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Innovative teaching and a 21st-century curriculum set the Shepard Broad College of Law apart from other law schools. Graduates here don't just earn a degree--they encounter the real spirit and practice of law. Our pioneering combination of academics and clinical experience gives our students the knowledge and skills they need to hit the ground running and launch a successful career in the highly competitive legal marketplace upon graduation.
Courses are taught by a highly visible and accomplished faculty made up of teacher practitioners. They are actively involved in the legal field as practicing attorneys, scholars, and judges. We think clinical education is so important that third-year law students are guaranteed a place in one of our clinics. Students also spend part of their final year in 12-week, full-time internships in a law office, under the close supervision of a faculty member.
From day one, students learn the day-to-day realities of the legal profession. The Legal Research and Writing Program integrates practice, professionalism, and the latest technology with legal theory. Our unique Critical Skills Program prepares students for the transition from lay person to law student to practicing lawyer, focusing on effective legal study techniques, analytical and written Bar Exam skills, and the work of a real lawyer in the real world.
With a wireless environment, laptop computers, and interactive digital video technology, the NSU College of Law has consistently been recognized as one of the most technologically advanced law schools in the country.
We also offer online master's degree programs in health law and education law to non-law professionals, preparing graduates to advance their careers in their chosen professions. Our dual-degree law programs with the University of Venice and the University of Barcelona give students a unique opportunity to study both the common law system in the United States and the civil law systems of Italy or Spain. Students who successfully complete the program and satisfy the appropriate bar requirements can qualify for admission to the bar in Italy or Spain and the United States. All will be able to engage in transactional practice in the European Union, and those who complete the Barcelona program will be able to be admitted on motion in most Latin American countries.
Mission
To ensure that students develop the knowledge, skills, and values that are at the heart of becoming trusted, highly adept, professional lawyers who are respected for serving clients, their communities, and justice.
Our Values
We believe and model:
- respect for the law and the importance of lawyers in a free society
- equitable access to education
- diversity of background and viewpoint
- excellence in teaching that serves the students and their learning needs
- high standards of ethics and professionalism
- evolution of the competencies lawyers need in an ever-changing world
- support of successful entry and advancement in the bar and other professions
- assumption of leadership roles and service to the community
Innovation at NSU Law
NSU Helps Reshape the Future of Legal Education Through 7 Transformative Initiatives
Innovation is at the heart of the Modern NSU Shepard Broad College of Law. Every aspect of the law school program has been reassessed and updated to assure the best strategies are available to bring high-quality, high-value legal education to our student, and top quality legal services to the clients we serve. “We’re here for you” connotes far more than our commitment to classroom success; our commitment starts with innovative design and implementation.
Key Areas of Innovation
NSU Law has led the country in each of these key areas of innovation¹:
- NSU Law guarantees every student a live-client experience through an in-house clinic or field placement
- NSU Law recently completed a multi-million-dollar, award winning renovation to its building and live client legal clinic, providing state-of-the-art facilities and technology mirroring the best practices in law firm management
- NSU Law has added the Sharon and Mitchell W. Berger Entrepreneur Law Clinic for direct representation of start-ups, entrepreneurs, research scientists, and student inventors
- NSU Law expanded its in-house clinic through a $1 million gift from the Taft Foundation to create an Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Legal Clinic
- NSU Law operates a global Field Placement program, offering live-client experiences in civil, criminal, bankruptcy, and judicial practices, which can place students across the U.S. and abroad
- NSU Law extensive workshop program offers nearly three dozen courses that meet the experiential learning requirement as simulation courses
- NSU Law offers an accelerated J.D. program for lawyers with a first law degree from another country and comprehensive support from the law school’s International Students Office to support their transition to the U.S.
- NSU Law’s International consortium includes over two dozen partner schools and an annual conference held at NSU focusing on legal education pedagogy and teacher training
- J.D. students may earn dual degrees with European University of Barcelona, Spain; Roma Tre University, Rome Italy; or Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
- The programs in Spain and Italy are J.D. equivalent degrees while the program in the Czech Republic results in an LL.M. Students may also participate in semester exchange programs in Spain, Italy, and the Czech Republic
- Semester abroad programs include Israel and Great Britain
- J.D. students may earn dual degrees in such disciplines as Accounting, Business Administration, Computer and Information Science, Conflict Analysis and Resolution, Osteopathic Medicine, Tax, Public Health, or through individualized plans.
- NSU Law has updated its academic regulations to simplify and accelerate dual degree opportunities with other NSU schools and colleges.
- NSU Law offers a 3+3 admissions program with the seven NSU undergraduate colleges.
- NSU Law offers the NSU Law Leadership Academy, a specialized program focusing on the “business of lawyering,” with courses including Business Operations for Lawyers, Strategic Business Planning for Lawyers, and Law Practice Business and Technology Workshop, a curriculum designed to teach the complex and rapidly changing legal services industry.
- Select partnerships with the NSU Health Professions Division and other schools encourage law faculty to provide non-curriculum lectures and offerings.
- Additional opportunities exist to provide non-curriculum lectures and offerings from these and other schools to law students and law alumni.
- NSU Law has become one of the largest programs providing non-lawyer education with four online Master of Science degrees for non-lawyers: M.S. in Health Law, M.S. in Education Law, M.S. in Employment Law, and M.S. in Law and Policy
- M.S. programs include specialty concentrations such as Cybersecurity Law
- New M.S. topics include Pre-Collegiate, Collegiate, and Professional Sports
- The M.S. programs are heavily staffed by NSU Law full-time faculty, providing a robust legal and professional education to the working professionals seeking to expand their understanding of how law impacts their profession
- NSU Law operates Florida’s only post-J.D. incubator for recent graduates. Integrated with the NSU Law Clinics, Incubator participants receive professional space support, ongoing training on the launch and development of private law practice, and provide supervised pro bono services to the Veterans or other client clinics.
