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Albany Law School of Union University
80 New Scotland Avenue Albany, NY 12208
Phone: 518.445.2326; Fax: 518.445.2369
E-mail: admissions@albanylaw.edu; Website: www.albanylaw.edu
Applicants (Freshman Class; 2005 - 2006)
|
Applied: |
1,964 |
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Accepted: |
642 |
|
Enrolled: |
183 |
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Average Age: |
24 |
Student Body (2005 - 2006)
|
Median LSAT: |
158 |
|
Median GPA: |
3.42 |
|
Women: |
40% |
|
Minority: |
10% |
Tuition (In State)
| Full
Time: |
$11,910 |
| Part
Time: |
$9,528 |
Tuition (Out of State)
| Full
Time: |
$19,904 |
| Part
Time: |
$15,923 |
| Students
receiving financial aid: |
86% |
Placement
| Placed
within 9 months: |
95% |
| Average
starting salary: |
$30,000 - $156,000 |
Areas of placement
|
Academic: |
8% |
|
Business: |
20% |
|
Government: |
15% |
|
Judicial Clerks: |
6% |
| Law
Firm (2 - 10 attorneys): |
20% |
| Law
Firm (11 - 25 attorneys): |
4% |
| Law
Firm (26 - 50 attorneys): |
6% |
| Law
Firm (51 - 100 attorneys): |
2% |
| Law
Firm (100+ attorneys): |
13% |
|
Military: |
2% |
|
Public Interest: |
4% |
Library Resources
|
Number of Volumes: |
288,287 |
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Number of Titles: |
62,585 |
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Number of Subscriptions: |
3,328 |
Introduction
The only law school in the capital of New York State, Albany Law School is the oldest, private, independent law school in North America. Our location, in the center of state government, provides unprecedented opportunities for internships, field placements, clinical experience, and career opportunities upon graduation. Our world-class faculty is dedicated and accessible. Albany Law School is positioned to provide you with a comprehensive, practical legal education in a small and supportive environment.
The Academic Experience
From your first day at Albany Law School you will be challenged by a rigorous academic curriculum.
As a first-year student, you begin to acquire the skills that will become the foundation of your legal career. As part of our innovative Introduction to Lawyering course, you will represent a plaintiff or defendant in a simulated case where you conduct legal research, draft motions and memoranda, and participate in client interviews and negotiations. The class culminates with each student presenting an oral argument before some of New York’s most notable attorneys, who preside as appellate court justices.
As a second- and third-year student, you have the opportunity to focus your studies in one of 15 concentrations. Opportunities include six clinical projects and more than 140 field placement internships in the Albany region, many of them in state and federal government positions. Students also participate in real-world work through the Government Law Center, the Science and Technology Law Center, and study-abroad programs. Some students choose to pursue a joint degree with an area graduate school, allowing them to earn a JD while working toward a four-year master’s degree with a partner graduate school.
Real-life Experience
Our groundbreaking legal centers and award-winning clinical programs provide the valuable hands-on experience that employers find highly desirable.
You work alongside committed clinical faculty and practicing attorneys to assist low-income clients with legal issues relating to health law, HIV/AIDS, disabilities, domestic violence, disputes with the Internal Revenue Service, and securities arbitration matters. You will also work with prosecutors, judges, and experienced attorneys through our field placement program.
Because of our unique location, you interact with the leaders in New York state government and the visionaries building New York’s high-technology base through the programs at the Government Law Center and the Science and Technology Law Center.
In the Government Law Center, you conduct research; contribute to publications; and participate in conferences and special projects that promote the study of the problems facing government, public policy, and public service.
You can provide legal services to start-up ventures and early stage technology companies in the Tech Valley, New York City, and throughout New York by working and studying with attorneys at the Science and Technology Law Center.
Your Career
Early in your first year of law school, our Career Center helps you develop a career plan and supports you throughout your job search. Professional career counselors help you define career goals, craft résumés and cover letters, prepare you for interviews, and compare employment offers.
The Career Center is a state-of-the-art facility with multiple interview rooms set aside for professionals to conduct on-campus interviews. These rooms are equipped with all the amenities of a law office and are extremely popular with employers. Albany Law School’s innovative online job-search system provides students with 24-hour web-based access to employment opportunities and employer information; our online system is also the vehicle for sign-ups and scheduling.
Job fairs, employer information sessions, workshops, and panel discussions on a variety of employment related topics occur almost daily. The Career Center hosts more than 1,200 interviews each year and conducts off-campus interview programs in metropolitan areas, including New York City and Boston, specifically for Albany Law School students. Our alumni are avid supporters of these efforts and participate enthusiastically in center activities.
