Syracuse University College of Law

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Syracuse University College of Law
Established: 1895
Type: Private
Dean: Hannah R. Arterian
Students: 675
Location: Syracuse, New York, USA
Campus: Urban
Affiliations: American Bar Association, Association of American Law Schools, Order of the Coif
Website: www.law.syr.edu

Syracuse University College of Law (SUCOL), founded in 1895, is a Juris Doctor degree-granting law school of Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York. It is one of only four law schools in Upstate New York (the other three being Albany, Buffalo, and Cornell). Syracuse was accredited by the American Bar Association in 1923 and is a charter member of the Association of American Law Schools. As of the 2007-2008 academic year, 675 students were enrolled in the College of Law.

Syracuse has been ranked in the top 10 for its trial and appellate advocacy program by U.S. News and World Report and is an emerging leader in the relatively novel field of National Security Law. In addition, the law school is one of the few privileged law schools that edits an official American Bar Association publication, The Labor Lawyer. The College of Law is home to the New York State Science & Technology Law Center and the New York Prosecutors Training Institute. It also maintains a chapter of the Order of the Coif, of which only 80 of the more than 190 ABA accredited law schools are a member of.

The College of Law offers joint degree programs with, among others, the top-ranked Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and the highly regarded S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. It offers a special first year program in international law and summer internship/externship opportunities in London, Amsterdam, and Geneva. Students may also qualify for specialized certifications in such areas of study as Corporate Law, Estate Planning, Family Law, and Property Law.

The College of Law is located on the edge of the Syracuse University Hill adjacent to the Carrier Dome in Ernest I. White and Winifred MacNaughton Halls. Its library is called the H. Douglas Barclay Law Library. The library is a congressionally designated depository for federal materials and also houses a collection of former Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson's artifacts and documents.

Contents

[edit] Notable alumni and faculty

Senator Joe Biden L'68
Senator Joe Biden L'68

The College of Law's alumni includes

Federal Government

State and Local Government

  • Joseph R. "Beau" Biden III - Attorney General of Delaware
  • James E. Graves, Jr. - Associate Justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court
  • Tarky Lombardi - Former New York State Senator
  • Carl J. Mugglin - Justice, New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Third Department
  • Robert D. Lippmann - Judge, New York County Supreme Court
  • Martin Schoenfeld - Judge, New York County Supreme Court
  • Gloria Dabiri - Judge, Kings County Supreme Court
  • Phyllis Orlikoff Flug - Judge, Queens County Supreme Court
  • Marcia P. Hirsch - Judge, Queens County Supreme Court
  • Elizabeth H. Emerson - Judge, Suffolk County Supreme Court
  • Alfred J. Weiner - Judge, Rockland County Supreme Court
  • Elma A. Bellini - Judge, Monroe County Supreme Court
  • William P. Polito - Judge, Monroe County Supreme Court
  • Thomas Stander - Judge, Monroe County Supreme Court
  • Brian F. DeJoseph - Judge, Onondaga County Supreme Court
  • James P. Murphy - Judge, Onondaga County Supreme Court
  • Thomas J. Murphy - Judge, Onondaga County Supreme Court
  • Anthony J. Paris - Judge, Onondaga County Supreme Court
  • William R. Roy - Judge, Onondaga County Supreme Court
  • Anthony F. Shaheen - Judge, Oneida County Supreme Court
  • Norman W. Seiter, Jr. - Judge, Oswego County Supreme Court
  • Phillip R. Rumsey - Judge, Cortland County Supreme Court
  • Michael E. Daley - Judge, Herkimer County Supreme Court
  • Joanne Fogel Alper - Circuit Court Judge, Arlington, VA
  • Joanie Mahoney - Onondaga County Executive

Private Sector

The College of Law's faculty includes

  • Internationally recognized constitutional law and national security expert William C. Banks
  • Former Chief Prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone David Crane
  • Noted constitutional scholar, author, and historian William M. Wiecek
  • Tort and constitutional law expert Leslie Bender
  • U.S. federal judge in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and adjunct professor emeritus Rosemary S. Pooler

Both Professors Wiecek and Bender have been cited by the United States Supreme Court.

[edit] Advocacy skills training

The College of Law was honored with the Emil Gumpert Award for the best law school advocacy program in the United States by the American College of Trial Lawyers. The New York State Bar Association cited Syracuse as the best trial skills law school in New York State 10 times in recent years by awarding the College its coveted Tiffany Cup.

Syracuse has received the highest award that the American College of Trial Lawyers gives to law schools based on the school's trial advocacy record and the strength of the school's trial training programs. In 2002 U.S. News & World Report rated the College of Law's trial advocacy program in the top 10 in the United States.

