Pace University School of Law


The Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University is the law school of Pace University, a comprehensive, independent, and diversified university with campuses in New York City and Westchester County. Founded in 1976, Pace Law School was accredited by the American Bar Association in 1978 and is located in White Plains, New York. The school is named for Elisabeth Haub in recognition of Haub's environmental advocacy and philanthropy.
According to Pace Law School's ABA-required disclosures for 2018, Pace Law School's acceptance rate was 50.34% with 26.80% of those accepted enrolling, the average LSAT score and GPA for incoming students was 151 and 3.30 respectively, and 79.51% of the Class of 2018 obtained full-time, long-term, JD-required employment or JD-advantaged employment after graduation.
Pace Law School has a strong Environmental Law program. Its campus is also home to the New York State Judicial Institute, which serves as a statewide center for the education, training, and research facility for all judges and justices of the New York State Unified Court System.

Clinics

The law school has several clinics and centers, including the Pace Energy and Climate Center, the Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic, and the Land Use Law Center.
Other centers and clinics include the Women's Justice Center, the Barbara C. Salken Criminal Justice Clinic, the Investor Rights Clinic, the Kheel Center on the Resolution of Environmental Interest Disputes, and the Immigration Justice Clinic.
The Pace Community Law Practice was launched in September 2012. It is a first-of-its-kind legal residency and incubator program where recent Pace Law School graduates serve as Fellows intensively learning legal practice under the supervision of experienced attorneys and gaining the tools to create solo and small practices.

Employment

According to Pace Law School's official 2018 ABA-required disclosures, 79.51% of the Class of 2018 obtained full-time, long-term, JD-required employment or JD-advantage employment after graduation. Pace Law School's Law School Transparency Employment Score is 71.1% for JD required employment, and its Under-Employment Score is 14.5%, indicating the percentage of the Class of 2018 unemployed, pursuing an additional degree, or working in a non-professional, short-term, or part-time job nine months after graduation.

Costs

The total cost of attendance at Pace Law School for the 2019–2020 academic year is $69,812. The Law School Transparency estimated debt-financed cost of attendance for three years calculated starting the 2018-2019 academic year is $266,725 considering possible tuition increases.

Rankings

For 2020, the Law School 100 ranked Pace Law School #106, of about 200 law schools. In 2017, U.S. News & World Report ranked Pace Law School #120 in the United States. For 2020, U.S. News & World Report ranked Pace Law School #122. The U.S. News & World Report limits its rankings to a total of 145 law schools.

Degree programs

Pace Law School offers programs of study leading to the Juris Doctor, Master of Laws, and Doctor of Juridical Science degrees. The LL.M. in comparative legal studies is available for graduates of law schools outside the United States and is intended for those seeking to return home after a year of study and for those who wish to sit the New York State bar exam. Pace also offers an LL.M. in Environmental Law as well as two tracks of concentration within those programs, one in Climate Change Law and the other in Sustainable Development and Land Use. Pace offered an LL.M. in Real Estate Law for the 2008/09 through 2010/11 academic years.
Students who wish to obtain the J.D. degree may choose to receive a certificate of specialization in either of the programs for which Pace emphasizes: environmental law and international law. Other curricular concentrations include constitutional law, commercial law, corporate law, civil litigation and dispute resolution, criminal law and criminal procedure, evidence, family law, intellectual property law, real estate law, women’s justice/domestic violence, and land use.
The law school has several joint degree programs, including an M.P.A. degree from Pace University's Dyson College of Arts and Sciences, an M.B.A. degree from Pace University's Lubin School of Business, a J.D./M.E.M. with the Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, a J.D./M.A. degree with Sarah Lawrence College in women’s studies, or a J.D./M.S. degree with Bard College Center for Environmental Policy.

Environmental Law Program

In 2019, Pace Law School's Environmental Law Program was ranked tied for first among 28 ranked schools. The law school offers the Master of Laws in environmental law or the Doctor of Juridical Science in environmental law. Pace Law School hosts the National Environmental Law moot court competition. The school's Environmental Litigation Clinic offers a range of clinic programs. Pace also offers climate change and sustainable development and land use law.

International Law Program

Pace Law students who wish to gain international experience may participate in several opportunities including comparative legal studies with Brazil and Singapore that include study abroad components; and the U.N. Environmental Diplomacy Practicum, where students intern with a U.N mission. Pace participates in four international moot court competitions, one of which it sponsors: The Willem C. Vis International Moot Court Competition is held each year in Vienna, Austria and attracts more than 250 law schools from over 60 countries. Team members are selected by professors and chosen based on writing ability and oral presentation skills.

Immigration clinic

Pace Law school also has one of the most comprehensive Immigration programs in the country. While most immigration clinics only handle asylum cases, with perhaps a few VAWA cases, students enrolled in the Immigration Justice Clinic handle family-based petitions, employment-based petitions, religious-based petitions, Special Immigrant Juvenile, J-1 waiver and HIV waivers, TPS, reopening of final removal orders, U-visa, and most of all, the crime-based removal cases that frequently take our student attorneys into the Second, Third, Ninth, and Eleventh Circuit Courts of Appeal. Students have also prepared a writ of certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court. In short, students represent the immigrants most in need of free, competent, ethical representation. In addition, students conduct community education programs at local community organizations, and participate in legislative advocacy at the federal level in conjunction with the American Immigration Lawyer's Association, and independently at the local level.

Noted alumni and faculty

The campus is located on a portion of the American Revolutionary War Battle of White Plains. The campus was originally the College of White Plains, originally Good Counsel College, for women founded by the Sisters of the Divine Compassion. Evan Oppenheimer's film Alchemy was filmed on Pace Law School's campus.