Our graduates find jobs in law firms, government agencies, public interest organizations, and business and industry in the New York City metropolitan area, as well as with large groups of alumni in Boston, Washington, and business centers along the Eastern Seaboard as far as Florida.
The employment rate for the class of 2004 was nearly 95 percent—above the national average of 88 percent, and consistently above national rates for over 20 years.
Albany Law School enjoys an excellent reputation in the legal community for producing well-trained and effective lawyers—35 of the nation’s top 50 law firms employ our graduates. Twice the national average of recent graduates enter government positions.
Our Community
The Albany Law School community of approximately 750 students, 52 full-time faculty, and 54 part-time faculty is intimate, respectful, and supportive. We welcome students and faculty with diverse backgrounds and talents, and provide an outstanding environment for the pursuit of scholarship, teaching, and public service. Albany Law School’s faculty members contribute to the national dialogue on important legal topics via symposia, law reviews, and the media.
Our student-faculty ratio of 14:1 fosters an environment that encourages camaraderie and frequent contacts between students and faculty.
Nearly 12 percent of our students graduated five or more years before entering law school and had careers in other professions prior to beginning their legal studies. Fifty percent of our students are women and 15 percent are members of a minority group. Student Life
You have dozens of opportunities to participate
in student organizations and activities around specific academic, professional,
social, cultural, or athletic interests. Three student-edited journals, the Albany Law Review, the
Albany Law Journal of Science and Technology, and the Albany Law Environmental Outlook, offer cocurricular research and writing opportunities.
Our nationally recognized Moot Court Program enables you to develop skills in trial advocacy, appellate advocacy, client counseling, and negotiating while competing in both intramural and interscholastic competitions.
The Capital Region is home to 16 colleges and universities and boasts museums, galleries, restaurants, shops, theaters, nightclubs for every taste, arenas that host professional sporting events, and performing arts centers that attract national acts. The Adirondack, Berkshire, and Catskill Mountains offer skiing, camping, hiking, and water sports, as well as the Saratoga Race Course for thoroughbred and harness racing. Metropolitan centers in New York City, Boston, and Montreal are within an easy drive, and major airlines operate out of the Albany International Airport.
Our Campus
Albany Law School’s facilities embrace our 154-year history, while supporting a twenty-first century legal education. The open design of the 53,000-square-foot Schaffer Law Library—a federal depository library—provides an inviting environment with seating for hundreds of students. Book and microfilm collections number more than half of a million volumes, and the library supplements its collection with online databases and legal research systems, including LexisNexis and Westlaw. The library also houses technological devices for the hearing and seeing impaired.
The main building of Albany Law School is known as the 1928 Building, acknowledging its year of construction. The building has been recently renovated and houses contemporary lecture halls, seminar-style classrooms, a modern paperless moot courtroom, and “smart” classrooms with wireless Internet access and advanced audio, video, computer, and conference systems.
A 45,000-square-foot building, built in 2000, houses the Law School’s clinic, law centers, and administrative offices, as well as several classrooms—including a high-tech distance learning classroom.
Admission and Financial Aid
Albany Law School has committed over $4 million in scholarship assistance. Approximately 35 percent of first-year students receive awards that average $20,000 for each year of study.
When evaluating each individual application, the Admissions Committee takes a holistic approach, reviewing LSAT score, undergraduate grade-point average, strength of the undergraduate institution, rigor of the undergraduate program, and life experience. The committee seeks to enroll a student body that enriches the educational experience of all of its members. Albany Law School also seeks to provide future members of the bar who both reflect the diversity and sensibilities of our society.
Approximately 90 percent of our students qualify for financial aid, via federal, state, and private loans, or for part-time employment to assist in meeting educational expenses.
We encourage you to visit Albany Law School—meet our faculty, speak with our students, and tour our beautiful facilities. We look forward to meeting you.
Applicant Profile
Albany Law School attracts talented, diverse students from a spectrum of backgrounds. Life experiences, professional and volunteer engagements, as well as cultural and political richness enhance our learning community. Applicants come from the highest ranks of their prior graduate and undergraduate institutions. LSAT and prior academic performance are important in assisting the faculty admissions committee in offering seats to applicants. Those indicators are, however, not the sole factors weighed when admission decisions are made. Interested applicants are encouraged to explore how their individual characteristics might be enhanced by an Albany Law School education.
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