- The Law Center Plus program provides monthly, no-cost CLE offerings for recent graduates.
- NSU Law provides a number of courses addressing the intersection of law and technology
- The NSU Center for Collaborative Research is a 215,000 square foot facility providing a home for translational research
- NSU Law is a steering committee member for the Florida Patent Pro Bono Project
- NSU Law uses online tools to supplement its courses, including a comprehensive web portal, new course recording tools, smart courtrooms, and many other technologies to assure students learn a modern, efficient model of practicing law
NSU Law is not standing still. Today, NSU Law continues the innovative tradition as one of the first law schools to offer clinical education, the most-wired campus, and first non-J.D. program in Florida. The innovations at NSU Law are designed to anticipate the shifts in the delivery of legal services by better preparing graduates to provide more efficient and cost effective delivery of legal services, thereby expanding access to these services in both the domestic and international market.
12015 AALS Annual Meeting, “Implementing Innovation in Law Schools.” Speakers: Daniel B. Rodriguez, AALS President and Northwestern University School of Law; Martin J. Katz, University of Denver Sturm College of Law; Paul Lippe, Chief Executive Officer, OnRamp Systems, Moffett Field, CA; Michael J. Madison, University of Pittsburgh School of Law; and Kellye Y. Testy, University of Washington School of Law.
View our directory of recent faculty scholarship from 2013-2019.
Curriculum and Special Academic/Professional Programs
The College of Law offers a rigorous traditional academic program in three-year day and four-year evening versions. NSU Law prides itself on preparing graduates to make a smooth transition from the classroom to the courtroom or boardroom. Legal Research and Writing (LRW)-Every student completes a four-semester LRW sequence that combines traditional legal reasoning, writing, and research with an introduction to lawyer interviewing, counseling, negotiating, mediating, advocating, and other critical skills in a simulated law firm experience.
Clinical education is an important part of the NSU Law experience. In fact, we think clinical education is so important that each and every student who meets the clinic criteria has the opportunity to participate in one of our clinics. The clinical semester brings the study of law to life. In seven clinical programs, students are introduced to a practice specialty under the guidance of a seasoned mentor. Each clinical semester begins with intensive classes that focus on advanced substantive law and lawyering skills in the clinic specialty plus interdisciplinary topics. For the rest of the term, faculty members supervise the students' representation of clients in Law Center clinics, government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and private law offices.
NSU Law students have an opportunity to study both common law and civil law through our dual-degree program with the University of Barcelona. With successful completion of the program and the appropriate bar requirements, students can qualify for admission to the bar in both Spain and the United States. As lawyers, dual-degree graduates will have an opportunity to practice in the United States and Spain, and to practice transactional law in the European Union. The dual degree will also assist those wishing to practice in Latin America. Opportunities are also available in the Czech Republic and Italy.
NSU Law offers students opportunities to earn a second graduate degree in a complementary discipline and in a compressed time frame. In addition to an award-winning pro bono service program, the College of Law operates judicial internship, mediation, street law, consumer protection, and dependency workshop programs that provide valuable real-world experiences.
Faculty
NSU Law professors have a long tradition of teaching excellence. The faculty's open-door policy is enhanced by our sophisticated wireless communications system and pioneering laptop program. Limits on the size of first-year sections result in more individualized feedback. The faculty's expertise is reflected in rich classroom discussion and a wide range of scholarly publications and professional service.
Library and Physical Facilities
Nova Southeastern University has been a technology pioneer for more than a decade. NSU College of Law installed the first wireless system in a law school in 1996 and was the first US law school to provide totally wireless access to all faculty, staff, and students. NSU Law leads the way in the use of technology in legal education.
The Law Library's extensive holdings include special collections in tax, criminal law, law and popular culture, admiralty, and international law. With over 340,000 volume/volume equivalents, the Law Library provides access to primary and secondary sources of US law as well as case-finding and updating tools. The Law Library and Technology Center is designated as a United Nations depository and as a depository for US and Florida government documents.
Leo Goodwin Sr. Hall, which houses the College of Law, has two courtrooms used by students in the school's trial advocacy and moot court programs as well as by the National Institute for Trial Advocacy and state appellate court judges.
Student Activities
The College of Law is home to three significant publications: the Nova Law Review, the Journal of International and Comparative Law, and the International Citator and Research Project.
The Moot Court Society sponsors intramural competitions. Members of the society compete in major national events. The Association of Trial Lawyers of America and other student advocacy groups field teams in competitions around the country.
Students shape the life of the College of Law through their involvement in a wide range of service organizations and social clubs. Extremely active groups include the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association, Black Law Students Association, Jewish Law Students Association, Hispanic Law Student Association, Lambda, Student Bar Association, Florida Association for Women Lawyers, National Association for Public Interest Law, International Law Society, Native American Law Students Association, and a variety of practice specialty and sports clubs. Students also guide chapters of national legal fraternities, participate with lawyers and judges in the Inns of Court, and serve on faculty committees.
Career Services
Our NSU Law Career Development Office assists students and alumni with career counseling and the employment process. In addition to facilitating on-campus interviews and résumé distributions, the office coordinates career-option seminars and interviewing workshops.