Departmental Brochure

The challenge of a profession that has both an intellectual basis and a practical, real-world impact has been extraordinarily appealing to alumni of Fairfield University. Hundreds of men and women are enjoying challenging careers as judges, legal administrators, and lawyers specializing in criminal justice, corporate law, environmental law, or other subfields of the legal profession. Their education at Fairfield prepared them to think logically, critically, and analytically, and to write and speak clearly and persuasively, while giving them the broad background of learning that is crucial to a lawyer's practice. The growing prestige of Fairfield University can be seen in the large numbers of Fairfield alumni who are accepted to the top law schools in the United States and who graduate from those schools with the highest honors. As a pre-law student at Fairfield, majoring in any field of study you wish, you will get the full benefit of the University's experience in educating for a career in the law.

Course of Study

Fairfield University, like other high-quality private institutions, has no specific pre-law program. While a large number of those who apply to law school tend to major in politics, significant numbers of those who major in other social sciences, the humanities, mathematics, and the sciences, as well as those in the Charles F. Dolan School of Business, the School of Nursing, and the School of Engineering, also attend law school after graduation from Fairfield. In addition, Fairfield has one law-related minor: business law, regulations and ethics, combining courses in business law with those of applied ethics. Among the law-related courses in the current curriculum are:

• Ethics in Law and Society
• Seminar in Legal Ethics
• Law and Economics
• American Constitution I and II
• Philosophy of Law
• Supreme Court I and II
• Psychology and Law
• Criminology
• Sociology of Law
• Legal Environment of Business
• Law and Financial Transactions
• The Law of Contracts, Property and Business Organizations
• Employment Law
• Law, Women and Work
• Law and Small Business Organization
• Business Law Seminar
• International Business Law
• Morality and Law
• Religious Values and Public Policy
• Social and Political Philosophy
• Introduction to Legal Philosophy
• Environmental Law and Policy

The Faculty

As a student interested in law, you may study under the supervision of many faculty members, according to the academic programs you choose during the course of four years. However, you should consult with Fairfield's experienced law school advisers who can make recommendations regarding course schedules and possible majors. Although your own performance ultimately determines your success in getting into law school, the advisers can help you to avoid wasteful missteps. The consistently high success rate ofFairfield's law school applicants is an indication of thegood counsel they have received. The law school advisers are:

Alan N. Katz
B.A., M.A., Ph.D., New York University
Professor of Politics, College of Arts and Sciences

Lucy V. Katz
B.A., Smith College
J.D., New York University
Professor of Business Law, Charles F. Dolan School of Business

Internships

As a student at Fairfield, you will have ample opportunity to participate in internships for pay or for credit. Some are available through academic departments and others through the Career Planning Office. Among these are internships at local law offices or in state or federal agencies that are part of the criminal justice system. These have proved very valuable to students seeking to learn about the law and also to become familiar with the work that lawyers do every day.

Life After Fairfield

An important aim of a pre-law program is that its students gain admission to a law school of choice. Typically, law schools base admission on the student's grade point average, performance on the Law School Aptitude Test, extracurricular activities, and letters of recommendation. Fairfield graduates have been highly successful in gaining admission to law schools over the years. In the 1990s, more than 400 Fairfield graduates (89 percent of those who applied) were accepted to law schools. Some of the schools where they were accepted include: Albany, American, Boston College, Boston University, Case Western Reserve, Columbia, Cornell, Duke, Emory, Fordham, Georgetown, George Washington, Harvard, Hofstra, Loyola of Chicago, New York University, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Richmond, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Seton Hall, St. John's, SUNY Buffalo, Syracuse, Vanderbilt, Villanova, Wake Forest, and the universities of Connecticut, Maryland, Minnesota, North Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Real-World Education

No matter what your major, you will be educated at Fairfield in a liberal arts context. This means that your education will be broad, encompassing the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. In accordance with the solid principles of Jesuit education, it will have practical components, designed to prepare you to be an educated citizen of service to the communities in which you participate. Case studies, independent research, and internships all bolster the pragmatic aspects of learning and extracurricular programs involve hundreds of students in addressing social problems in nearby cities. In addition, many students interested in the law develop their debating skills by joining Fairfield's debate team which engages in local, national, and international competitions.

Profile

Gwen Nolan '04
Political science major

"At Fairfield, we were taught to understand the world outside our comfort zone. In my junior year, I chose to study in Vietnam, inspired by what I learned in Dr. Alan Katz's course, Vietnam and the American Experience, and my personal interest in the country (my father is a Vietnam veteran). The experience was one of deep personal enrichment and learning, and gave me a unique skill set valuable in law and the global market.

To me, Fairfield's greatest strength is its constant enthusiasm and encouragement for its students. With that support, I was able to build a resume of valuable experiences - academic, internships, and travel.

After graduating, I worked on a presidential campaign and became a legal advocate at free legal clinic. Now a student at Cornell Law School, I know I'm here today because of all the opportunities I was able to take advantage of at Fairfield."

For further information, please contact:
Dr. Donald Greenberg, program director
Donnarumma Hall 304
Fairfield University
Fairfield, CT 06824
Tel.: (203) 254-4000, ext. 2860
E-mail: dwgreenberg@mail.fairfield.edu