Photo by Henry S. Dziekan III
Fordham Law School, the Fashion Law Institute, and CFDA President Diane von Furstenberg are delighted to announce the launch of the world’s first academic degrees in fashion law.
Less than a decade ago at Fordham Law School, Professor Susan Scafidi created the first course in “Fashion Law,” defining the field. In 2010, with the support of the CFDA, the Fashion Law Institute was established. Today, fashion law is no longer a new trend but an integral part of the business of fashion.
Starting this fall, attorneys and non-lawyers alike will have an unprecedented opportunity to pursue master’s degrees in fashion law. These groundbreaking new programs mark the next step in the Fashion Law Institute’s mission to support the global fashion industry through innovative legal education.
For those who already have a general law degree, Fordham will offer a Master of Laws, or LL.M., in Fashion Law. The LL.M. will give lawyers an in-depth understanding of the law and business of fashion and, for the first time, access to unique courses taught by fashion industry insiders, including classes in fashion financing, fashion modeling law, fashion licensing, and sustainability.
But fashion law isn’t just for lawyers. Helping designers, executives, and other fashion industry professionals understand how law affects the business of fashion is also central to the Fashion Law Institute’s mission. The new Master of Studies in Law, or M.S.L., at Fordham will offer a specialization in Fashion Law to educate those who need to know more about the law but do not aspire to become lawyers. Through the Fashion Law Bootcamp summer intensive program, now in its 5th year, the Fashion law Institute pioneered the concept of offering legal education to members of the fashion community alongside practicing attorneys and students. The M.S.L. degree is the next phase in the evolution of fashion law education.
Von Furstenberg says, “I am proud to support this groundbreaking degree program in fashion law. I firmly believe this program will become a powerful tool in the fashion world and beyond, and help us all as an industry – lawyers or not – better understand, grow and protect our businesses.”
“Ignorance of the law is no defense,” Professor Scafidi notes, “but for too long law schools have left everyone but lawyers ignorant of all but the most basic legal rules.” By opening the doors of law school to anyone in fashion, the Fashion Law Institute aims not only to prepare graduates to launch their own lines or to pursue career opportunities in such areas as licensing, corporate compliance, human resources, supply chain management, marketing, and international trade, but also to provide a model for the future of legal education itself.
“The Fashion Law Institute at Fordham Law has provided our students with significant experiences in a dynamic, growing field of law,” says Dean Michael M. Martin. “We’re grateful for Professor Susan Scafidi’s leadership and excited about the opportunities these two new master’s degrees will offer to future students.”
Applications are now open for both the M.S.L. and LL.M. programs. To accommodate as many people as possible from different professional backgrounds, these programs are available on a part-time as well as a full-time basis. Students can matriculate in either the fall or spring semester and can complete the program within two semesters if attending full time.
Legal literacy in the highly regulated fashion industry is not a luxury but a necessity, and now neither lawyers nor fashion industry professionals have to learn the law on their own.