Established in 1980, Touro Law Center is fully accredited by the American Bar Association and is a member of the Association of American Law Schools. Touro Law offers full-time, part-time and FlexTime JD programs, as well as a January start option for full-time students.

The Law Center is located in Central Islip on the south shore of Long Island. Touro Law is located adjacent to a United States courthouse and federal building and a New York State court center, with supreme, family, and district courts.

Located about one hour by car or train east of New York City on Long Island, Central Islip boasts a wide variety of affordable housing options. Students may also use the Office of Admissions’ Housing Information Network, which provides current listings of accommodations, as well as information regarding car pools and shared living arrangements. On-campus parking is free of charge. The Law Center provides free shuttle service for day and evening classes between the Central Islip train station and the law school.

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JD Program

Innovative Curriculum

Touro is a leader in bridging the gap between law school and legal practice, and between the classroom and the courtroom. Taking advantage of its unique location to work within both a federal courthouse and a state courthouse, Touro Law offers students exposure to the workings of the judicial system from the very first days of their legal education. First-year students are exposed to legal practice through simulations in both litigation and non-litigation settings and through faculty-supervised small-group visits to courts in session, court-related agencies, and court administrators. In an effort to facilitate experiential learning, Touro Law provides opportunities for students not only to observe live proceedings, but also to discuss with the participants (judges, attorneys, and sometimes the parties themselves) their perspectives on law in action.

Touro Law’s curriculum is a cutting-edge program that reconceives and restructures the law school experience for all students. The curriculum expands the scope and quality of legal education by focusing on the development of legal professionals, from prelaw through post-graduation.

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Academic Programs

Juris Doctor (JD): Touro Law offers a full-time day, part-time day, part-time Evenings and Sundays as well as a FlexTime JD (online/on campus) programs. Starting in Fall 2024, Touro is offering the FlexTime JD program in both our Long Island and Manhattan campuses. Students wishing to accelerate their academic progress toward graduation may attend summer sessions. Full-time students can begin law school either in January or August at Touro Law.
Combined Degrees: Touro Law offers a JD/MSW dual degree and a 3+1 JD/MBA program, allowing students to complete the two degrees with significant time and cost savings.
Foreign Law Graduates Program: Touro Law offers a 2-Year JD Program for Foreign-Law graduates

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Clinics

Clinics are an integral part of the educational process at Touro Law. Clinics are available to full-time students in their second and third year and part-time students in their third and fourth year. The vast majority of Touro students enroll in clinics, providing an opportunity to represent actual clients with real legal problems and to work with experienced attorney-professors. Under the close supervision of faculty, clinic students advise clients and appear on their behalf in court or at administrative hearings or serve as mediators for the local courts.

In addition to providing valuable firsthand experience, clinics help students hone essential professional skills such as interviewing, drafting legal documents, and investigating and developing evidence.

Touro Law offers several clinics:

Advanced Bankruptcy
Advanced In-House
Bankruptcy & Mortgage Foreclosure
Child Support Mediation Clinic
Criminal Defense
Criminal Prosecution
Education and Youth Justice
Family Law
Immigration Law
Landlord-Tenant Mediation
Senior Citizens
Small Business and Not-for-Profit Law
Veterans’ and Servicemembers’ Rights

Some clinical experiences are arranged to accommodate the scheduling of part-time evening and FlexTime students, such as our new Child Support Mediation Clinic.

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Externships

Touro Law’s Externship Program provides students with the opportunity to work in diverse areas of legal practice, develop essential lawyering skills, gain knowledge about particular fields of law, practice in specialized courts, and learn about how lawyers and law firms, government organizations, and the courts operate.

Every Touro Law student is guaranteed an externship experience for academic credit.

Touro Law students may be placed in different types of settings, usually classified as civil, judicial, or criminal (prosecution and defense).

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Public Service & the Public Advocacy Center (PAC)

Touro Law Center is home to the William Randolph Hearst Public Advocacy Center - the only one of its kind in the nation. It is now located in a new building on campus and has a newly focused community collaboration. The PAC organizations support the community by providing legal assistance, counseling, immigration and housing help, support for domestic violence and trafficking victims, and assistance to current and formerly incarcerated women and their children. The Center uses Touro Law students for advocacy services, research work, and client relations. Students work with these organizations to satisfy their pro bono requirements while developing an understanding of the problems facing the local community.

The PAC houses 6 agencies, but there are close to 50 affiliate agencies associated with the PAC. These groups, although not housed in the PAC, work collaboratively and join for extended meetings, occasionally use students in their work as public interest fellows, and are deeply committed to social justice and making a difference in our community.

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Institutes and Centers

The Institute for Land Use and Sustainable Development
The Jewish Law Institute

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Areas of Concentrations

Students may choose to achieve a concentration in any of the following disciplines:

Criminal Law
Land Use and Sustainable Development Law

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Students

The Law Center’s students, coming from diverse backgrounds and experiences, represent close to 100 undergraduate institutions and a broad mix of majors.

Touro Law offers three honor societies: the Touro Law Review, the Moot Court Board, and the Trial Advocacy and Practice Society. Additionally, there are 30+ student organizations devoted to specialized professional and social concerns.

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Faculty

Of Touro Law’s more than 30 full-time faculty members, many have advanced degrees in other disciplines and almost all have extensive practice backgrounds ranging from the judicial bench, major law firms, and criminal prosecution and defense to government agencies and public interest organizations. The faculty shares one common characteristic: accessibility to students. Every entering student is assigned a faculty advisor, matched by background or interest area, for discussions on any aspect of the law school experience, including study strategy, course selection, and career goals. With an open-door policy, everyone reaps the benefits of a personal and dynamic educational experience.

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Academic Excellence & Bar Success

At Touro Law Center, education extends well beyond the classroom. Nationally recognized for our innovative, progressive programs, we focus on professional development, with an emphasis on skill-building and preparing students for the rigors of law school coursework and exams. These same skills are necessary to pass the bar and enjoy a meaningful, fulfilling, and successful professional legal career.

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Career Placement and Bar Passage

The Office of Career and Professional Development offers students and graduates valuable hands-on assistance in their search for part-time, full-time, and summer employment. Graduates work in national, regional, and local law firms; federal, state, and local government agencies; not-for-profit organizations; and in the legal departments of corporations and municipalities.

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Tuition and Aid

Most students receive some form of financial aid, and more than 90 percent of entering students receive scholarships. Institutional aid is available to entering students (based on LSAT/UGPA) and to continuing law students (based on law school academic performance). Scholarship assistance to entering students includes dean’s fellowships (full-tuition remission) and merit scholarships (up to 95 percent tuition remission). For continuing students, in addition to achievement scholarships (offered based on law school academic performance), the Law Center also offers commuter scholarships, endowed scholarships, summer fellowships, and federal work-study placements.

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Admission Decisions: Beyond the Numbers

At no point, on a purely objective scale, is an applicant assured of a particular decision. Among the most important criteria are the LSAT score and UGPA. However, evaluation is based on a variety of additional factors that may be indicative of potential for success—college major and course selection, graduate study, work experience, community involvement, and character.

Touro Law Center does not provide an applicant profile grid for its entering class because such data fails to reflect the complexity of the selection process.

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