-year course of study in architecture in the United States...
(JD/MRP)
- Joint program in international and comparative law (JD/LL.M.)
- Joint programs in various fields (JD/MA/PhD)
The advanced degrees in law, LL.M. and JSD, have been offered at Cornell since 1928. The JD/MBA has three- and four-year tracks, the JD/MILR program is four years, the JD/MPA is four years, and JD/MRP is four years.
In addition, Cornell has joint program arrangements with universities abroad to prepare students for international licensure:
- Joint program with University of Paris (La Sorbonne) (JD/Master en Droit)
- Joint program with Humboldt University of Berlin
The Humboldt University of Berlin is Berlin's oldest university, founded in 1810 as the University of Berlin by the liberal Prussian educational reformer and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt, whose university model has strongly influenced other European and Western universities...
(JD/M.LL.P)
- Joint program with Institut d’Études Politiques de Paris (JD/Master in Global Business Law)
The JD/Master en Droit lasts four-years and prepares graduates for admission to the bar in the United States and in
FranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. The JD/M.LL.P is three years and conveys a mastery of German and European law and practices. The JD/Master in Global Business Law lasts three years.
Cornell Law School runs two summer institutes overseas, providing Cornell Law students with unique opportunities to engage in rigorous international legal studies. The Cornell-Université de Paris I Summer Institute of International and Comparative Law at the
SorbonneThe Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which has been the historical house of the former University of Paris...
in
ParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
,
FranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
offers a diverse curriculum in the historic Sorbonne and Centre Panthéon (Faculté de droit) buildings at the heart of the
University of Paris I: Panthéon-SorbonnePantheon-Sorbonne University or Paris 1 is a university in Paris, France. With eight hundred years of excellence to build on, the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, a descendant of the Sorbonne and the Faculty of Law and Economics of Paris, is one of the largest universities in France today...
. Coursework includes international human rights, comparative legal systems, and international commercial arbitration.
French languageFrench is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
classes are also offered.
In 2006, Cornell Law School announced that it would launch a second summer law institute, the new Workshop in International Business Transactions with Chinese Characteristics in
SuzhouSuzhou , previously transliterated as Su-chou, Suchow, and Soochow, is a major city located in the southeast of Jiangsu Province in Eastern China, located adjacent to Shanghai Municipality. The city is situated on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and on the shores of Taihu Lake and is a part...
,
ChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. In partnership with
Bucerius Law SchoolBucerius Law School is a small, non-state university affiliated private law school located in Hamburg, Germany. The school is the first private law school in Germany and is often ranked as the best law school in the country. It admits 100 bachelor students per year, who achieve very high results in...
(Germany) and Kenneth Wang School of Law at
Soochow UniversitySoochow University , colloquially known in Chinese as Suda is a university in Suzhou, Jiangsu, China. The school is part of the Chinese Ministry of Education's Project 211, and a Jiangsu provincial key comprehensive university.-History:...
(China), Cornell Law provides students from the United States, Europe, and China with an academic forum in which they can collaborate on an international business problem.
Initiatives
Legal Information Institute
Cornell Law also is home to the
Legal Information InstituteThe Legal Information Institute is a non-profit, public service of Cornell Law School that provides no-cost access to current American and international legal research sources online at . The organization is a pioneer in the delivery of legal information online. Founded in 1992 by Peter Martin and...
(LII), an online provider of public legal information. Started in 1992, it was the first law site developed for the internet. The LII offers all
opinionsIn law, an opinion is usually a written explanation by a judge or group of judges that accompanies an order or ruling in a case, laying out the rationale and legal principles for the ruling....
of the United States Supreme Court handed down since 1990, together with over 600 earlier decisions selected for their historic importance. The LII also publishes over a decade of opinions of the
New York Court of AppealsThe New York Court of Appeals is the highest court in the U.S. state of New York. The Court of Appeals consists of seven judges: the Chief Judge and six associate judges who are appointed by the Governor to 14-year terms...
, the full
United States CodeThe Code of Laws of the United States of America is a compilation and codification of the general and permanent federal laws of the United States...
, the
UCCThe Uniform Commercial Code , first published in 1952, is one of a number of uniform acts that have been promulgated in conjunction with efforts to harmonize the law of sales and other commercial transactions in all 50 states within the United States of America.The goal of harmonizing state law is...
, and the
Code of Federal RegulationsThe Code of Federal Regulations is the codification of the general and permanent rules and regulations published in the Federal Register by the executive departments and agencies of the Federal Government of the United States.The CFR is published by the Office of the Federal Register, an agency...
among other resources.
It recently created Wex, a free wiki legal dictionary and encyclopedia, collaboratively created by legal experts. And the LII Supreme Court Bulletin is a free email- and web-based publication that intends to serve subscribers with thorough, yet understandable, legal analysis of upcoming Court cases as well as timely email notification of Court decisions.
Publications
The school has three law journals that are student-edited: the
Cornell Law ReviewThe Cornell Law Review is the flagship legal journal of Cornell Law School. Originally published in 1915 as the Cornell Law Quarterly, the journal features scholarship in all fields of law. Notably, past issues of the Cornell Law Review have included articles by Supreme Court justices Robert H....
, the
Cornell International Law JournalThe Cornell International Law Journal is one of the oldest international law journals in the United States. It was founded in 1967 by members of the Cornell Society of International Law at Cornell Law School...
, and the
Cornell Journal of Law and Public PolicyThe Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy is a law review published by students at Cornell Law School, First published in July 1992, JLPP publishes articles, commentaries, book reviews, and student notes that explore the intersections of law, government, public policy, and the social sciences,...
