Cornell Law School Totally Explained

Everything about Cornell Law School totally explained

Cornell Law School, located in Ithaca, New York, is a graduate school of Cornell University. It is one of the five Ivy League law schools. The law school offers four types of law degrees, an array of programs and institutes, and over 120 courses for its students. Programs at the law school can be supplemented by the rich academic resources available in other units of Cornell University. The law school's faculty is one of the most prolific in the nation, and is also known for its excellence in classroom teaching. It has a faculty to student ratio 10.4 to 1, the third lowest of any the 184 ABA accredited law schools in the United States Among the profession, Cornell retains an excellent reputation: its graduates have the sixth highest percent placement at the top 50 law firms. Additionally, Cornell's New York bar pass rate for first-time candidates is always among the highest of any law school in New York state.

History

Douglas Boardman	1887-1891
Francis Miles Finch	1891-1903
Ernest Wilson Huffcut	1903-1907
Frank Irvine	1907-1916
Edwin Hamlin Woodruff	1916-1921
George Gleason Bogert	1921-1926
Charles Kellog Burdick	1926-1937
Robert Sproule Stevens	1937-1954
Gray Thoron	1956-1963
William Ray Forrester	1963-1973
Roger Conant Cramton	1973-1980
Peter William Martin	1980-1988
Russell King Osgood	1988-1998
Charles W. Wolfram	1998-1999 (Interim)
Lee E. Teitelbaum	1999-2003
John A. Siliciano	2003 (Interim)
Stewart J. Schwab	2004-present

The "law department" opened in 1887 in Morrill Hall with Judge Douglas Boardman as its first Dean. At that time, admission didn't 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. Perhaps the most prominent faculty member in the early years was Charles Evans Hughes who taught from 1891-93. In 1890, George Washington Fields graduated, one of the first law-school-graduates of color in the United States. In 1893, Cornell had its first woman 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, Gothic structure, was the result of a donation by Myron Charles Taylor, 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. Ms. 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 Journal. The Clarke Program in East Asian Law and Culture was established in 2002.

Admissions

Admission is very competitive. The law school receives roughly 4000 applications each year for an entering class of 185-190. Successful applicants usually have thrived in academic as well as non-academic settings. The academic profile of students is strong. In 2006 the median GPA for incoming Cornell Law students was 3.67, and the median Law School Admission Test score was 167. The admission rate for 2006 was 22.6%. Entering students graduated from over 100 different undergraduate colleges and universities and studied a wide range of academic disciplines. In addition, they typically were active in extracurricular and community activities. Well over half usually have full-time work experience and less than 40% come straight from college to law school. 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

Cornell is one of the pre-eminent law schools in the United States; 7th in the 2004 Law School 100 rankings, 12th in the 2008 U.S. News and World Report, and its master of laws, or LL.M., program ranked 1st in the 2006 AUAP rankings. In 2005, the National Law Journal reported that Cornell Law graduates had the 6th highest percent placement at the top 50 law firms.
Cornell Law graduates have consistently achieved the highest bar pass-rate among law schools in the state of New York during the past few years. In 2006, Cornell's July 2005 New York bar pass rate for first-time candidates was 95% versus 94% for New York University (NYU) and 90% for Columbia.

Academic Offerings

Law Degrees

J.D. Programs (including the J.D. Transfer Program)
LL.M. Program
J.S.D. Program
J.D./Master en Droit, Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne (four-year program that prepares graduates for admission to the bar in the United States and in France)
J.D./Master of German and European Law and Practice (M.LL.P.), Humboldt University of Berlin (three-year program that provides graduates with a knowledge of German and European law at both an academic and a practical level)
J.D./Master in Global Business Law, Institut d’Études Politiques de Paris and Paris I (three-year program that offers a multi-disciplinary, European perspective on international law and business issues)

