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Maurice A. Deane School of Law

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Coordinates: 40°42′44″N 73°35′58″W / 40.712126°N 73.599454°W / 40.712126; -73.599454
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Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University
The main entrance to Kushner Hall in 2025
Established1970; 55 years ago (1970)
School typePrivate
DeanJenny Roberts
LocationHempstead, New York, US
Enrollment271[1]
Faculty173; 53 full-time and 120 part-time[2]
USNWR ranking125th (2025)[3]
Bar pass rate82% (July 2024 NY first-time takers)[4]
Websitelaw.hofstra.edu

The Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University, also known as Hofstra Law School and colloquially as Hofstra Law, is a law school located in Hempstead, on Long Island, in New York, United States. It is affiliated with Hofstra University.

Overview

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Founded in 1970 and accredited by the ABA in 1971, the school offers JD, MA, and LLM programs, as well as joint degrees. A two-year JD program for foreign-trained lawyers is available, as well as a paralegal certificate program.[5]

As of 2025, Hofstra Law had a student-faculty ratio of 9:1.[6] It offers over 40 affinity groups and student organizations.

Hofstra Law is widely recognized as a pioneer in fully integrating clinical education into traditional law school curriculum, with 11 clinical programs or practicums.[7]

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.[8][9]

Academics

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Hofstra Law offers Juris Doctor concentrations in Business Law, Corporate Compliance, Criminal Law and Procedure, Family Law, Health Law, Intellectual Property Law, and International Law.

In addition, Hofstra Law offers joint degree programs including a JD/MBA with Hofstra's Frank G. Zarb School of Business and a JD/MPH in conjunction with Hofstra's School of Health Sciences and Human Services, along with LLM programs both in person and online.[10]

Degree programs

  • JD program[6][11]
  • JD/MA in Bioethics[12]
  • JD/Master of Business Administration (JD/MBA)[13]
  • JD/Master of Public Health (JD/MPH)[14]
  • JD/Master of Linguistics: Foreign Linguistics (JD/MALFL)[15]
  • MA Bioethics[16]
  • LLM American Legal Studies[17]
  • LLM Family Law[18]

Online programs

  • LLM Health Law and Policy[19]
  • MA Health Law and Policy[19]

Experiential learning

Hofstra Law offers a wide range of experiential programs for students to gain hands-on experience. All Hofstra Law students participate in an experiential learning course during their 2L year.[6]

Clinical and practicum programs offered at Hofstra Law School include:

  • Asylum Clinic[20]
  • Community and Economic Development Clinic[21]
  • Clinical Prosecution Practicum[22]
  • Defender Clinic[23]
  • Deportation Defense Clinic[24]
  • Law Reform Advocacy Clinic[25]
  • Legal Hand Call-in Center[26]
  • Hofstra-Northwell Medical-Legal Partnership[27]
  • Pro Se Legal Assistance Program[28]
  • Robert W. Entenmann Veterans Law Clinic[29]
  • Youth Advocacy Clinic[7]

Centers and institutes

Hofstra Law houses several centers and institutes fostering research, education, and action on critical issues.[30]

  • The Wilbur F. Breslin Center for Real Estate Studies[31]
  • The Center for Applied Legal Reasoning[32]
  • The Robert and Priscilla Livingston Center for Children, Families and the Law[33]
  • Center for Intellectual Property Law[34]
  • Center for Legal Advocacy[35]
  • Monroe H. Freedman Institute for the Study of Legal Ethics[36]
  • Gitenstein Institute for Health Law and Policy[37]
  • Law, Logic and Technology Research Laboratory[38]
  • Perry Weitz Mass Torts Institute[39]

In an effort to help educate not just its own students, but also lawyers, paralegals and legal support personnel in the skills needed for 21st-century lawyering, Hofstra Law introduced the Legal Tech Skills Certificate[40] to teach the skills needed for programs which lawyers use every day.

