Fordham Law

Fordham University School of Law

With its consistent climb in popular rankings and an unwaveringly solid reputation among the nation's top law firms, the Fordham University School of Law continues to cement its place among the nation's best law schools. The school is more mentioned in the same breath as New York's traditional giants, NYU, Columbia, and Cornell. Highly qualified applicants wishing to attend law school and find prestigious employment in one of the legal capitals of the world, New York City, should give Fordham serious consideration.

History

Fordham Law School began in 1905 as one of the first graduate schools at Fordham University. It was a time of significant growth and change for the university, which had only become a university three years earlier. Despite some initial setbacks, Fordham Law School flourished and grew over the years. It eventually became one of the most respected law schools in the country.

In the fifteen years between 1905 and 1920 Fordham gradually assumed the dimensions of a genuine university with the establishment of a College of Pharmacy (which closed in 1971) and at least the foundations of seven graduate schools, not only in medicine and law, but also the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the School of Social Service, the Graduate School of Education, and the Graduate School of Business Administration (now the Gabelli School of Business). The final component, the Graduate School of Religion and Religious Education, was added in 1975.

However, it was one thing to change the name of St. John's College to that of Fordham University. It was quite another thing to transform a small men's college into a full-fledged university. The process of change was often difficult, hampered by the lack of endowment, the lack of library and laboratory facilities, the lack of wealthy and generous alumni, and the heavy teaching load of the faculty, which made it difficult for them to engage in the creative scholarship that a modern university demands of its professors.

Admissions

Fordham Law is a highly respected law school dedicated to diversity and inclusion. Its alumni are successful in law practice all over the United States and in 75 countries worldwide.

Statistics

Admissions Stats
Class of:	2020-2021	2021-2022
25th - 50th - 75th percentile LSAT	162 - 164 - 166	164 - 166 - 168
25th - 50th - 75th percentile GPA	3.46 - 3.64 - 3.74	3.51 - 3.7 - 3.8
Acceptance rate	27.4%	17.7%
Applications received	5389	7882
Acceptances	1475	1394
Matriculants	1471	1195

The entering full-time day class for 2022 had a median LSAT of 167 and a median GPA of 3.73. The entering part-time evening class for 2022 had a median LSAT of 163 and a median GPA of 3.60. These numbers are as of August 25, 2022. For more information, such as the school's 25th and 75th LSAT and GPA percentiles, please visit the selection criteria section 's website.

Application Fee

Fordham Law only accepts online applications through LSAC. Suppose you need to submit a paper application, email lawadmissions@law.fordham.edu for a PDF to download. The application fee is $75. If you're applying electronically through LSAC, you must pay with a major credit card. If you submit a paper application, please send a check or money order (details available on the downloadable PDF application).

Application Fee Waivers

To apply for a need-based fee waiver at Fordham Law, you must fill out the fee waiver application and include a copy of one of the following documents: your Pell award letter, most recent W-2, or current pay stub. Completed fee waiver applications should be emailed to lawadmissions@law.fordham.edu. The school also offers fee waivers for those who have served in the U.S. military, Teach for America, AmeriCorps, Peace Corps, and Jesuit Volunteer Corps. To be eligible, please submit a letter of service to lawadmissions@law.fordham.edu. To be eligible, the service years for these programs (other than military service) will need to have taken place within the last five years (2017 to present). If approved for a fee waiver, you will receive a code via email to apply electronically through LSAC. Please be aware that they receive many fee waiver requests and review/administer them on a rolling basis. After you submit the required documentation, receiving your code can take a week or so. Fee waiver requests for Fall 2023 will be accepted between September 1st, 2022, and March 14th, 2023 (they encourage applicants to request to submit fee waiver materials sooner rather than later). Fee waiver codes expire on our deadline (March 15th, 2023). To read more about how to obtain a fee waiver, click here.

