Community Partners

Fordham Law actively supports and develops a range of programs that help to build a pipeline of students into law school, including into the J.D. and LL.M. programs it offers, and to enhance the diversity of the legal profession.

The Law School engages with a number of pipeline programs—including those listed below—that work with students in junior high, high school, and college by hosting events and through the participation of Law School faculty, administrators, alumni, and students.

City College of New York/Skadden Arps Legal Honors Program
Each summer, Fordham Law hosts students from the CCNY Skadden Arps Honors Program. Participating students meet Fordham Law faculty, administrators, and current students to learn about the Law School and the admissions process including financial aid, the curriculum, and student services.

Council on Legal Education Opportunity
Every fall, Fordham Law hosts two CLEO programs: Sophomore Super Saturdays prelaw seminar and Juniors Jumpstart the LSAT. The program for sophomore college students aims to help them further develop logical reasoning, reading comprehension, and writing skills – the skills needed to become a competitive law school applicant. The program for college juniors assists students in understanding how to prepare for the Law School Admissions Test.

Dispute Resolution
For the past couple of years, Fordham’s Dispute Resolution Society has conducted a negotiation workshop/class with a class of senior students at the Martin Luther King, Jr. High School for Law, Advocacy and Community Justice, on Friday afternoons. Every member of DRS participates at least once during the school year, and the organization's community service editor conducts the class on negotiation strategy in collaboration with the teacher. Through the program, high school students break down the problem in groups, and then conduct "moot negotiations" with feedback and guidance from DRS members.

Justice Academy for Young Women
Since 2009, Fordham Law School has hosted Scales of Justice Academy for Young Women. Established by Bronx County Supreme Court Justice La Tia W. Martin, the program combines course work and leadership training to prepare and inspire future educational paths that might lead to careers in the law. The program recruits high school female students from diverse and underserved backgrounds throughout New York City and Westchester County. Over the course of the three-week program, students are introduced to legal topics such as criminal law, civil procedure, constitutional law, human trafficking, matrimonial law, environmental law, domestic violence, and cyber bullying. Students are also given the opportunity to go on various field trips, including a visit to the state legislature in Albany and an end-of-the program trip to Washington, D.C., which includes a visit to the U.S. Supreme Court, the Capitol, and the White House.

Legal Outreach
Since 2008, Fordham Law has partnered with Legal Outreach to present two programs. Through participation in the College Bound program's Constitutional Law Debates, the School's Mentoring Youth through Legal Education group recruits Fordham Law students to serve as coaches and mentors to high school students. The Law School also hosts the Law and Justice Institute, a five-week program that seeks to inspire rising ninth graders to strive for academic excellence and to pursue careers in the law.

MENTOR Moot Court
Fordham's Moot Court Board sponsors the Annual New York Metropolitan High School Mentor Moot Court Competition. An initiative of the Justice Resource Center, the national MENTOR: Moot Court program pairs public high schools with mentor law firms, which expose students to the legal profession and coach students in trial and appellate advocacy. The Mentor Program has grown to include approximately 60 New York law firms and over 50 New York high schools; over 600 pairs exist nationally.

Youth Law Day
In Fall 2006, Fordham Law School was the first New York City law school to co-sponsor the New York State Bar Association Youth Law Day, where students of color from New York City’s diverse communities explore their interest in the legal profession. In addition to participating in a mock class taught by Fordham Law students, the high school and community college students who attend learn about the admissions process to a four-year college and to law school, and they hear from Fordham alumni about the practice of law.