AALS has launched a series that will highlight a different member school and focus on a recent program or accomplishment in order to showcase the rich variety of approaches to legal education that makes up the American legal academy. A list of past highlights is available below.

Member School Highlight – Fordham University School of Law

Location: New York City, New York
Founded: 1905
Joined AALS: 1936
Dean: Matthew Diller

Located in the heart of New York City, Fordham University School of Law is a vibrant, collaborative, and diverse community of dedicated teachers and engaged, hands-on students who are working together to master the law, understand its role in advancing justice, and make sure that justice is accessible to all. Fordham Law is a private legal institution with an approach that combines a grounding in enduring legal principles along with emerging theories, techniques, and technologies taught to its 428 JD students. Fordham Law creates a community of compassionate and competent lawyers with a larger goal: to make a difference in the profession, society, and world.

The Center on Asian Americans and the Law, Fordham Law School’s newest academic Center, is a first-of-its-kind institution with three core missions: civic education (educating students, lawyers, and the public on legal issues of importance to AAPIs), scholarship and AAPI legal studies (establishing a national hub for research and scholarship on AAPI legal issues, including anti-Asian violence, affirmative action in education, the “bamboo ceiling” in employment, immigration and citizenship, and the myth of the model minority), and outreach and public advocacy (generating interest in AAPI legal issues by reaching out to law firms, corporations, government, non-profit institutions, and the public, and by collaborating with others to advance the cause of justice for the AAPI community and society in general).

The Center is co-directed by Senior US Circuit Court Judge Denny Chin ’78, Lawrence W. Pierce Distinguished Jurist in Residence, and Thomas H. Lee, Leitner Family Professor of International Law. The Center has ongoing plans to further dialogue and collaborations both inside and outside Fordham Law School, including hosting speaker panels, lectures, and reenactments; organizing research in the form of digital repositories and e-casebooks; and providing opportunities for students to get involved in its work.

“Given the importance and the impact of Asian Americans on our country and the rich history and contributions to law, culture, economy, it is astonishing that this is the first Center of its kind,” expressed Matthew Diller, Dean of Fordham University School of Law. “The Center on Asian Americans and the Law’s mission is particularly important at this moment, given the horrifying rise in racial animus and violent crimes against Asian Americans. And it’s more important than ever before that we put this rise in hatred into a larger and deeper context of the experience of Asian Americans here in the United States. Now, we officially add to our pantheon of programs a new jewel. I can’t think of anything that makes me happier than the Center finding its home here at Fordham Law School.”