Fordham Law School: A Look at Admissions, Demographics, and Student Life
Fordham Law School, a service-oriented institution emphasizing academic excellence, boasts a vibrant community and a strong commitment to practical legal education. This article explores various aspects of Fordham Law, including its admissions process, demographics, student life, and commitment to diversity and inclusion.
Admissions and Academics
The Fordham Law School Admissions Committee, comprising full-time faculty members, Assistant Deans, and the Director of Admissions, meticulously evaluates each application. For the 2024-2025 admissions cycle, the committee reviewed 8,808 applications. The evaluation process considers the applicant's academic record, paying attention to grade trends, course selection, grades in the major, the choice of major, the school attended, and the time frame within which the degree was earned. Academic work completed at the graduate and professional school level is also carefully considered. The committee prioritizes fairness, ensuring equal treatment, respect, and consideration for all applicants.
Fordham Law School offers a comprehensive course of study for the Doctor of Law (J.D.) degree. The program extends over four academic years in the Evening Division, mirroring the requirements of the three-year Day Division. All required courses are taught by the full-time faculty, and Evening students are subject to the same grading system as the Day students. Student grades are calculated on both a letter and a numerical scale, and there are no official class standings. Students who attain a true weighted average of 3.538 or better achieve Dean's List recognition for that year. Fordham Law also recognizes scholar designations associated with certain approximate class standings.
A Focus on Practical Skills and Experience
Fordham Law distinguishes itself with a "heavy emphasis on practical skills and work experience." The school offers five concentrations and guarantees every student the opportunity to participate in either an in-house clinic or externship before graduation. With 18 clinics, including options like Corporate Social Responsibility, Presidential Succession, and Securities Litigation and Arbitration, students gain access to seminars and realistic casework for academic credit.
Externships are plentiful and available to all students, who can either find their own placements based on their interests or apply to one of the school's three Focused Externship programs. These programs place students in settings involving the New York City Council, Housing Litigation, or Government Civil Litigation.
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Student Life and Community
Fordham Law School fosters a tradition of active student involvement in journals, moot court, and organizations. Situated in a locale with strong city ties, the school is "extremely busy with events," including symposia and colloquia run by multiple journals, a competitive mock trial team, and an active trial advocacy team. The school is large enough for students to find their niche, whether it be in the Federalist Society or public interest groups.
Students describe the Fordham Law community as comprised of "talented, smart, passionate, and socially intelligent people" who "generally respect each other and are friendly regardless of gender, religion, race, or political leanings." There is a strong sense of community, with students "genuinely care about each other and want each other to succeed," often sharing notes and outlines to help one another.
Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion
Fordham Law School demonstrates a commitment to creating a safe, inclusive, and welcoming environment for all students, faculty, and administrators, including those who identify as LGBTQ+. The school actively seeks out LGBTQ+ prospective students and includes information about identity group support for LGBTQ+ students, as well as for students of color and other minorities, in its welcome packet for admitted students.
Fordham Law offers students the option to self-identify as LGBTQ+ in admissions applications or post-enrollment forms and allows transgender and nonbinary students who have not legally changed their names to have their name-in-use reflected on their admission applications or post-enrollment forms. While the school does not offer annual scholarships specifically for LGBTQ+ students, it does offer general diversity scholarships.
The law school actively seeks to employ diverse staff, faculty, and administrators, including openly LGBTQ+ individuals. While the school does not conduct a "Self-ID" program for staff, faculty, and administrators to voluntarily and confidentially identify their gender identity and sexual orientation, it does provide employee benefits such as health insurance, family medical leave, parental leave, and nontraditional family planning like assisted reproduction and/or adoptive benefits. Transition-related health benefits, including hormone therapy, gender counseling, and gender-affirming surgeries, are also offered to transgender employees and employees undergoing gender transition.
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Students also have access to comprehensive healthcare benefits, including health insurance with nontraditional family planning options and access to campus facilities. The same transition-related healthcare benefits are offered to students and their partners/spouses who are transgender or undergoing gender transition. All students have access to on-campus health, counseling, and therapy services through the law school or the larger University.
Fordham Law provides single-stall restrooms available to people of all genders in each law school building. While the law school does not have a restroom policy applicable to gender-segregated facilities, it does offer one or more annual LGBTQ+-specific course offerings, such as LGBTQ+ Law and Policy, Sexual Orientation and the Law, and Gender and the Law (focused on trans-inclusive materials). An active LGBTQ+ law student group is supported by the administration, and the law school provides funding, including travel support, for LGBTQ+ students to participate in LGBTQ+-focused learning and/or career services opportunities.
The law school has a hate/bias incident policy that faculty, staff, administrators, and students are required to follow. Mandatory anti-sexual harassment training, explicitly covering same-sex harassment and harassment of transgender/nonbinary people, is provided for all staff, faculty, and administrators at least every three years. Diversity and inclusion training that incorporates robust LGBTQ+ curriculum, as well as anti-racism curriculum, is also provided at least every three years and is mandatory for all students.
Fordham Law is implementing a variety of programs geared towards open discussions between students, faculty, staff, and administrators on various diversity-related issues. These programs tackle challenging issues and, through student-led facilitation, provide small groups with the opportunity to discuss these issues in the hopes of creating a better understanding of the concerns that are present in society.
Faculty and Alumni Network
Professors at Fordham Law are "extremely impressive and come from a wide array of backgrounds." Many have written the casebooks used in class, making them "invaluable in gaining insight, advice, and [thinking] through opportunities as they come along," including choosing between job opportunities and internship positions.
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Fordham Law School's 21,000-strong alumni network holds positions in top law firms, DA's offices, and corporate law departments around the country, making it one of the school's greatest strengths. Graduates can be found in 50 states and 95 countries around the world.
Career Prospects and Financial Considerations
Fordham Law graduates demonstrate a strong commitment to public service, with the class of '21 performing over 135,000 hours of public interest work during their time at the school. According to the National Law Journal, Fordham Law ranks 21st nationally in terms of placement of graduates in the National Law Journal's top 100 law firms.
For the 2024 J.D. application cycle, law school tuition at Fordham Law School was $149k annually. Prospective law students should budget approximately $71k for the total annual cost of attending, including tuition, fees, books, and living expenses. After completing their J.D. program at Fordham Law School, graduates entering private law firms earn a median starting salary of $215,000. J.D. graduates pursuing public sector legal careers start at approximately $74,553. Additionally, 5.3% of graduates obtain prestigious judicial clerkships, and 6.6% pursue public interest law careers. The vast majority of J.D. graduates were employed at jobs that required a J.D. within 10 months of graduation. For J.D. graduates from Fordham Law School, the bar exam pass rate is 87.8% on the first attempt.
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