Notable Programs

International and Comparative Law Program

Legal Information Institute

Death Penalty Project

Legal Aid Clinic

Public Interest

Keck Foundation Ethics Program

Olin Program of Law & Economics

Clarke Program in East Asian Law and Culture

Asylum Clinic

International Human Rights Clinic

Externships Program

International Summer Law Institutes

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 Paris I Summer Institute of International and Comparative Law at the Sorbonne in Paris, France offers a diverse curriculum in the historic Sorbonne and Centre Panthéon (Faculté de droit) buildings at the heart of the . Coursework includes international human rights, comparative legal systems, and international commercial arbitration. French language 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 Suzhou, China. In partnership with Bucerius Law School (Germany) and Kenneth Wang School of Law at Soochow University (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.

Library

Cornell's law library is one of the largest in the nation. The law library 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's a large collection of print copies of the records and briefs of the New York Court of Appeals. The large microfilm collection has sets of Congressional, Supreme Court, and United Nations 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 Circuit and D.C. circuit, and the New York State Court of Appeals are also collected. The library also has a large collection of international, foreign, and comparative law, with the main focus being on the Commonwealth of Nations and Europe. Along with this, there are also collections of public international law and international trade law. 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.
   The law library also boasts a significant collection of rare books. This collection has over 1200 volumes and it's housed in the Rare Book Room, which was built in 1981. Among these rare books is 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 Trials Collection, Scottsboro Collection, William P. and Adele Langston Rogers Collection and the Chile Declassification Project.

Legal Information Institute

Cornell Law also is home to the Legal Information Institute (LII), known internationally as a leading on-line provider of public legal information. Legal Information Institute

. The LII offers all opinions of the United States Supreme Court handed down since 1992, together with over 600 earlier decisions selected for their historic importance, over a decade of opinions of the New York Court of Appeals, and the full United States Code. The LII also publishes important secondary sources: libraries in two important areas (legal ethics and social security) and a series of “topical” pages that serve as concise explanatory guides and Internet resource listings for roughly 100 areas of law. Search engines and ranking systems identify the LII as the most linked to web resource in the field of law.

Publications

Cornell Law School boasts three highly-regarded law journals that are student-edited: the Cornell Law Review, the Cornell International Law Journal, and the Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy. Additionally, the Journal of Empirical Legal Studies is a peer-reviewed journal that's published by Cornell Law faculty.

Moot Court

Cornell Law students actively participate in myriad moot court 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.

Student Organizations

Student activities at Cornell Law School include:

American Constitution Society

Asian Pacific American Law Students Association

Black Law Students Association

Briggs Society of International Law

Business Law Society

Christian Legal Society

Cornell Advocates for Human Rights

Cornell International Law Journal

Cornell Law Democrats

Cornell Law Republicans

Cornell Law Students Association

Cornell Sports & Entertainment Law Consortium

Environmental Law Society

Federalist Society

Intellectual Property and Technology Association (IPTA)

J. Reuben Clark Law Society

Jewish Law Students Association

LAMBDA

Latino American Law Students Association

LL.M. Association

National Lawyers Guild

Native American Law Students Association

Phi Alpha Delta

Phi Delta Phi

Public Interest Law Union

SOLATA (Society of Law and the Arts)

Transfer Network Association

Women’s Law Coalition

Students for Marriage Equality

The Veterans Society

Notable current faculty

� See also: List of Cornell University people

Stewart J. Schwab, current Allan R. Tessler Dean and Professor of Law

Faust F. Rossi, current Samuel S. Leibowitz Professor of Trial Techniques and well-known for his lectures in evidence to students preparing for the bar examination

John H. Blume, current Professor of Law and Director of the Cornell Death Penalty Project, and a prominent U.S. Supreme Court advocate.

Robert S. Summers, current William G. McRoberts Research Professor in the Administration of the Law and co-author of the authoritative treatise on the Uniform Commercial Code

Annelise Riles, current Professor of Law and Professor of Anthropology who directs the law school's Clarke Program in East Asian Law and Culture, and is an internationally recognized expert on comparative law

John J. Barceló III, current William Nelson Cromwell Professor of International and Comparative Law and an expert on International Commercial Arbitration.

