The Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University (commonly known as Hofstra Law) is a law school located in Hempstead, New York, on Long Island, affiliated with Hofstra University. Founded in 1970 and accredited by the ABA in 1971, the school offers a JD, a joint JD/MBA degree, and LL.M degrees in American law (for foreign law graduates) and family law. It also offers online LL.M and MA degrees in Health Law & Policy, an online LL.M in American Law, and an online MA in American Legal Studies.[5] The Law School is on the southern portion of the 244-acre (0.99 km2) Hofstra University campus. The school was renamed to the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University in September 2011.[6]
Academics
Kushner Hall
Hofstra Law offers Juris Doctor concentrations in eight areas of study: Alternative Dispute Resolution, Business Law, Corporate Compliance, Criminal Law and Procedure, Family Law, Health Law, Intellectual Property Law, and International Law.
Rankings
In the 2024 U.S. News & World Report rankings for law schools, Hofstra Law ranked 140th nationally. In 2021 it was ranked 119th.[3] In 2011, the school was named one of the country's best public interest law schools by preLaw magazine, a national publication aimed at prospective law students. Among the 75 law schools that made the list, Hofstra ranked 11th.[7]
Hofstra Law was ranked the No. 54 school in the country in placing partners in U.S. offices of the 100 largest national law firms in a 2011 study by Theodore P. Seto.[8] According to a 2016 study, by Law School Transparency, Hofstra ranked 35th nationally for employment outcomes and 6th in New York State.[9]
Admission statistics
For the 2019 entering class, 48.33% of applicants were accepted with 18.90% enrolling, the 50th Percentile of enrolled students having a 154 LSAT score and a 3.53 GPA.[10]
Facilities
Deane Law Library
Hofstra Law is housed in the original building opened in the 1970s upon the school's inception, although it has undergone several extensive renovations since that time. The lower floors of Kushner Hall are home to the law school's two level Barbara and Maurice A. Deane Law Library. The law building also contains both an appellate Moot Courtroom and trial moot courtroom. Access to wireless internet can be found throughout the campus.
In the early 1990s, the school added a new building, Joan Axinn Hall, to house its growing clinical programs and the Office of Career Services, and it expanded into neighboring Roosevelt Hall in 2006, with new space for its five student-run journals and other student organizations.
In total, the law school operates out of 4 buildings: Koppleman Hall (classrooms, offices, and courtrooms), Kushner Hall (library, atrium, and offices), Joan Axinn Hall (admissions and clinics), and Roosevelt Hall (offices for each journal and the moot court).
As of 2019, Hofstra Law had 40 full-time faculty members.[11] The faculty included (or had included in the past) Nora Demleitner (past member), Alafair Burke (no longer practicing), Monroe Freedman (deceased), Robert A. Baruch Bush, Aaron Twerski (past member), and Eric Lane (non-attorney). Per the 2022 Standard 509 Information Report filed with the ABA, full-time faculty included 23 were men, 27 women and seven people of color. Part-time faculty included 50 men, 27 women and five people of color.[12]
According to Hofstra Law's 2018 ABA-required disclosures, 75.95% of the Class of 2017 obtained full-time, long-term, JD-required employment nine months after graduation.[15] Hofstra's Law School Transparency under-employment score is 10.5%, indicating the percentage of the Class of 2017 unemployed, pursuing an additional degree, or working in a non-professional, short-term, or part-time position[16]
For the July 2018 New York bar exam, 62% of Hofstra Law graduates who were first-time exam takers passed the bar, vs. an 83% average for graduates of New York ABA-accredited schools.[17]
Annual tuition at Hofstra Law for the 2018–2019 academic year is $59,214.[20] The Law School Transparency estimated debt-financed cost of attendance for three years is $329,392.[21]
David Weprin, member of the New York State Assembly since 2010. former member of New York City Council, former Deputy Superintendent of the New York State Banking Commission, former Chairman of New York's Securities Industry Association
Jon Bramnick, member and minority leader of the New Jersey General Assembly representing the 21st district since 2003
Judges
Maryanne Trump Barry ('74), former judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, sister of 45th U.S. President Donald Trump
