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Touro Law Center is focused on providing our students with an education that is rich in theory and incorporates hands-on skills training. Our newly revised curriculum takes advantage of our new location next to a federal courthouse and state courthouse. Our students benefit from our commitment to integrate the classroom and the courtroom and our dedication to training law students who are prepared for practice.
Court Observation Program: Touro Law students are able to take advantage of the synergies resulting from combining a legal education with the day-to-day workings of the courts, court-related agencies and legal service providers. The Court Observation Program is an active learning tool that requires all first-year full-time students to visit both the state and federal courthouses. Part-time students participate in the program during their second-year.
The Court Observation Program, unique to Touro Law Center, brings law students into the courthouses to learn through interaction with judges, counsel, and court officials and by observing proceedings. During the first semester, students visit the John P. Cohalan, Jr. State Courthouse. Students, in small groups accompanied by a faculty member, meet with judges in the courtroom for an introduction and brief discussion. Then students observe court proceedings for the day which is followed by meeting with the judges and court officials to ask questions and discuss the events of the day. Students also visit the lock up where prisoners are held and observe arraignments.
In the second semester, students visit the Alfonse M. D’Amato United States Courthouse, a federal court. Students tour public areas of the courthouse before a private session with participating judges for an explanation of courtroom proceedings of the day and question and answer session. Following, students spend time observing the proceedings and then return to Touro Law Center to discuss the day’s activities with a member of the faculty.
Clinical Program: Touro Law has an extensive clinical program, offering students hands-on experience in working on real cases with real clients under faculty supervision. The program includes five in-house clinics as well as a field placement clinical program, where students work off campus to gain practical skills training with real clients. Our in-house clinics include:
The four field placement clinics are:
Practice Modules: Second- and third-year students can take courses designed to help them master skills useful in law practice, such as interviewing clients, trial practice, negotiating, counseling and drafting legal documents, among others. Students work on simulated cases using skills they have mastered in substantive courses to solve practical problems. Students have a choice of practice modules. Some practice modules focus on applying skills to substantive knowledge learned in such courses as Contracts or Torts. Other practice modules run simultaneously with courses such as Business Organizations or Family Law. These modules are coordinated with the substantive courses.
Rotations: In this innovative program based on the medical-school model, students work intensively in specialized practice groups, alongside lawyers from the U.S. Attorney’s Office or from Nassau/Suffolk Law Services (a regional legal services agency), supported by a weekly seminar taught by a full-time faculty member.
Externships: The Law Center provides an unlimited selection of externship placements in private law firms, corporate law departments, government agencies, the courts, and public interest organizations.
Public Service Projects: Students may earn academic credit by performing legal work on-campus in Touro’s Domestic Violence and Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Projects.
Students may also gain public service experience by working with one of the agencies in Touro's William Randolph Hearst Public Advocacy Center (PAC). In a unique concept, PAC houses independent public interest agencies where students can work for academic credit , for pay ( including work study ) or on a pro bono basis. The PAC agencies include: The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN); Brighter Tomorrows; The Central American Refugee Center (CARECEN); The Empire Justice Center; The Health and Welfare Council of Long Island; Long Island Advocacy Center; Long Island Housing Services; Nassau/Suffolk Law Services Committee, Inc.; The Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund; Sepa Mujer, Services for the Advancement of Women; The Society of American Law Teachers (SALT); The Suffolk Chapter of the New York Civil Liberties Union; Suffolk County Coalition Against Domestic Violence (SSADV); The Victims Information Bureau of Suffolk (VIBS), The Workplace Project.
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