[edit] Moot court and trial team

Because of its extensive advocacy skills program, the College of Law has won numerous national moot court competitions. In the past 16 years, its teams have won 3 national trial championships, 15 Northeast regional first place awards, and 5 best-advocate-in-the-nation awards. Five times in the past 9 years the College of Law has been invited to the National Invitational Tournament of Champions, featuring the nation's 12 best teams. Syracuse has won other national awards in appellate, minority rights, and international tax competitions.

In March of 2008, the College of Law placed in the semi-finals in the National Trial Competition in Austin, TX. In addition, the College of Law finished with the best record of New York state law schools. In April of 2008, Syracuse was awarded the prestigious New York State Bar Association Tiffany Cup and a $5,000 scholarship for the college.

In the Fall of 2007, Syracuse's undefeated Tournament of Champions team placed third in the nation. The Tournament of Champions is a national invitational tournament in which the nation's 16 schools with the best two year record in the National Trial Competition and the AAJ are invited to participate. The College of Law's National Appellate Team also won the Northeast regional finals. The team went undefeated and earned the highest score in the first three rounds, then won the finals in a unanimous decision. Also in the Fall of 2007, Syracuse bested 39 teams by placing 1st in the National Trial Competition, Buffalo regional.

In 2006, a team of three students won the national championship at the second annual Sexual Orientation Moot Court Competition at the UCLA School of Law. The competition included 16 law school teams from across the country.

In the Fall of 2005, the College of Law advanced to the semifinal round in the ABA Northeast Regional Criminal Justice Trial Advocacy competition in New Haven, Connecticut. That same year, Syracuse won the Northeast Regional round for the Thomas Tang Moot Court competition in Boston, MA, and won the Best Brief Award for the Sojourner Truth National Appelllate Competition.

In 2002 a team of four students finished second in the National Civil Trial Competition and a second year student won overall best advocate. In 2002 and 2003 the College of Law participated in the 3rd Annual Quinnipiac University School of Law's Northeast Regional Criminal Justice Trial Advocacy competition. Another event was the 12th annual Cat Bennett Criminal Trial Advocacy competition, as sponsored by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

From 1998-2001, Syracuse was the first place winner in three Sojourner Truth National Appellate Competitions, and won the Best Brief Award each year. In 2000, the College of Law was the national champion in the Thomas Tang Moot Court Competition and regional champions in 2001. The Tax Team won the Oral Competition in the 2001 National Tax Moot Court Competition.

For more than 30 years, Syracuse's National Trial Team achieved the best record in Region II competition, winning 15 Regional Championships, two National Championships, one National Championship Runner-Up Award, three National Best Advocate Awards, and numerous Regional Advocacy Awards. From 1989-2001, the College of Law was invited to participate in the Tournament of Champions fall competition. The competition is only open to the 16 law schools with the best trial team records over the preceding three years. From 1983-2001, Syracuse's ATLA Trial Team won one National Championship, plus numerous regional awards.

From 1998-2001, the National Appellate team won the Region I competition with the Best Brief Award and was named a Quarter-Finalist in the 1999 National Finals. Each year, teams of first year students take part in an International Law Moot Court Competition held in Toronto, Canada. Syracuse's team won the championship in 1993.

[edit] Rankings

The College of Law is currently ranked among the top 100 law schools according the the 2009 U.S. News and World Report graduate school rankings. In previous decades, however, it had been ranked as a top 50 law school. The College hopes to restore its former ranking through a series of initiatives which includes, but is not limited to

  • The aggressive recruitment of distinguished faculty
  • More stringent admissions policies
  • Extensive networking to create stronger ties with regional and national employers
  • Building its financial endowment and making major improvements to law school facilities

Given the immense resources of Syracuse University, a major research university and member of the Association of American Universities, an increase in the College of Law's ranking seems to be a very realistic goal.

[edit] Student publications

[edit] In-House Clinical Programs

  • Children's Rights and Family Law Clinic
  • Community Development Law Clinic
  • Criminal Defense Law Clinic
  • Disability Rights Clinic
  • Elder Law Clinic
  • Low Income Taxpayer Law Clinic
  • Securities Arbritration Consumer Law Clinic

[edit] Applied learning centers

  • The Burton Blatt Institute: Centers of Innovation on Disability
  • Disability Law and Policy
  • Family Law & Social Policy
  • Global Law & Practice
  • Indigenous Law, Governance & Citizenship
  • Center on Property, Citizenship, and Social Entrepreneurism (PCSE)
    • Corporate Counsel
  • National Security & Counterterrorism
  • Syracuse University New Technology Law Center; New York State Science & Technology Law Center
  • The Writing Center

[edit] External links

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