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Landslide Choice For Worst Law School In New York

Last week, we asked you to pick your choice for the worst law school in New York. It turned out to be one of most active polls on the site. So many of you had strong opinions. Your choice for the worst law school was overwhelming, but the battle for the worst school in the five boroughs was heated. Let's check out the results....

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Last week, we asked you to pick your choice for the worst law school in New York. It turned out to be one of most active polls on the site. So many of you had strong opinions.

Your choice for the worst law school was overwhelming — so strong that one would hope that the administration would notice and do something to improve the school’s reputation in the community.

But the battle for the worst school in the five boroughs was heated. Let’s check out the results….

We looked at the 11 law schools in New York City and Long Island (including Pace). We included Long Island because those schools sell their access to New York City, but unlike the schools in New Jersey, most of the kids at the Long Island schools are going to end up taking the New York Bar and not the (let’s call it easier) New Jersey bar exam.

Your choice for worst was clear: Touro Law School was the runaway winner of this dubious honor. Touro got 37% of the votes in an 11-school poll. Touro received more votes than the next two schools combined. Here are the results:

Which is the worst law school in New York City?

  • Touro Law School (37%, 1,592 Votes)
  • CUNY School of Law (15%, 673 Votes)
  • New York Law School (14%, 623 Votes)
  • Columbia Law School (11%, 460 Votes)
  • NYU Law School (9%, 401 Votes)
  • Pace Law School (3%, 148 Votes)
  • Hofstra Law School (2%, 104 Votes)
  • St. John's School of Law (2%, 100 Votes)
  • Brooklyn Law School (2%, 99 Votes)
  • Cardozo Law School (2%, 85 Votes)
  • Fordham School of Law (2%, 73 Votes)

Total Voters: 4,357

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Many Touro readers wrote in to, basically, scream at me, as if I had something to do with the results. Regardless of whether or not the readers are right about Touro, you would hope that the administration wouldn’t just ignore how the school is perceived. If people think you are running the worst law school for miles around, you can’t just blame the media.

And what will Touro charge you for the right to go to their law school? A whopping $20,885 per semester.

Price played a factor in the much closer battle for the worst law school in the five boroughs. Or maybe, it should have played a major factor. CUNY Law narrowly edged out New York Law School. CUNY was voted to be a worse school than NYLS by a mere 50 votes — a negligible margin. Commenters from both schools went back and forth about the merits of incoming students and graduates from both institutions.

A few people noted something really obvious. New York Law School charges $46,200 per year for full time students. CUNY Law costs $6,565 per semester for full time in-state residents. That only balloons up to $10,345 for out-of-state residents.

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Raise your hand if you think NYLS is roughly $30,000 “better,” per year, than CUNY Law.

The reputation your school has among your peers only means so much. Maybe you can go to the so-called “worst” law school in the area and be a part of the class that changes the school’s reputation. It’s gotta start somewhere.

But the effect that your school has on your wallet is an objective fact. Paying $20K per semester to go to Touro or $46K per year to go to NYLS seems like insanity. It’s like buying a Hyundai for the price of a Porsche: there’s nothing wrong with driving a Hyundai, but the problem is being charged for an expensive, high-end sports car when you want an affordable, serviceable automobile.

You’d think the American Bar Association would want to engage in some basic consumer protection to prevent this kind of thing from happening.

Earlier: What’s The Worst Law School In New York?

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