Cynthia R. Farina, current Professor of Law and co-author of the leading casebook on Administrative Law.

Theodore Eisenberg, current Henry Allen Mark Professor of Law and leader of the empirical legal studies movement.

Steven H. Shiffrin, current Charles Frank Reavis Sr. Professor of Law and acclaimed First Amendment scholar.

James A. Henderson Jr., current Frank B. Ingersoll Professor of Law, leading commentator on the law of torts and products liability and Special Master in the September 11, 2001 attacks respiratory illness cases.

Gregory S. Alexander, current A. Robert Noll Professor of Law and leading commentator on the law of property.

Valerie P. Hans, current Professor of Law and a leading authority on the jury system.

Kevin M. Clermont, current James and Mark Flanagan Professor of Law and nationally acclaimed casebook author and teacher of civil procedure.

Robert A. Hillman, current Edwin H. Woodruff Professor of Law and Reporter for the American Law Institute's Principles of the Law of Software Contracts.

Michael C. Dorf, a Constitutional Law expert who will begin teaching in 2008 having transferred from Columbia Law School

Notable alumni

United States government

Executive branch

Edmund Muskie - Governor of Maine, U.S. Senator, U.S. Secretary of State, candidate for President

Samuel Pierce - Secretary of Housing and Urban Development 1981-89

William Pierce Rogers - 63rd Attorney General of the United States and former Secretary of State

Legislative branch

John G. Alexander - Minnesota 3rd District, 1939-41

Rob Andrews - U.S. Representative from New Jersey 1990-

Barber Conable - New York 37th District, 1965-73; 35th District, 1973-83; 30th District, 1983-85; President of the World Bank, 1986-91

Reuben Locke Haskell - New York, 1915-19

Frank Jefferson Horton - U.S. Representative from New York 1962-1992

Charles Samuel Joelson - New Jersey, 1961-69

Charles Blakeslee Law (law studies) - New York, 1905-11

Norman F. Lent - New York 5th District, 1971-73), 4th District, 1973-93

Edward Worthington Pattison - New York, 1975-79

John Raymond Pillion - New York, 1953-65

Alexander Pirnie - U.S. Representative from New York 1959-1973

Howard Winfield Robison - New York, 1958-75

Henry P. Smith III - New York, 1965-75

Judicial branch

Hon. Mary Donlon Alger - first female Judge on the United States Customs Court

Hon. Frederic Block - United States District Court Judge for the Eastern District of New York

Hon. Robert Boochever - Judge for the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals

Hon. Leonie Brinkema - U.S. District Court Judge in Virginia who presided over the trial and conviction of 9/11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui.

Hon. Paul A. Crotty - United States District Court Judge for the Eastern District of New York

Hon. Phillip S. Figa - United States District Court Judge for Colorado (2003-08)

Hon. Peter W. Hall - Judge for the 2nd Circuit US Court of Appeals, former United States Attorney for Vermont

Hon. Stephen C. Robinson - United States District Court Judge for the Southern District of New York; former United States Attorney for Connecticut

Hon. Shira A. Scheindlin - United States District Court Judge for the Southern District of New York

Hon. Amy St. Eve - United States District Court Judge for the Northern District of Illinois

Hon. Joseph L. Tauro - U.S. District Court Judge in Massachusetts; former United States Attorney for Massachusetts

Hon. Richard C. Wesley - Judge for the 2d Circuit Court of Appeals, former Associate Judge of the New York Court of Appeals

Hon. Thomas S. Zilly - United States District Court Judge for the Western District of Washington

Hon. Elbert Tuttle - Chief Judge of United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, when that court became known for a series of decisions crucial in advancing the civil rights of African-Americans

Miscellaneous United States government

Steven D. Clymer - Professor of Law, Cornell Law School; Assistant United States Attorney that prosecuted United States v. Koon (Los Angeles police officers charged in the beating of Rodney King)

Arthur Hobson Dean - international law expert, chief U.S. negotiator at Panmunjeom, assisted with negotiations for Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, delegate to the United Nations

Boyd M. Johnson III - Assistant United States Attorney that led the investigation which led to the resignation of Governor Eliot Spitzer of New York.