Rankings

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Hofstra Law has been recognized as a leader by several publications and organizations In the 2025 U.S. News & World Report rankings for law schools, Hofstra Law ranked 125th nationally. In 2021 it was ranked 119th.[3]

In 2025, U.S. News and World Report ranked Hofstra Law #8 for Best Trial Advocacy Program.[41] In the 2023 winter issue of preLaw magazine, Hofstra Law received an "A" rating for its trial advocacy offerings.[42]

PreLaw magazine awarded Hofstra Law an "A" rating for its Alternative Dispute Resolution offerings in its Spring 2025 issue (Vol. 28, No. 4),[43] and in its "Back to School" 2024 issue, the magazine awarded Hofstra Law an "A-" rating for its Family Law offerings.[44] In the 2023 "Back to School" issue, Hofstra Law was one of only 15 schools that received an "A+" rating, which it received for its Health Law offerings.[45]

In 2024, Hofstra Law was named one of the top 50 "go-to" law schools by law.com. This is a list of law schools with the highest percentage of 2023 JD graduates who are hired as associates at the nation's largest 100 law firms.[46]

In 2022, Hofstra Law was named among the top 25 most innovative law schools by preLaw magazine in their Winter issue.[47] In 2015, Hofstra Law was named a top 10 school in teaching the technology of practice by the ABA.[48]

Admission statistics

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For the 2024 entering class, 86% of applicants were accepted with 18.90% enrolling, with the 50th percentile of enrolled students having a 155 LSAT score and a 3.62 GPA.

Facilities

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The exterior of the law school's library, located in Kushner Hall

Hofstra Law is located on the campus of Hofstra University. Kushner Hall and Koppelman Hall contain most of Hostra Law's classrooms, faculty offices and administrative offices, as well as the two level Barbara and Maurice A. Deane Law Library, Law, Logic and Technology Lab, the Weitz & Luxenberg Trial Courtroom, and the Sidney R. Siben and Walter Siben Moot Courtroom. Wireless internet can be accessed throughout the campus.

In the early 1990s, the school added a new building, Joan Axinn Hall, which houses its growing clinical programs and Enrollment Management. Hofstra Law expanded into neighboring Roosevelt Hall in 2006, with new space for a seminar room and its five student-run journals and other student organizations.

In total, the law school operates out of four 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).

Faculty

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See also: List of Hofstra University people

As of 2025, Hofstra Law had 53 full-time faculty members.[49] 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), Stuart Rabinowitz, and Julian Ku.

Per the 2024 Standard 509 Information Report filed with the ABA, full-time faculty included 24 men, 29 women and 11 people of color. Part-time faculty included 69 men, 50 women and 23 people of color.[50]

List of Deans

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Employment

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According to Hofstra Law's 2024 ABA-required disclosures, 90% of the Class of 2023 obtained full- time, long-term, JD-required employment nine months after graduation.[55] Hofstra's Law School Transparency under-employment score is 5.4%, indicating the percentage of the Class of 2023 unemployed, pursuing an additional degree, or working in a non-professional, short-term, or part-time position.

For the July 2023 New York bar exam, 80.15% of Hofstra Law graduates who were first-time exam takers passed the bar, vs. an 86.33% average for graduates of New York ABA-accredited schools.[55]

Journals

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Student Edited

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Peer Reviewed

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Costs

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Annual tuition at Hofstra Law for the 2024-2025 academic year is $35,435 per term.[58] The Law School Transparency estimated debt-financed cost of attendance for three years is $396,882.[59]

Only 15.8% of students pay full price, and 42.1% receive a discount greater than or equal to $35,000.[60]

Alumni

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Main article: List of Hofstra University alumni

Government

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David Paterson

Judges

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Maryanne Trump Barry

Other

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Steve Witkoff

History

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Hofstra Law was founded in 1970 by Malachy Mahon, the law school’s first dean, and the youngest law school dean in the country at age 34. At the time, Hofstra Law was the first law school started in New York in 45 years. Mahon left a position at Fordham Law School to become Hofstra Law’s administrator in 1968 and was responsible for choosing all of the faculty and developing the curriculum for the school. The first class consisted of 79 students.

The first members of the faculty were appointed in 1969, and the school was officially founded in 1970.[63]

Hofstra Law won full recognition in 1973, becoming accredited by the Association of American Law Schools, before the law school graduated its first class in June of that year.[51]

Hofstra Law was one of the first to establish clinical education, starting The Neighborhood Law Office to provide legal assistance to individuals of limited means, while providing Hofstra Law students with clinical experience.[51]

