[pullquote] First-year students gathered for spring orientation as the new semester gets underway. [/pullquote]
As Fordham Law students return to school for the spring semester on January 15, they can look forward to 14 new courses, prestigious visiting speakers, and a slate of thought-provoking programs and activities. Fordham Law currently has 1,585 enrolled students starting off the semester: 1,319 J.D. students, 146 LL.M. students, 112 M.S.L. students, and eight S.J.D students.
This semester, students can choose from a range of new courses on offer, including Critical Evidence with Professor Bennett Capers, Cybersecurity Law with Professor Aniket Kesari, Comparative Constitutional Law with Professor Eleanor Bottini, and Law of Democracy with Professor Zephyr Teachout, among others. Michael Goldstein, senior counsel at Mound Cotton Wollan & Greengrass, will teach a new insurance course this spring, Risky Business: Insurance Law and Practice.
Students will also have the opportunity to attend a public lecture presented by Georgetown Law Professor Stephen Vladeck, who will be visiting Fordham Law as the Coif Distinguished Visitor. Professor Vladeck, author of the best-selling book Shadow Docket: How the Supreme Court Uses Stealth Rulings to Amass Power and Undermine the Republic (2023), will speak on on February 5 at the Moot Court Room and will visit several classes to talk about his research on the Supreme Court and national security issues.
A number of Fordham Law programs are reaching significant milestones this year, including the Fashion Law Institute, which is celebrating its 15th anniversary; the Brendan Moore Trial Advocacy Center which is celebrating its 30th anniversary, and the Fordham Law LL.M. program which was introduced 35 years ago this year. In May, a conference honoring the 25th anniversary of the Law School’s Conflict Resolution and Human Rights program will be held in Belfast, Northern Ireland, under the direction of Professor Michael Martin.
The Law School community will also be engaging in a number of public service activities in the upcoming weeks. The Feerick Center’s Immigrant Justice Project will be holding asylum application clinics with South Brooklyn Sanctuary in Sunset Park on February 7, and with Immigration Law & Justice NY every Friday beginning January 24 in Harlem.
Students interested in learning more about current topics in law and policy will have the opportunity to attend a number of impactful public events featuring notable guest speakers this semester.
On February 12, Fordham Law will present a screening of Nature of the Crime, a new HBO documentary about three men navigating the parole system after being released from prison. The film features alumna Rochelle Swartz ’14, who worked as one of the clemency lawyers. The event will include a panel discussion with Swartz and directors Jesse Sweet and Ricki Stern.
This year’s Robert L. Levine Lecture, on February 13, will take the form of a live recording of the Strict Scrutiny Podcast. Strict Scrutiny is a Crooked Media production hosted weekly by Leah M. Litman, professor of law at University of Michigan Law School; Kate Shaw, professor of law at Penn Carey Law; and Melissa Murray, the Frederick I. and Grace Stokes Professor of Law and faculty director of the Birnbaum Women’s Leadership Center at New York University School of Law.
And on March 5, the Center for Judicial Events & Clerkships will host a Judges Town Hall and reception during its 2025 Judicial Day in Residence featuring judges from the Eastern District of New York.
The semester will come to a close with the Law School Diploma Ceremony which will be held on May 19 at Fordham’s Rose Hill campus in the Bronx.
Said Fordham Law Dean Joe Landau, “We have an exciting semester ahead, filled with new programs and activities. I look forward to our students taking advantage of everything we have to offer—and seeing them regularly at events.”