Sudeen Kelly - Commissioner, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the New Mexico Public Service Commission

Sol M. Linowitz - U.S. ambassador to the Organization of American States; co-negotiated the treaty with Panama that restored Panamanian sovereignty over the Panama Canal; chairman of the President’s Commission on World Hunger; served as President Carter’s personal representative to the Middle East peace talks

Julie L. Myers - Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

Philip Perry - General Counsel, United States Department of Homeland Security

Jack L. Stempler - Award-winning distinguished civilian service in U.S. Department of Defense as counsel and assistant to secretaries of defense, 1948–81; executive of LTV Aerospace Corporation, 1982–92

Paul Szasz - Deputy to the United Nations Legal Counsel and principal drafter of the constitutions of Namibia and Bosnia-Herzegovina

Hon. Myron C. Taylor - CEO and Chairman of U.S. Steel; Emissary to the Holy See for President Franklin Delano Roosevelt

William vanden Heuvel - former United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations and former Ambassador to the European Office of the United Nations in Geneva.

State government

Hon. Barry T. Albin - Associate Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court

Mark J. Bennett - First Republican Attorney General of Hawaii in 40 years

Hon. Stephen G. Crane - Associate Justice of the New York Appellate Division – Second Department

Philip H. Hoff - Governor of Vermont 1963-69

Ernest Wilson Huffcut - Dean of Cornell Law School; legal adviser to Governor Charles Evans Hughes of New York

Hon. Debra Ann James - New York Supreme Court Justice

Hon. Samuel S. Leibowitz - criminal defense attorney, famously noted for defending the Scottsboro Boys, nine Southern African-American youths falsely accused of rape and sentenced to death in Alabama in 1931; New York Supreme Court Justice

Harold O. Levy - Chancellor of New York City Schools 2000 - 2002

Hon. Alfred J. Loew - Judge

Hon. Louis B. York - New York Supreme Court Justice

Academia

Edward J. Bloustein - 17th president of Rutgers University

George B. Clementson - Author of The Road Rights and Liabilities of Wheelmen, the first treatise on bicycle law.

Joseph Hinsey - Professor of Business Law, Emeritus, Harvard Business School

Faust F. Rossi - Samuel S. Leibowitz Professor of Trial Techniques, Cornell Law School

Business

J. Carter Bacot - former President, Chairman, and CEO of The Bank of New York

Robert B. Diener - founder of Hotels.com; class of 1982

Bob DuPuy - President and Chief Operating Officer of Major League Baseball

Milton S. Gould - prominent New York City trial lawyer

Joyce P. Hagg - General Counsel and Senior Vice President, Eastman Kodak Company; Class of 1975

David S. Litman - founder of Hotels.com; class of 1982

Celebrities

Don D. Buchwald - Attorney for sex worker Ashley Alexandra Dupré, better known as “Kristen,” the prostitute at the focus of the resignation of Governor Eliot Spitzer of New York.

Jane M. G. Foster - first woman selected as Editor-in-Chief of an American law review (the Cornell Law Quarterly); class of 1918

HRH Princess Bajrakitiyabha - eldest child of the Crown Prince of Thailand

Hughie Jennings - (J.D. study 1901-04, didn't finish degree; managed Cornell baseball team) Major League Baseball shortstop and manager, inducted into National Baseball Hall of Fame

Teddy Mayer - Motor racing team manager

Pablo Morales - Three-time gold medalist in swimming, 1992 Summer Olympics

Jan Schlichtmann - led lawsuit regarding drinking water in Woburn, Massachusetts, profiled in book and movie A Civil Action

Glenn "Pop" Warner - Football player and coach, founder of Pop Warner Little ScholarsFurther Information

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