Application Procedure and Requirements:

Transcripts

You must provide transcripts from each undergraduate and graduate institution you attended. Transcripts must be sent to LSAC directly to be considered. This also applies to international transcripts, college-level courses taken in high school, institutions you transferred out of, summer classes taken at a community college, etc. To be eligible to apply, you must have a U.S. bachelor's degree or the equivalent of a U.S. bachelor's degree for international institutions. You can apply with an in-progress transcript, but the bachelor's degree must be awarded before the start term you're applying for.

LSAT

Fordham Law School will only accept LSAT scores. If you do not take the LSAT, your application will be held until Fordham receives your score. The last LSAT the school accepts for Fall 2023 applications is February 2023. If you are registered for a future LSAT, they will automatically hold your application until they receive the new score. You can email lawadmissions@law.fordham.edu to have your application released from this hold if you have already taken another LSAT. Fordham also accepts GRE scores instead of the LSAT. The Fordham GRE code is 3329. You must fill out the "GRE only" application on the LSAC website if you submit a GRE score instead of an LSAT score. If you take the LSAT, Fordham will use that score when evaluating your application, even if you submit a GRE score. Fordham does not accept GRE scores more than five years old.

Two Letters of Recommendation

You must submit two letters of recommendation via LSAC's CAS service to be considered for admission to Fordham Law. Letters from current or former professors are preferred, but professional letters are acceptable if you graduated more than five years ago. They require two letters, but you can submit up to four. For additional advice on obtaining letters of recommendation, click here.

Personal Statement

When writing a personal statement for Fordham Law, it is important to demonstrate your ability to communicate effectively and concisely. The best personal statements are those that develop a sense of the person and their values, aspirations, and concerns. A discussion of the unique contributions you would likely make to the student body, the legal profession, and ultimately the larger society would also be well received. Personal statements should not exceed two double-spaced pages. For personal statements and application essays, check out the TLS Guide to Personal Statements.

Resume

When applying to Fordham Law, be sure to submit your resume. Your resume should highlight your professional and academic achievements, volunteer experiences, and extracurricular involvement. Your resume is preferred to be one page long, but you may submit a longer resume if you choose. Just be sure to use discretion so your resume doesn't become too long. For advice about creating a professional law school resume, click here.

Optional Statement

You're also welcome to submit an optional statement and addenda. If you choose to submit an optional statement, it should not exceed two double-spaced pages.

Transfer Program

Fordham Law School accepts students who have completed at least one year in a JD program at an ABA-approved law school and are in good academic standing. Transfer students will be accepted for matriculation only at the beginning of an academic year in the fall. Credits for classes in which the student has earned a “C” or better will be accepted. The maximum number of transfer credits is 31. Students will be advised of the credits that are accepted for transfer and whether they are applied to required courses before they student is asked to commit to attending Fordham Law. To read a fantastic article about transferring, click here.

Tuition and Expenses

The cost of attendance for Fordham Law for the 2022-2023 academic year includes tuition, fees, dormitory charges (if living on campus), and a health insurance charge. Other expenses include rent if off-campus, books, travel, food, and miscellaneous items. This amount is called the Cost of Attendance (COA). The total financial aid for the year includes all merit aid, grants, scholarships, and loans, cannot exceed the COA.

Cost of Attendance

2022-2023 Cost of Attendance
JD Day Division (1L,2L,3L)		JD Evening Division (1L,2L,3L)
Fixed/Direct Expenses		Fixed/Direct Expenses
Tuition	$68,156	Tuition	$51,118
Fees	$1,010	Fees	$916
Living Expense Allowance
Room and Board	$22,266	Room and Board	$22,266
Books and Supplies	$2,064	Books and Supplies	$2,064
Travel	$2,044	Travel	$2,044
Miscellaneous/Personal Expenses	$4,720	Miscellaneous/Personal Expenses	$4,720
*TOTAL: $100,260 ($104,165 with health insurance)**		*TOTAL: $83,128 ($87,033 with health insurance)**

Fordham's Financial Aid

Merit Scholarships

All admitted students are automatically reviewed for merit scholarships. Merit scholarships are offered to admitted students based on LSAT scores and undergraduate GPAs. The awards are guaranteed for three years (four, if in the part-time evening program) as long as the student maintains satisfactory academic progress. These merit scholarships generally range from $5,000 to $45,000 per year.