References

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  1. ^ "About Hofstra: At a Glance | Hofstra University".
  2. ^ https://law.hofstra.edu/sites/law.hofstra.edu/files/2021-12/standard-509-info-report.pdf. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. ^ a b "Hofstra University (Deane)".
  4. ^ https://law.hofstra.edu/sites/law.hofstra.edu/files/2025-02/aba-bar-passage-report-2025.pdf. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  5. ^ "Paralegal Certificate Program at Hofstra Law". law.hofstra.edu. Retrieved June 20, 2025.
  6. ^ a b c "Juris Doctor Degree I Hofstra Law". law.hofstra.edu. Retrieved June 20, 2025.
  7. ^ a b "Hofstra Law: Clinics". law.hofstra.edu. Retrieved June 20, 2025.
  8. ^ "Maurice Allen Deane 1926 - 2020". legacy.com/us/obituaries/nytimes. Legacy.com / New York Times. Retrieved October 19, 2024.
  9. ^ Karen Sloan ContactAll Articles. "Hofstra changes its name to honor donor". Law.com. Retrieved September 15, 2011.
  10. ^ "Hofstra Law: Academics". law.hofstra.edu. Retrieved June 20, 2025.
  11. ^ "Hofstra Law: Academics - 2-Year JD Program for Foreign-Trained Lawyers". law.hofstra.edu. Retrieved June 20, 2025.
  12. ^ "Hofstra Law: JD/MA in Bioethics Program". law.hofstra.edu. Retrieved June 20, 2025.
  13. ^ "Hofstra Law: JD/MBA Program". law.hofstra.edu. Retrieved June 20, 2025.
  14. ^ "Program: Juris Doctor (JD) and Master of Public Health (MPH), Joint-Degree Program - Hofstra University - Modern Campus Catalog™". bulletin.hofstra.edu. Retrieved June 20, 2025.
  15. ^ "Hofstra Law: J.D./Master of Linguistics: Forensic Linguistics (M.A.L.F.L.) Program". law.hofstra.edu. Retrieved June 20, 2025.
  16. ^ "Hofstra Law: MA in Bioethics". law.hofstra.edu. Retrieved June 20, 2025.
  17. ^ "Hofstra Law: LLM in American Legal Studies". law.hofstra.edu. Retrieved June 20, 2025.
  18. ^ "Hofstra Law: LLM in Family Law". law.hofstra.edu. Retrieved June 20, 2025.
  19. ^ a b "Hofstra Law: Online Health Law and Policy Programs". law.hofstra.edu. Retrieved June 20, 2025.
  20. ^ "Hofstra Law: Asylum Clinic". law.hofstra.edu. Retrieved June 20, 2025.
  21. ^ "Hofstra Law: Community and Economic Development Clinic". law.hofstra.edu. Retrieved June 20, 2025.
  22. ^ "Hofstra Law: Clinical Prosecution Practicum". law.hofstra.edu. Retrieved June 20, 2025.
  23. ^ "Hofstra Law: Defender Clinic". law.hofstra.edu. Retrieved June 20, 2025.
  24. ^ "Hofstra Law: Deportation Defense Clinic". law.hofstra.edu. Retrieved June 20, 2025.
  25. ^ "Hofstra Law: Law Reform Advocacy Clinic". law.hofstra.edu. Retrieved June 20, 2025.
  26. ^ "Legal Hand Call-In Center". Legal Hand. Retrieved June 20, 2025.
  27. ^ "Hofstra Law: Hofstra Medical Legal Partnership (MLP)". law.hofstra.edu. Retrieved June 20, 2025.
  28. ^ "Pro Se Legal Assistance Program – Free Legal Assistance for Self-Represented Civil Litigants in Federal Court in Central Islip". Retrieved June 20, 2025.
  29. ^ "Hofstra Law: Robert W. Entenmann Veterans Law Clinic". law.hofstra.edu. Retrieved June 20, 2025.
  30. ^ "Hofstra Law: Centers and Institutes". law.hofstra.edu. Retrieved June 20, 2025.
  31. ^ "Hofstra Law: Wilbur F. Breslin Center for Real Estate Studies". law.hofstra.edu. Retrieved June 20, 2025.
  32. ^ "Hofstra Law: Center for Applied Legal Reasoning". law.hofstra.edu. Retrieved June 20, 2025.
  33. ^ "Center for Children, Family and the Law at the Maurice A. Deane School of Law". May 9, 2025. Retrieved June 20, 2025.
  34. ^ "Hofstra Law: Intellectual Property". law.hofstra.edu. Retrieved June 20, 2025.
  35. ^ "Hofstra Law: Center for Legal Advocacy". law.hofstra.edu. Retrieved June 20, 2025.
  36. ^ "Monroe H. Freedman Institute for the Study of Legal Ethics". Retrieved June 20, 2025.