. Additionally, the
Journal of Empirical Legal Studies is a peer-reviewed journal that is published by Cornell Law faculty.
Moot Court
Cornell Law students actively participate in myriad
moot courtA moot court is an extracurricular activity at many law schools in which participants take part in simulated court proceedings, usually to include drafting briefs and participating in oral argument. The term derives from Anglo Saxon times, when a moot was a gathering of prominent men in a...
competitions annually, both in the law school itself and in external and international competitions. The Langfan First-Year Moot Court Competition, which takes place every spring, traditionally draws a large majority of the first-year class. Other internal competitions include the
Cuccia Cup and the Winter Cup.
Faculty
Cornell Law faculty include
Robert S. SummersRobert Samuel Summers is the former William G. McRoberts Research Professor in the Administration of the Law at the Cornell Law School in Ithaca, NY. Summers retired in 2011.- Biography :Robert Summers was born in Halfway, Oregon in 1933...
, co-author of the authoritative treatise on the
Uniform Commercial CodeThe Uniform Commercial Code , first published in 1952, is one of a number of uniform acts that have been promulgated in conjunction with efforts to harmonize the law of sales and other commercial transactions in all 50 states within the United States of America.The goal of harmonizing state law is...
;
Michael C. DorfMichael C. Dorf is an American law professor and a noted U.S. constitutional law scholar. He is currently a Professor of Law at Cornell Law School. In addition to constitutional law, Professor Dorf has taught courses in civil procedure and federal courts...
, legal blogger; and
William A. JacobsonWilliam A. Jacobson is an American lawyer, professor, and political blogger.Jacobson is a 1981 graduate of Hamilton College and a 1984 graduate of Harvard Law School. He is Associate Clinical Professor of Law and Director of the Securities Law Clinic at Cornell Law School...
, political blogger.
Alumni
Cornell Law has more than 9,000 alumni worldwide.
Edmund MuskieEdmund Sixtus "Ed" Muskie was an American politician from Rumford, Maine. He served as Governor of Maine from 1955 to 1959, as a member of the United States Senate from 1959 to 1980, and as Secretary of State under Jimmy Carter from 1980 to 1981...
J.D. '39 served as
Governor of MaineThe governor of Maine is the chief executive of the State of Maine. Before Maine was admitted to the Union in 1820, Maine was part of Massachusetts and the governor of Massachusetts was chief executive....
, as a
U.S. SenatorThe United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
, and as
U.S. Secretary of StateThe United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence...
under
Jimmy CarterJames Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
.
Samuel PierceSamuel Riley Pierce, Jr. was Ronald Reagan's Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.-Early life:Pierce was an Eagle Scout and recipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award from the Boy Scouts of America. Pierce was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha social fraternity and Alpha Phi Omega service...
J.D. '49 served as
U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban DevelopmentThe United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development is the head of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, a member of the President's Cabinet, and thirteenth in the Presidential line of succession. The post was created with the formation of the Department of Housing...
under
Ronald ReaganRonald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
.
William P. RogersWilliam Pierce Rogers was an American politician, who served as a Cabinet officer in the administrations of two U.S. Presidents in the third quarter of the 20th century.-Early Life :...
J.D. '37 served as U.S. Attorney General and as U.S. Secretary of State under
Richard NixonRichard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
.
Philip H. HoffPhilip Henderson Hoff is an American politician from the U.S. state of Vermont where he served as the 73rd Governor of Vermont from 1963 to 1969. At the time of his election, he was the first Democrat elected Governor of Vermont in 108 years.-Life and career:Hoff was born in Turners Falls,...
J.D. '51 served as
Governor of VermontThe Governor of Vermont is the governor of the U.S. state of Vermont. The governor is elected in even numbered years by direct voting for a term of two years; Vermont and bordering New Hampshire are the only states to hold gubernatorial elections every two years, instead of every four...
.
Alumni in business include
XeroxXerox Corporation is an American multinational document management corporation that produced and sells a range of color and black-and-white printers, multifunction systems, photo copiers, digital production printing presses, and related consulting services and supplies...
Chairman
Sol LinowitzSol Myron Linowitz was an American diplomat, lawyer, and businessman born in Trenton, NJ.Linowitz helped negotiate the return of the Panama Canal to Panama under the direction of President Jimmy Carter...
,
U.S. SteelThe United States Steel Corporation , more commonly known as U.S. Steel, is an integrated steel producer with major production operations in the United States, Canada, and Central Europe. The company is the world's tenth largest steel producer ranked by sales...
CEO
Myron Charles TaylorMyron Charles Taylor was one of the major figures in American life during the first half of the twentieth century...
, and
Major League BaseballMajor League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
President
Bob DuPuyRobert A. "Bob" DuPuy is an attorney and former President and Chief Operating Officer of Major League Baseball . He assumed both titles on March 7, 2002. Prior to joining Major League Baseball in 1998, he was a partner and management committee member of Foley & Lardner, a large Milwaukee-based...
J.D. '73. Other prominent alumni include football coach
Pop WarnerGlenn Scobey Warner , most commonly known as Pop Warner, was an American football player and coach...
,
Rutgers UniversityRutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...
president
Edward J. Bloustein, and
International Criminal CourtThe International Criminal Court is a permanent tribunal to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression .It came into being on 1 July 2002—the date its founding treaty, the Rome Statute of the...
president
Song Sang-HyunSong Sang-Hyun is a South Korean lawyer, and the President of the International Criminal Court .-Biography:Song attended Seoul National University Law School, graduating with an LL.B. in 1963. He attended Tulane University Law School as a Fulbright Fellow, then obtained a Diploma in Comparative...
J.S.D.
External links