Need-based Grants

Fordham Law awards a limited number of partial tuition grants based on financial need. These annual grants range from $2,000 to $25,000. They are guaranteed renewable for the second year (full-time) and the second and third years (part-time evening). Because these grants are awarded based on need, and many of our students have substantial earnings from employment in the summer before their final year of law school, the grant may be reduced for students earning more than $15,000 during the summer. Their formula for calculating this reduction is: (gross summer income minus $15,000) x 0.6 x 0.5. Funding for Fordham's grant program is derived from several sources, including annual gifts and endowed scholarship funds made possible by the generosity of Fordham Law alumni and benefactors.

To qualify for a need-based grant, students must first apply for need-based aid.

Loan Repayment

The Financial Aid Office conducts loan repayment sessions for our graduating classes each year, usually in late March through mid-April. These counseling sessions are designed to assist you in managing your student loans after graduation. While these sessions are not mandatory, all Federal loan borrowers are advised to attend at least one session. The topics that will be covered include the terms of your education loans, your loan repayment options under each of these loans, loan forgiveness/loan repayment assistance programs, deferment/forbearance details, debt management strategies, consolidation, consequences of defaulting on your loans, and the rehabilitation process, in the event of default.

Academics & Curriculum

Aside from its traditional strengths in contracts, commercial law, corporate law, and international law, Fordham's dispute resolution and intellectual property law specialties are among the strongest in the nation. Further, several prestigious academic programs and organizations, such as the nationally renowned Joseph R. Crowley Program in International Human Rights, provide students with unique opportunities to diversify their experience in law school. After fulfilling first-year requirements, students at Fordham Law School are mostly free to choose their courses from some 200 available options. First-year classes can range anywhere from 16 to 80 students. As a 1L, you're assigned to a section consisting of approximately 40 other students. Some 1L classes will be only your section (approximately 40 students). Other classes will be two sections combined (approximately 80 students). Legal Writing & Research will be 16-18 students.

As an upper-class student, the majority of your classes will be under 25 students.

Legal Writing Program

The Legal Writing Program at Fordham Law School is very comprehensive. It offers a First-Year Program, an Advanced Program, and an LLM Program. Experienced and highly qualified adjunct professors teach the courses offered in the program. These courses provide students with various skills and knowledge that will benefit them in their future legal careers. The program also offers tutoring services for students who need additional help.

Clinical Program

Fordham Law School's Clinical Program is committed to becoming an anti-racist institution. They acknowledge that the policies and practices in our program are not immune from the domination of white norms and supremacy in our society and the legal profession. The School must identify and address policies and practices that perpetuate structural racism; place Black, Indigenous, and People of Color perspectives, voices, and leadership in the forefront; and consistently name and counter racism in its implicit and explicit manifestations.

Externships

The Fordham Externship Program provides an opportunity to gain credit for working in a legal setting. The program offers a variety of opportunities across New York City to develop the skills and experience you need to advance your career. You will receive supervision from a mentor-attorney, guidance from a seminar professor, and support from your classmates as you experience legal practice in action across diverse areas of the law.

Quality of Life

Located in the heart of New York City in Manhattan, Fordham Law School offers students close access to the city's famous diversions, ensuring that students are never at a loss when looking for ways to spend their free time. The law school is located away from the main campus, which is a plus for the Bronx location of the main campus pales in comparison to the Upper West Side location of the law school. For students searching for more relaxing ways to pass idle moments, famed Central Park and its vast green grounds rests two blocks away from Fordham and provide a serene escape from the bustling city. Though some students have complained of the wear-and-tear of the school's facilities, a concrete building built in the 1970's, Fordham has taken on renovation efforts that it hopes to complete shortly. As should be expected given the school's location, the cost of living at Fordham, like other schools in the city, is tremendously high.