  37. ^ "Gitenstein Institute – Education, Advocacy and Partnership: The Prescription for a More Just Healthcare System". Retrieved June 20, 2025.
  38. ^ "Law, Logic & Technology Research Lab – Sponsored by the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University". October 1, 2015. Retrieved June 20, 2025.
  39. ^ "Weitz Mass Tort Institute". weitzinstitute.hofstra.edu. Retrieved June 20, 2025.
  40. ^ "Hofstra Law: Legal Tech Skills Certificate". law.hofstra.edu. Retrieved June 20, 2025.
  41. ^ #8 for Best Trial Advocacy Programs
  42. ^ News, Law (February 13, 2023). "Hofstra Law Receives "A" Rating in Trial Advocacy". Hofstra Law News. Retrieved June 20, 2025. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  43. ^ News, Law (April 10, 2025). "Hofstra Law Earns "A" Rating in Alternative Dispute Resolution". Hofstra Law News. Retrieved June 20, 2025. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  44. ^ News, Law (October 14, 2024). "Hofstra Law Named a Top School for Family Law by preLaw Magazine". Hofstra Law News. Retrieved June 20, 2025. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  45. ^ News, Law (October 5, 2023). "Hofstra Law Earns "A+" Rating for Health Law Offerings from preLaw Magazine". Hofstra Law News. Retrieved June 20, 2025. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  46. ^ News, Law (March 14, 2024). "Hofstra Law Named a Top 50 Go-To Law School by Law.com". Hofstra Law News. Retrieved June 20, 2025. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  47. ^ News, Law (February 7, 2022). "Hofstra Law Named a "Most Innovative Law School"". Hofstra Law News. Retrieved June 20, 2025. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  48. ^ News, Law (July 22, 2014). "Hofstra Law Named Top 10 School for Teaching the Technology of Practice". Hofstra Law News. Retrieved June 20, 2025. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  49. ^ "Hofstra Law Faculty Directory". law.hofstra.edu. Retrieved July 2, 2025.
  50. ^ "Hofstra Law ABA Required Disclosures" (PDF). Maurice A. Deane School of Law. Retrieved July 3, 2025.
  51. ^ a b c Times, Elaine Barrow Special to The New York (January 14, 1973). "Law School At Hofstra Wins Full Recognition". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 3, 2025.
  52. ^ Callegari, John (December 17, 2012). "Eric Lane named dean of Hofstra law school". Long Island Business News. Retrieved April 5, 2023.
  53. ^ Winzelberg, David (May 1, 2017). "Prudenti named Hofstra Law dean". Long Island Business News. Retrieved April 5, 2023.
  54. ^ "Jenny Roberts Dean and Professor of Law". law.hofstra.edu. Hofstra University. Retrieved October 19, 2024.
  55. ^ a b "Hofstra Law: Careers - Employment Statistics". law.hofstra.edu. Retrieved July 3, 2025.
  56. ^ "Family Court Review". Maurice A. Deane School of Law - Hofstra University. Retrieved July 24, 2020.
  57. ^ "American College of Trust & Estate Counsel Journal (ACTEC)". Maurice A. Deane School of Law - Hofstra University. Retrieved July 24, 2020.
  58. ^ "Bursar: Tuition & Fees | Hofstra University". www.hofstra.edu. Retrieved July 3, 2025.
  59. ^ "Hofstra Law: Cost and Financial Aid". law.hofstra.edu. Retrieved July 3, 2025.
  60. ^ "LawHub — Law School Transparency | Hofstra University". app.lawhub.org. Retrieved July 3, 2025.
  61. ^ "D'Amato v Farrier, et al., Case No. 2:16-cv-00177-PMW, D. Utah" (PDF). The Hollywood Reporter. March 3, 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 31, 2016. Retrieved October 30, 2016.
  62. ^ "CNN Profiles - Joey Jackson - CNN Legal Analyst". CNN. Retrieved July 3, 2025.
  63. ^ "Timeline – Hofstra Law 50th Anniversary". Retrieved July 3, 2025.
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40°42′44″N 73°35′58″W / 40.712126°N 73.599454°W / 40.712126; -73.599454

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