Hofstra Law School to launch part-time, evening program

Long Island Business News, Dec 12, 2003 by Rosmaria Mancini

Hofstra University School of Law has received final approval from the American Bar Association to launch a part-time, evening juris doctorate program designed for business professionals.

David Yellen, the school's dean, plans to add 10 professors to the faculty to instruct an expected 50 to 75 students.

It's the biggest thing that has happened to the law school since it was founded over 30 years ago, Yellen said. This type of program offers a lot more flexibility to students and broadens the law school's scope.

The part-time evening program, scheduled to begin next fall, would take students about four years to complete. Its cost would be about three quarters of the school's full-time tuition, which is in the low $20,000 range.

The law school began its accreditation application process last year in an effort to meet the demand of prospective students interested in obtaining a legal degree at night.

Hofstra now joins Touro College's Jacob B. Fuchsberg Law Center in Huntington and St. John's University School of Law in Queens in offering part-time juris doctorate programs.

Touro has 73 students in its current evening program, according to Linda Howard Weissman, the school's assistant dean for institutional advancement.

There are unique needs for students making their way through the evening program and over the years we have perfected that, she said.

Yellen said the new program would not directly improve the Hofstra law school's tier 3 standing, gauged annually by U.S. News and World Report's 2004 law school rankings. But new faculty additions and more applications could work to move Hofstra up to its desired tier 2 ranking next year.

The magazine ranks 177 accredited law schools across the country and assigns them to one of four tiers based on 12 measures, including faculty resources, selectivity, standardized and test results.