Housing

Limited dorm rooms at the Lincoln Center campus are available to LLM, MSL, and SJD students in McMahon Hall, which houses both undergraduate and graduate students. The Residential Life Office makes housing assignments on a "first come, first served" basis. For applications and information, visit the Law Student Housing website.

Off-Campus Housing
Most students live off-campus, either in Manhattan or in other boroughs of New York City or in New Jersey. An excellent public transportation network makes it easy to travel into and within New York City. Options and resources for housing unrelated to Fordham are linked below. Students should be cautious when using these websites to avoid scams, particularly if they are not present in New York to view an apartment before committing to it. Access the New York City Housing Resources List.

Note that many apartments in New York are only available through brokers who charge fees (often equivalent to one month's rent or 15% of a one-year lease) for connecting potential renters with apartments. For students interested in using a broker to locate an apartment, some reputable firms include Prudential Douglas Elliman (http://www.elliman.com/), Citi-Habitats (http://www.citi-habitats.com) and Corcoran Group (http://www.corcoran.com).

Employment Prospects & Bar Passage

Fordham Law is one of the top 25 law schools measured in Class of 2021 initial employment with Big Law (firms with 101+ attorneys) and federal clerkships reported to the ABA.

In the 2021-2022 academic year, four graduates received four prestigious public interest fellowships, including:

The Carey Gabay Fellowship, NYS Executive Chambers
Skadden Foundation Fellowship
Department of Justice (DOJ) Honors Program

According to the March 13, 2022 issue of National Law Journal, Fordham Law ranks 19th in terms of the percentage of the J.D. Class of 2021 hired by the largest 100 law firms. The NLJ also reported that Fordham Law ranks 6th in the number of alumni promoted to partner.

Methodology: Class of 2021 data from the 2022 ABA Employment Summary, retrieved from employmentsummary.abaquestionnaire.org, October 2022. For the complete employment statistics for the J.D. Class of 2021 visit law.fordham.edu/employmentstats.

Fordham Law graduates generally make a good salary after they graduate. If they work in the private sector, they can expect to make around $190,000. However, if they go into the public sector instead, they can expect to make around $65,000. A majority of law graduates from Fordham University go on to work for law firms, while a small percentage clerk for judges. Approximately 90% of Fordham graduates pass the bar on their first try.

Bar Passage

Synopsis

When discussing the Fordham University School of Law, it is difficult to avoid comparison with other New York law schools. With its increased selectivity in admissions and the reach of its alumni network in New York City, Fordham continues to creep closer to the giants of New York in reputation and job placement. Fordham Law School has proven to be among the better options for any student wishing to attend law school and find employment in New York City.

Contact Information

Fordham University School of Law
JD Admissions Office
150 West 62nd Street,
Suite 4-104,
New York, NY 10023

Phone: 212-636-6810
Fax: 212-636-7984
Email:lawadmissions@law.fordham.edu
https://www.fordham.edu/info/20642/jd_admissions

Summary

Established	1905
Location	New York, NY
Dean	Matthew Diller
2022 US News Ranking	37th
LSAT Median Score	166
GPA Median Score	3.7
Bar Passage Rate	73% (2022)
Employment Rate	90% (2022)
Cost	Fees: $1,010
Average Debt	$143,976
Application Deadline	March 15, 2023

Forum and Discussion

Fordham Law Discussions
Law School Admissions Forums
Law Student Forums
Law School Class Forums

Reference

https://www.fordham.edu/info/20346/school_of_law
Rank #37
LSD Law
LSAC Guide
How to Learn to Do Well on a Law School Exam
Success in Law School - A Unique Perspective
The Guide to Law School Loans
Guide to Fee Waivers

Interview: with Stephen Brown, Associate Dean of Admissions at the Fordham University School of Law Forums: https://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=4